 Clubs & Memberships: What is it about men, statistics and cars? We can't so much as mention the word "Ferrari" without reeling off a barrage of Top Trumps telemetry lionizing Maranello's newest trinket. Arm chair enthusiasts, the lot of us.
The hoarding of such mindless numbers however clouds an inconvenient truth; a machine is only ever as good as its master. An Aston Martin can be as quick as it likes from 0-60mph, but as long as Grandma's behind the wheel, it's unlikely we'll be hearing of any new lap records around the Nordschliefe.
Sure, keeping it in a straight line shouldn't be a problem. And in this age of high-tech, sophisticated driver aids, most can tackle corners too. But proper drivers? Ones with the ability to experience the sheer, unadulterated, thrill of drifting their own supercar in a perfectly balanced, high-speed power slide through the apex of a corner, controlling the throttle with the precision of a trapeze artist? No. Thankfully though, help is at hand.
The Drivers Club - is the brainchild of professional Le Mans and Porsche racing team Jota Sport and its aim is a simple one; to provide a bespoke motorsport schooling package for just a handful of clients each year.
"Membership openings are extremely limited," says Sam Hancock, club founder and professional racing driver. "We try to offer the best of the best in terms of our training programmes and driving experiences and fewer members means that each individual can enjoy an utterly tailor-made service, without compromise."
Of the lucky few to have sampled this highly exclusive, private driver training service, only a fraction are experienced racers. And while they may all share a common passion for motor sport and exquisite automobiles (many are indeed serious car collectors), they often vary in their preferred area of the sport and style of car that they wish to race.
"It's quite natural," says Hancock. "Some have grown up on a diet of Formula 1 and the likes of Senna, Mansell and Prost and therefore are biased towards single-seaters and contemporary Formula 1 cars, whilst others perhaps prefer the world of sportscar and GT racing and would give their eye-teeth to race at Le Mans one day in the 24 Hours. Whatever the goal, be it in modern or historic racing machinery, we're here to make it happen and manage every single step of the programme along the way."
The Drivers Club suggests that anyone - even if they have little or no circuit driving experience - can be groomed to compete in a world-class sporting event such as Le Mans. "Absolutely," says Hancock, a former Le Mans Series Champion himself. "And it doesn?t have to take that long either. We have a member at the moment who a little over a year ago had never even visited a racing circuit. He's an incredibly successful businessman, very driven, very determined and fancied a new challenge. With our help he won a race on his debut weekend earlier this year and has gone on to record pole positions and many podiums since. In fact, his progress has been astonishing and he?s bang on track to make a highly competitive Le Mans debut in 2011."
It seems that the training technologies used by the Club's hand-picked team of coaches are partly responsible for such rapid driver development and are an example of the benefit of the club being masterminded by a current, world-class professional race team, as Hancock explains; "Every single training vehicle we use carries cutting-edge data logging systems, equivalent to and in some cases even better than those we use on our Le Mans and Porsche Supercup race cars. We then pair this up with high quality onboard video cameras and helmet radio systems which allow the driver to speak to his coach and vice versa and the result is that we see everything - there is nowhere for those bad habits to hide."
F1 and Le Mans, gadgets and gizmos; sounds great, but what does it cost? As a starting point The Drivers Club offers private membership taster days for £5,000 during which you'll get to experience three or four types of vehicle from a single-seater Formula Renault, a fully race-prepared Radical SR3 reminiscent of a Le Mans prototype, and the extraordinary Koenigsegg CCR supercar capable of well over 200mph. "We try to provide a taste of different types of machinery to help you decide which direction you might pursue with your longer-term training programme," adds Sam. "Even as a one-off gift it's an extraordinary day out; a private circuit, a private coach, a whole team of uniformed mechanics, trucks and support equipment there for you and you alone? it's the true professional racing driver experience."
From there the price steepens depending on the content of your preferred programme. For an intensive fifty days per-year of training and racing at an entry level of the sport, expect to spend upwards of £50,000 and quadruple that for the later stages of your programme if your goals are to contest seriously powerful racing cars such as Le Mans and F1 machinery.
So there it is, an extraordinary opportunity to scoff in the face of the statistical bores and join an elite group of drivers who can walk the walk as well as they talk the talk.
For further information please visit:
www.jotasport.com/driversclub
By Tom Hornsby |
CLUBS & MEMBERSHIPS
CLUBS & MEMBERSHIPS
CLUBS & MEMBERSHIPS
CLUBS & MEMBERSHIPS
