What is the Racing Steps Foundation?

The Racing Steps Foundation is  a motor sport initiative, founded by successful business man Graham Sharp, to “help talented young British racing drivers realise their dreams…it is for young hopefuls with the ambition, skills and determination to succeed but without the funds to make their way up the ladder”. In practice, the Racing Steps Foundation, under the patronage of Graham Sharp, provides the necessary funding to any driver involved in the programme.

When it launched, the programme initially funded four drivers: karters Jacob Stilp (12) and Jake Dennis (13), karting graduate James Calado (19) and former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner, Oliver Turvey.

Oliver Turvey

Oliver Turvey is the most high profile driver currently involved with the programme and has been involved since its inception.

Turvey began his car racing career in 2003 when he contested the Formula Renault UK Winter Series with Mark Burdett Motorsport, finishing 18th.  Following this, he spent three years racing in Formula BMW UK and this saw him finish 7th in 2004, 8th in 2005 and 2nd in 2006. During 2006, he finished 6th in the Formula BMW World Final and also contested two races in the British Formula Three National Class.

After receiving the 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, Turvey dovetailed a season in Italian Formula Renault and Formula Renault Eurocup during 2007, finishing 9th and 8th respectively.

The Racing Steps Foundation immediately placed Turvey in British Formula Three with Carlin Motorsport. After leading the championship going into the last round, Turvey was to finish 2nd overall following a disappointing weekend at Donington Park and lost the championship to Carlin team mate Jamie Alguersuari. In November 2008, he also finished 8th in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix.

James Calado

Also involved with the programme since its inception, James Calado made his car racing debut with the Racing Steps Foundation in 2007 after an extensive European karting career.

The Racing Steps Foundation placed Calado immediately in Formula Renault UK with championship winning team Fortec Motorsport. He finished 7th overall in the championship, having taken one win (Snetterton). During the season, he also contested three races in the Formula Renault NEC championship.

Towards the end of 2008, Calado also contested both the Formula Renault UK Winter Series and Formula Renault Portugal Winter Series, winning both.

For 2009, he will continue in the Formula Renault UK championship with Fortec Motorsport.

Jacob Stilp

The first of the two Racing Steps Foundation karters is Jacob Stilp. Despite being just 13 years of age, Stilp has already enjoyed four years of karting, the highlights of which are 3rd place in the 2007 Super 1 Cadet Championship and 3rd in the 2006 British Open Cadet Championship. As well as receiving Race Steps Foundation support, he is also the benefactor of the James Hunter Memorial Fund.

In 2008, the Racing Steps Foundation placed him in the Rotax MiniMax Super 1 National and BRDC Stars of Tomorrow Championships in which he finished 7th.

His 2009 destination is currently unannounced.

Jake Dennis

Jake Dennis (14) is the second Racing Steps Foundation karter and the final member of the 2007-2008 line up. Dennis had completed two notable years of karting prior to his involvement in the programme, which culminated in 5th position in the 2006 Super 1 Cadet championship, 4th position in 2007 whilst in the same year finishing 9th in MSA British Cadet championship.

The Racing Steps Foundation placed Dennis in the Super 1 National KF3 Championship (finishing 5th), BRDC Stars of Tomorrow KF3 championship, which he won.

In 2009, he is to continue racing in UK and European KF3 with Martin Hines’ Zip Young Guns Team.

Wayne Boyd: The one that got away

In October 2008, the Racing Steps Foundation announced that British Formula Ford champion, Wayne Boyd, was to receive a fully funded drive in the 2009 Formula Renault UK championship. However, after competing in the opening two rounds of the Formula Renault UK Winter Series in a Racing Steps Foundation car, it was announced that Boyd and the foundation were to part company.

Boyds management (headed by music impresario Chas Cole, father of British Formula Ford competitor James Cole) decided that they were not yet ready to commit to a season in Formula Renault UK, having received interest from British Formula Three teams. The Racing Steps Foundation would not negotiate on their offer and consequently the two split. Wayne Boyd is still expected to the compete in British Formula Three.

