My First Year as a Racing Driver

The ups and downs of my first year as a Racing Driver in the Porsche Club GB Boxster Cup could not have been more unpredictable.

With a mix of anxiety, excitement, disappointment, collisions and success. All of this while developing amazing camaraderie with my fellow drivers – both gladiatorially speaking on track while building friendships off track.

Season Preparation

In late 2020 my race trainer of two years, Nick Arnold, who has not only been my trainer and mentor but has become a great friend, introduced me to what was to become a superb team of people at PARR Motorsports.

PARR has racing in their DNA and would go on to support me and the car during the year. If you imagine a toned-down version of what you see in the F1 teams on TV then it is very similar to that. With Paul Robe as Team Principle, Declan as Chief Mechanic and Sam as my one on one support. He straps me in the car at every training and race day and developed a strict routine with me that can only be described as Groundhog Day on race days. Sam later became my Drift instructor and even set me up with a simulator at home.

My Sponsor United Washrooms

What you often don’t see in F1 is the person or people behind the scenes.

My sponsor United Washrooms has supported the car on test and race days both financially and as spectators. The pressure is always present for the driver to do a good job in the race for them.

Back at PARRs base, Indiya, Paul Robes’ daughter is most defiantly a chip off the old block. Indiya has amazing mechanical knowledge and also planning skills. She coordinated everything for the year ahead from testing, to racing, race car preparation, organising the team and even instructors. So, I am supported by the best all-round professional and enthusiastic support team that I could ask for.

In late December the new race car that Paul Robe had found for me had a shakedown at Brands Hatch which basically means – I had to push it as hard as I could – to find out: worst-case what falls off or goes wrong and best case what subtle adjustments need making to the set-up.

The Notorious Craner Curves

My first race in 2021 was to be Donnington Park where I would come face to face with the ballsy and notorious Craner Curves which has ended the race of many a driver.

In early Spring testing started at Donnington with the help of a different instructor, who was an ex-Formula driver. He had won the Asian GP and taught me how to use the data from the Vbox that was fitted in the car. This tells you everything you need to know about your driving, as a comparison against a pro-drivers reference lap data, this meant I could see how hard, light early or late I was braking or getting on throttle and what steering angle I had.

After doing a couple of full 360 spins on the Craner Curves and spending half the time looking in my mirrors for low-level Formula race cars (and once even a Formula 1 car), I was getting pretty handy and finally, I was able to hold my balls tight enough to keep the throttle flat all the way through the Craner Curves. I was now ready for my first race…

Written by: Pete Evans