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Collins’ insight into a motor racing career
FOR someone who by their own admission spent most of his teenage years bunking off from school, Sam Collins has achieved a lot.
Collins, who is from Beckenham, has a unique ambition – to be the first black driver to compete in the World Rally Championships.
SS, as he Sam prefers to be known, said: “Last weekend, I took part in my first ever single-seater race at Silverstone.
“I raced in Formula Vee, a series that has kicked off the careers of many top racing drivers including Niki Lauda.
“I decided to race in this series because its so competitive.”
SS added: “I’m hiring a car to race in this season and each race will cost me more than £600. I have no sponsorship, so I spend most of my wages on motorsport.
“However, I have just bought a very special classic race car.
“It’s a 1968 Austro, a car designed and built by Porsche which won the 1971 British Championship, driven by Brian Henton who went on to race in Formula One.
“I found the car in pieces buried under a pile of junk in a garage. Now I’m restoring it to race next season.
“It’s like a big airfix kit where someone has thrown away the instructions and added some other random bits.”
SS works in the classified advertising sales department for Motorsport News, alongside Bromley’s British Touring Car Championship driver Gareth Howell.
SS added: “I went to St. John Rigby School but bunked off loads of times just to read Autosport magazine.
“From 1998 to 2000, I studied motorsport engineering at East Surrey College and later joined Sevenoaks & District Motor Club after watching my first-ever motor sport event at Crystal Palace in 1997.
“I then drove in my first-ever race at Lydden Hill as part of a college project to build and race a Fiesta XR2, the written part of the project which eventually evolved into my book.
“From 2000 to 2002, I studied at Oxford Brookes University but used to bunk off lots of times ro go rallying and karting!
“Last year, I left university and formed Roots Racing with Top Gears’ ‘Fasta Rasta’ Olevi Doctrove and Plumstead’s Naftali Ayieko, who was the first black racing driver in this country and one of only four in the UK. I became the second!
“Roots racing is the world’s only black-only racing team, and I started taking rallying a bit more seriously and drove in the Rally 2002 Championship, with lots of strong results including two class wins.
“Those results enabled me to win Sevenoaks & District Motor Club’s most promising newcomer to rallying award at the end of the year.
“This year started well with Roots competing in the Uniroyal VW team challenge, taking part in four-hour endurance races.”
So what’s this about you writing a book then, SS? “There is a big missing start-point for any wannabe motorsport competitor.
“Getting Started in Motorsport contains all the basic knowledge needed to get involved in modern British motorsport.
“It covers all the major disciplines in club motorsport and how to start competing in them.
Written for novices, all the advice is based on the first-hand experiences of a novice competitor — me.”
Geting Started in Motorsport, features:
The complete guide to starting motorsport as an amateur
Written by a beginner for beginners
Covers all the major disciplines
Every discipline featured was competed in by the author
The history of every major discipline
Contains personal experiences of debut events
Advice from experienced competitors
No complete guide written for a decade until now
Some stunning photos by Andy Manston
Unique glossary of motorsport terminology
Priced at £17.99, Getting Started in Motorsport, is published by Veloce
You can order it by calling 01305 260068 or online at: www.veloce.co.uk or from most good books shops.
10:34am Tuesday 26th August 2003
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