New Racing Steps Foundation addition for 2009: Jack Harvey

Filling the vacancy left by Wayne Boyd, kart racer Jack Harvey is to receive funding during 2009 in the Formula BMW Europe championship with former Formula BMW UK champions Fortec Motorsport. Harvey (15) has enjoyed an elaborate karting career, with highlights including 2008 CIK FIA Asia Pacific KF2 Champion, 2007 CIK FIA European KF3 Champion, 2007 Italian Open Masters Champion (KF3), 2007 Margutti Cup KF3 Champion.

Summary

And so, after its first full year of competition, the Racing Steps Foundation now funds five drivers, three racing cars and two who remain in karts. To this point, I’d estimate that the Racing Steps Foundation has invested somewhere in the region of £1 million during 2008, with what appears to be more than a  further £1 million pledged for 2009.

Before I say anything more, I’d like to state where I stand on these matters. I am, overwhelmingly, in favour of the London 2012 Olympic Games. I do not disagree with the funding expectations of athletes or with the investment in sporting and public infrastructure it requires. What’s more, I have little doubt that there is indeed, a correlation between a nation’s investment in sport and its Olympic medal success. After all, I know this to be true in motor sport.

The table below summarises the largest funding cuts.

Let’s take Fencing as an example.

For the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Team GB fielded three athletes: Martina Emanuel, Richard Kruse and Alex O’Connell. They were allocated £3.07 million for the games and their efforts yielded zero medals.

For London 2012, Team GB will be allocated £1.26 million, representing a 59% decrease when compared with the previous games.

Is £1.26 million too little or too much? If in London 2012, Team GB were to again field three athletes, it would represent a cost of roughly £400,000 per athlete, or £100,000 per athlete per year. Or, if they were to double the number of athletes (six), pay each athlete a salary of £20,000 per year, they would still have £780,000 to spend on coaching, promotion and facilities over the four year period.

That doesn’t seem so bad to me.

So here’s the question: how much public funding should sports really receive? Should there be a relationship between the level of funding a sport receives, its contribution to the UK economy and the level of participation both in terms of audience and competitors? If this is the case, is it right that grass-roots motor sport receives little, if any public (or lottery) funding, especially considering as an industry, it contributes an estimated £6 billion to the UK economy?

I don’t think for one moment that public money should fund the career of any young racing driver. However, shouldn’t there be more balance? If that same £1.26 million allocated to Fencing over a four year period was also allocated to motor sports – what impact could that have on grass-roots participation?

The programme is headed by sports car driver David Brabham (son of three-times World Champion Jack Brabham) and aims to develop drivers with the skills they need to progress throughout their careers,  such as physical training, mind coaching, career management, sponsorship generation, promotion and media presentation.

A second tier to the programme was added for 2008 and the MSA British Race Academy give six other drivers access to similar facilities but whom are at earlier stages of their careers (this arguably, is more appropriate to me). The chosen Academy drivers were Jack Clarke (finishing 4th in Formula Palmer Audi), James Cole (finishing 10th in British Formula Ford),  Ollie Millroy (finishing 21st in Formula BMW Europe) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (finishing 13th in Formula BMW Europe).

In the name of transparency, I thought this year that I would post my MSA British Race Elite application online (well in advance of the 28/02 deadline).

I would like to think my application will be considered with optimism. In 2008, I didn’t really have much of a confirmed racing calendar, however this year is different. What’s more, I’d like to think that there are not many drivers applying who have won a national single seater championship, been Autosport Number 1 Club Driver of the Year and were part of major university’s Sports Bursary scheme for three years.

The Application

Personal Information

Name, Date of Birth, MSA License Number.

Statistics

Height: 179cm
Weight: 68kg
Do you smoke? No
Do you drink? No

Achievements

Academic Qualifications

University of Essex (2005-2008)
BSc Computer Science (First class)
2005, 2006 and 2007 University of Essex Sports Bursary Student

Colchester Institute (2003-2005)
BTEC National Diploma IT Practitioner

Gilberd School, Colchester (1998-2003)
GCSEs ommitted.

