Hopefully you would have seen the recently aired inspirational film on SkySports about our friends, Team BRIT. Motor-Vision supports the British Racing Injured Troops and we’ve followed their progress as they continue to provide the chance for ex-soldiers with life changing injuries to take part in thrilling endurance races across the world.
Back in April, Team BRIT took part in the Silverstone 24 Hour Race with 2 extraordinary drivers- Martyn Compton and Mark Allen- who also recently visited the Grove & Dean team at their annual staff Strategy Day in London in May. (Check out the post if you missed it – https://smart-motoring.com/latest-news/team-brit-an-inspirational-introduction/ )
The fleet: Team BRIT always use customised cars, modified around the drivers and the VW Racing Golf MK6 that the team used at Silverstone was no different, fitted with motorsport standard hand controls for Mark as well as standard pedals for Martyn.
Many might think that Team BRIT is a charity based team but they operate like any other racing group. Team principal Dave Player explains; “The drivers have to work for their seat like any other racing driver. They don’t race for free, they have to work. The whole idea is to teach the drivers, injured troops, all about the sponsorship and what companies expect from sponsorship. It’s not ‘we’re doing the London Marathon, will you sponsor me?’ It is corporate sponsorship and advertising. It’s trying to work out what we can bring to each different company. We hold workshops and so the lads have to go out and contact companies and so far we’ve had a really good success rate.”
Silverstone was the team’s first 24 hour race and the team got off to a great start, climbing as high as 2nd in class. Unfortunately, the gruelling aspect of a 24 hour race took its toll on the car and soon after sunrise a gearbox problem forced them off the track for 2 hours. The team did manage to finish the race in a respectable 10th in class, a valiant effort for a team that was taking part in their first ever 24 hour race.
The inspirational story of Team BRIT caught the attention of Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who invited the team to their studios in London and the band are now one of the team’s main sponsors, as you can see on the team’s car below.
Since Silverstone, Martyn and Mark have left Team BRIT to further pursue a career within racing and now the team are starting a new generation with 3 rookie drivers (Mike Lewis, Warren McKinlay & Joe Byrne) who are looking to take the team to their ultimate goal of taking part in the Le Mans 24 hours race.
Team BRIT’s next project is the Fun Cup Series. A Series that is mainly based in the UK and Belgium, with races from 4 hours all the way to the main race at Spa which lasts for 25 hours. The unique aspect of this series is that all the cars are identical in specification with single-seaters cars along with super-strong space frame chassis, powered by an 1800cc, 130 bhp VW/Audi petrol engine and Sadev sequential gearbox. The Team BRIT car will look something like this (below).
Images Courtesy of: Scruffy Bear Pictures
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