Over the last few weeks there have been plenty of announcements. First, the initial five McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of Year nominees were announced. Next, Porsche announced the six drivers to be evaluated at Silverstone for the new Carerra Cup GB Scholarship. And finally, the Racing Steps Foundation announced that 2008 British Formula Ford Champion Wayne Boyd will be the recipient of the fully funded Formula Renault UK drive with championship winning Fortec Motorsport.
During this spate of announcements, I was wondering: Is it just me, or do many of the same names keep coming up, time after time? I decided to take a look and see what I could find.
I'd like to begin with a disclaimer and to state my objectives. It should be noted, I am, in no way, criticising the recipients of any award, nor their entitlement to them. Similarly, I am not drawing conclusions, merely making observations to what are facts available in the public domain.
I have also only taken into account single-seater drivers (or former single-seater drivers) who have received (or been nominated) for a scholarship or award during 2008. For those recipients, any previous award or scholarship has also been included.
And so, as a chart, it looks like this (below) and is sorted initially by the number of awards received, then alphabetically.
Click to enlarge
Time to extract some facts.
Sam Bird is currently the recipient of the highest number of awards and scholarships, having received six between 2004 and 2008: Formula BMW Scholarship, BRDC Superstar, BRDC Rising Star and two McLaren Autosport BRDC award nominations (2005, 2006 and winning neither time). He is also an MSA British Race Elite member.
Oliver Turvey follows with four honours, having won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 2006. He is also a BRDC Rising Star, a BRDC Superstar and the recipient of the Racing Steps Foundation's patronage (a fully funded year in British Formula Three with Carlin in 2008).
Youngster and recently crowned British Formula Ford Champion, Wayne Boyd has the support of the BRDC Superstars programme and recently won the patronage of the Racing Steps Foundation for 2009 with a fully funded year in Formula Renault UK. He has also been nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award this year (and in my opinion is the strongest candidate to win). It's worth noting that his British Formula Ford campaign was made possible due to the patronage of Boyd's manager, music impresario Chas Cole (Autosport, p87, 16/10/08).
Currently, all McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominees (excluding the FPA Shootout) are also members of the BRDC Rising Star and/or Superstar scheme (Boyd, Sims, Christodoulou, Stoneman, Moore).
Furthermore, the only drivers to have received nominations for awards who are not members of either the BRDC Rising Star or Superstar schemes are Aaron Steele (Formula BMW Scholarship, Porsche Carrera Cup GB nominee) and Richard Singleton (Porsche Carrera Cup GB nominee). Every other driver who has received or been nominated for an award is also recognised by the BRDC on one of its two programmes.
You can continue, make further observations for yourself.
I am not concluding anything at all. If these really are the most promising young racing drivers in Britain, then it might make sense for them to share the entirety of the sports honours amongst themselves. And what's more, if that is the case, it would also make sense for them to be members of the BRDC Rising Star scheme (but note: the BRDC Rising Star programme is invitation only and there is no formal application process).
I think there are many positives to be taken from British motorsport at the moment, especially considering we might be just about to see the first British Formula One World Champion for 12 years. Yet, at the same time, there are some ever deepening problems too. An unnatural amount of young talent is being wasted each year because they simply cannot afford to continue racing. So I guess the question is: are all of these scholarships and awards actually helping the problems they presumably aim to solve or, on the other hand, are they just making it worse?