Racing Achievements

2007 Autosport Number One Club Driver of the Year
2007 UK Formula Vee Champion:

Formula Ford 1600 Festival:

Teams Driven For

• UK Formula Vee: AHS, GAC and Mark Dunham Racing
• British Formula Ford: Remita Racing
• Porsche 996 GT3 (Testing): Team Park Racing / Quaife / Racecar Engineering
• Formula Palmer Audi

Committed 2009 racing programme

• National Formula Ford 1600 Championship
• Midland South Formula Ford 1600 Championship
• Trophy Events:
  • BRDC Golden Helmet (Knockhill)
  • Castle Combe Carnival
  • Formula Ford 1600 Festival
  • Walter Hayes Trophy

Your Ambitions

I believe I have demonstrated my potential and I am keen now to prove myself against other talented drivers in more high profile series. I am sure that given the opportunity I could win at the highest level in single-seaters, touring cars or sports cars. In addition to this, I believe I work harder than any of young racing driver in the country both in order to fund my racing and in preparing myself physically for the year ahead.

Formula Vee has spawned champions at the highest levels before and I have prepared an appendix demonstrating how competitive Vee really is today. The data also demonstrates how successful I was in 2007 and why I believe I deserve the opportunity to take part in the MSA Race Elite scheme.

I say “kind of” because the Dunlop Race Academy has in fact been around since 2004. This year, however, is the first year in which the academy will focus on drivers who have already started their motorsport careers (that is, competition license holders). In previous years, only drivers with no prior motorsport experience have been eligible.

Arguably the Academy’s leading light is 2005 winner Simon Shaw, who has since been class Champion in the Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup before finishing runner-up overall in this years Championship.

So how does the 2009 Dunlop Race Academy work?

Well, it is the self-proclaimed Motorsport’s version of the ‘X Factor’ and from what I can gather the application process reflects that.

Each applicant is being asked to submit an “audition video of themselves online”. The Dunlop Race Academy Judges (currently unannounced – although previous judges have included GT-racer Callum Lockie, Mark Hales and Simon Shaw) are then expected to monitor the early season performance of the applicants and together with individual online votes (the exact ratio has not yet been announced) select six finalist drivers in June, one from each region of the country.

Following this, the finalists will be subject to a full day assessment and evaluation by the Dunlop Race Academy Judges where the six finalists will be reduced to just three.

Lastly, each of the three finalists will receive a drive in one of the final three Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup races of 2009. Ultimately, the overall winner will be the driver who most impresses the Judges during their weekend in the Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup and the recipient of a fully funded drive in the 2010 Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup.

And what do I make of it?

Well, first of all I think that Dunlop should be applauded for continuing its support for young racing drivers during this time of economic disaster. I think also, they should be applauded for offering opportunities to those both complete novices and those already involved within motorsport.

The Academy’s ambitious, X-Factor style, application process is probably unlikely to capture the nations attention with the same fondness that Simon Cowell‘s and Louis Walsh‘s did. However, if it encourages public interaction with the sport, at any level, this should be seen as positive.

And what is more, by encompassing online votes, the process becomes more transparent than any other scholarship out there. Sure, the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award does, in theory, include an element of public voting but such votes are considered an “indication” of which drivers to consider, rather than a means of selection. Again, this is extremely positive from Dunlop.

And last, the prize of a fully funded drive in 2010 is very unusual indeed. In fact, the Racing Steps Foundation are the only other party to offer such opportunity as neither the BRDC Rising Stars, BRDC Super Stars, MSA British Race Elite nor the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Scholarship does so.

What next?

As more details emerge, I will start work on my own application. Until then, I will continue to concentrate on making a memorable start to the year when National Formula Ford 1600 kicks off at Anglesey in April. Having worked more than 60-days straight (no days off) up until Christmas last year, I’m working as hard as I can to make the most of 2009.

I’ve already won one championship with Dunlop tyres – I’d like the opportunity to win another.

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?