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Rookie-2-Racer Competition 2015
Wed 04 Mar 2015
1st March 2015 Donington Park UK – 750 Motor Club in association with
TrackDriver Magazine held their 1st Rookie2Racer competition to find a rookie driver and turn them into a race car driver.
The day was hosted by the 750 Motor Club and lead by Carl Owen, Managing Editor of TrackDriver Magazine, Paul McErlean, 750MC Marketing & Communications & professional race car driver/instructor
Andrew Bentley (GT Cup).
The eight finalist spent the day at Donington Park and were put through their paces by Andrew in a Renault Megan Cup car on track and were also set a head to head challenge on the iRacing simulator in the pit garage between sessions.
None of the drivers had ever driven at Donington before so the first order of the day were some sighting laps on the simulator. Each driver had the opportunity to learn the track on iRacing before heading immediately out on track in the real car. The rookies we also treated to some hot laps in a ‘
Super-Cooper-Cup’ Mini Cooper-S race car courtesy of
EDMsport.
TrackDriver Managing Editor said “What was interesting was that between sessions on track I was able to take the drivers and work on their technique on the iRacing Simulator, then the drivers were able to go straight out again and put the new knowledge and skill into practice. At the end of the long seven hour day I was able to sit down with Andrew Bentley the instructor and go through the v-box GPS telemetry data for each driver and compare notes both on and off the track. What was interesting was that I had only seen the drivers on the sim, and Andrew had only seen the drivers in the real car and our findings were very similar”.
Taking the honours was Mark Neville from Somerset whose smooth driving style clinched it in the afternoon session. Form here Mark will get put through his ARDS race driving licence, receive a
custom HRX race suit, gloves and boots, as well as a
Hedtec helmet, and Custom Helmet bag from Caracalla. Then there will be some expert track tuition, and a race in a Super-Cooper-Cup Mini with the 750 Motor Club.
Follow Marks progress throughout the year and into his first ever race in TrackDriver Magazine!