With the 2012 season now complete, 5 rounds and 13 races in the bag, its time to reflect on my rookie year in motorsport.

There’s no doubt that its been an expensive undertaking – they do say that one of the quickest ways to make £1M is to start with £5M and enter motorsport. If you’re interested in taking part yourself, my recommendation would be to avoid doing things on an over-strict budget – at least in your first season – because it can be a serious waste of money if your car lets you down. There are no refunds of race fees, etc. if your car decides to pack up during qualifying. If you can afford to buy a car yourself, this will save hire costs, and you can still have a support team run the car for you. Alternatively you can follow what I did and choose an “arrive and drive” package where you hire the car on a per-race basis and the team do all the work – except drive it!

So now the season is over, what happens next? It will be a little while before we get the timetables for 2013, followed by a 5-month wait for the first race. It is my sincere hope to do more race weekends in 2013 than this year, both in the BRSCC Porsche Championship and guesting in other series at the circuits I’ve already raced. I vowed not to race at any circuit that I hadn’t already been coached on and I kept to that rule; now I need to build on that coaching with more track time.

Ideally I would like to bring in some additional sponsorship money, so if there’s anyone out there interested in buying advertising space on the car, which will be seen on TV, the web and various social media websites, please do get in touch. In exchange you also get mention in the event programme, free entry tickets to the relevant races, photos of the car both in the garages and on track that you can use in your own promotional material. Pay more and you can enjoy passenger laps in the car at a track day near you. Newbridge Motorsport are holding an open day on Sunday 28th October if you would like to visit to see the car and workshops and to meet the team.

Entering motorsport has been a fantastic experience – something I never even remotely considered. I have met a most fantastic group of people – the camaraderie of club-level racing is unmatched. The feeling you get actually being in the race, chasing and competing with other cars, is almost indescribable.

Some of the highs:

• Getting through my first race unscathed
• Being interviewed as a driver
• Seeing my times improve across the rounds (even though I only avoided being last in class twice!)
• Filling my MSA license upgrade card (National A next year)
• Meeting past and current F1 drivers
• Sharing the post-race banter with such a great bunch of drivers

And I have to personally thank:

• RMK Media, for sponsoring me
• Richard Tovey and all the guys (and girl) at Newbridge Motorsport, for looking after both me and the car (sorry I couldn’t quite finish the season without any DNFs, Richard!)
• Malcolm Edeson, for the majority of my coaching
• Rebecca Jackson, for being both my inspiration and such a great friend
• Rick Styrin for his constant support and encouragement
• John Clarke and Nick Hull for running the series
• The BRSCC staff and marshals for looking after us at race meetings

See you next year!