After winning the 2022 Australian Trans Am Series with Garry Rogers Motorsport, Herne made the move to the United States and competed in the American Trans Am Series, scoring a number of commendable results along the way.
However, Herne could not lock in a deal to remain there this year and moved back to Australia.
After a trip to Spa-Francorchamps in May, to compete in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Series, he returned to the Aussie Trans Am Series in Round 2 with his own team BlueGold Industries/Nathan Herne Racing.
The Lismore man sees his future in driving but plans to grow his one-car operation into a business of its own in the very near future.
“I’ve got to drive for sure,” Herne told Speedcafe.com.
“For me, driving is what I do all of this for, but it’s hard to make it work in this day and age.
“I’ve been all around the world, unfortunately last year was tough when I really needed it to be good.
“I had that shot, but things out of my control were happening there so that’s a missed opportunity, but you can either sit there or you can get up and start going, so that’s why I started this race team.
“I’m looking at building on it in the future and turn it into a business, but I’m not going to give up on the driving side of things.”
Herne believes that results on the track this year will help him grow the team, by showing that he is capable of running competitive cars he will be able to get more sponsors on board and drivers interested in racing for him.
“The way the world is at the moment, if you haven’t got the dollars, you don’t go racing, so for me I’ve got to make racing pay for itself in some way in terms of running a race team and helping out other drivers and that’s what I’ve started doing,” he explained.
“Getting good results on the track for me is going to be really big for the future, it’s really important at this moment, it’s actually making a business now, and I’ve got to advertise myself as a good engineer.”
From the driving side Herne is open to any opportunities and not ruling anything out.
“In terms of my driving career, I’m going to take any opportunity I get, I’d love to do more GT stuff,” he said.
“Trans Am is where I see it, I’m happy with where it’s going, I think it has definitely got a strong future, and a really good shot at being a big series.
“BlueGold Industries have really enjoyed being a part of the team and it’s been great to have them on board, a few more sponsors pays for my racing, and I can have the engineering side to pay for my living, then I’ll be cheering.”
Speedcafe.com asked Herne if the American dream is still there from either a driving or team ownership side.
“I have to sort a few things before I go back,” Herne replied.
“It’s only getting harder to make it over there. One thing I learned whilst I was in America, is if you don’t have the biggest team and everything behind, you’re really struggling to compete.
“A series like Trans Am Australia is great, you just need a bit of common sense.
“But (going back) is something that is definitely on the cards, we’ve just got to see how we can make it work.”
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