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Kingman Takes It From Twitter To The Track

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There are ways and means by getting on the motorsport ladder but Bristol’s Clayton Kingman‘s journey to the racetrack started two years ago thanks to a tweet that saw him start to walk the path.

The 25-year-old, who will compete in a Golf Mk3 VR6 in this year’s Dunlop V.A.G Trophy, has been hard at work along with David Vardy as the season is set to kick off this coming April at Silverstone. Vardy, who has worked with the likes of Andreas Mikkelsen in the IRC, was until recently working with Racing Line, part of the Volkswagen Motorsport division, started talking with Kingman and it all snowballed from there.

As with a lot of privateer outfits, there are budgets to be raised and cars to be built. Kingman recently spoke to theCheckeredFlag.co.uk, as he is hopeful to get up to the top step in his first racing year: “We’re aiming to get the car out this month to get some testing under our belt. Of course, my aim is to go out there and win races in class, but it depends on the car and getting the backing that we need.”

One of the many unique things that is different is the social media aspect of the project, is that they will be helping to provide exposure for the Wallace and Gromit Foundation, which is located not far from where Clayton lives.

It has no real media means, so there is not that much awareness of what they do, which gave us the idea of helping give them exposure through us. We’re going to be using their branding that will be created for us by PopBangColour’s Ian Cook on the roof of the car,” explained Kingman at the Garage 51 simulator venue, just based outside the centre of Northampton. “We’ll also be doing a black tie event later in the year, as well as taking the car to the annual golf day organised by Nick Parkes himself, with all the proceeds going to the charity itself.”

The working class aspect of the story itself is just one of the many factors that VrD Motorsport have taken as part of their ethos, as both Kingman and Vardy hope to inspire others to do the very same: “We had to create a story, something different, especially as we come from a working-class background and that we believe in a dream. We want to be a fans team at the end of the day.”

So there are those that have the easy way when it comes to going racing, but Kingman knew that it is no picnic when it comes to getting ready ahead of the year: “We both work five days a week and build the car at weekends. One of the key parts of the racing for me is when I am in the gym at 5.30 every morning for an hour. It is a part of the dedication that is required. I like to visit Garage 51, another one of our partners to use their BATAK machine, as it doesn’t just concentrate on mental focus, but it helps to train that aspect and develop it too.”

There is a steep slope to climb, but he feels that he is ready for the challenge and hopes to have the fans behind when he goes racing. TCF would like to wish Clayton, David and Vrd Motorsport all the very best of luck for the forthcoming season, and thank Clayton for his time in talking to us.

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