Last week I took part in the Dragon Sport Scholarship shootout. Their aim was to find the next talented and aspiring endurance driver who would race alongside Rhys Lloyd in a fully funded seat for the 7 Rounds of the 2024 Britcar Trophy in the Clio Cup class.
All eligible entrants were invited to the assessment day at Blyton Park circuit, where not only their driving skills, but also media skills and fitness levels would be tested.
In addition to the amazing prize there was also a test day in a TCR car and a guest round in the Spanish endurance series at Barcelona. I would probably get a fair bit of family support at that, lol.
The day started with signing on briefing, and Max Coates gave an introduction to the team before we were split into 3 groups, ready to rotate through the three separate assessment stages, Driving, Media skills and Simulator, and Fitness. My day in my group would be in that order, I was a little nervous but glad to be doing the driving first even though the track was wet and the rain was intermittent, I was not looking forward to the Media Interview but not too worried about the fitness test. With three available cars we went on track three at a time with an instructor in the passenger seat, the car felt amazing and very different to anything I had driven before. The braking power and responsiveness of the steering surprised me. Afterwards I got good feedback about my braking technique and some advice on how to be smoother with the wheel.
While we waited our next turn I got some good general racing cars advice from Max Coates' dad, and saw a few familiar racing faces from the karting and car paddocks. For my second run in the car I had to take Max's Clio' which had been parked up on standby as one of the three Dragonsport ones they had been running developed a fault. I was happy that the tyres and brakes warmed up fast anyway, and buzzing because I had sat in this car a few years ago at the JPC Specialist Motorsport event at Croft daydreaming about driving it.
I went a bit quicker than my first session and thought it went well, again the feedback was good and I was given some pointers for the future while I hoped for another drive if I was to get through to the final list.
Next for my group was the Simulator driving and one by one we were called for our interview which was the part I wasn't particularly looking forward to. It was a nice friendly chat though really not too intense, I realised I probably should have researched about the team a bit more though.
The simulator session run by Sim Dynamics was good, running on iRacing which is my go to sim software, although the equipment and feedback felt very different to mine at home.
After lunch our group did the fitness assessment, this module was being run by Claire (@thenakedwarrior), a fitness and nutrition coach. It was pretty intense as she put us through our paces, with various exercises and a reaction test after stretching and warmup activity. My prep at the gym over the last few months and my natural stamina stood me in good stead, but I was glad I didn't get a different group where I had to drive straight after this, as my legs felt like jelly and were achy for a couple of days afterwards.
After everyone had completed the three modules it was time to head back to the briefing room to receive the good or bad news. For various reasons the day was running behind schedule and so instead of nine, the group would be reduced to just six hopeful finalists.
Sadly i didn't make it through, although they said that from 4th to 12th scoring for the last three places was very difficult to decide. I would like to think I was in that group of the top third, and feel that I probably need more experience in that class of car to be confident.
Although we had a longish drive home we hung around to watch the final six have a further assessment in the cars. Watching them it seemed clear that I didn't drive the car with as much aggression and commitment as this final group. We thanked the team, wished our friends luck, and said goodbye. Although I didn't get through it had still been an amazing experience with plenty of positives to take away from it.
Due to running out of daylight time the six were only whittled down to three in the end, with the remaining finalists, Harri Reynolds, Matt Hyde, and Jack James, to be invited to Brands Hatch for a final shootout day. On that day, Harri Reynolds was chosen as the eventual lucky winner. Congratulations!! what an amazing prize.
All photos credit Robert Borowik Media
Huge thanks to DragonSport, for the opportunity and everyone who helped them put on an amazing, well organised scholarship event, it was great to meet the team. Any day driving racecars round a track is a good day. Even though the outcome was not what I wanted I am so pleased I had a go at it. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about myself, which can only help me to improve and become a stronger competitor in the future.
Sandro#19
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