F1 driver turned television pundit David Coulthard has visited a Brands Hatch trackday to meet and greet Club MSV guests for a BBC F1 feature.
The feature, due to be aired during the broadcaster’s European Grand Prix coverage in June is to promote National Motorsport Week, an initiative to encourage newcomers to the sport.
“Britain is the centre of the universe of motorsport,” said Coulthard. “There is so much history and heritage here and success with British engineers and design and racing drivers and all the rest of it and we need to keep feeding that.
“This (National Motorsport Week) creates a very accessible opportunity for people to go into racing which in the past wasn’t there. Typically motorsport was an expensive pastime and I think this (a car trackday) makes it a very affordable opportunity.”
Club MSV have a ‘Trackday Taster Session’ which allows novice drivers the chance to have 20 minutes on track in their own car for £25, a concept by which Coulthard was impressed.
“I think it’s a great initiative to get people out on track and into motorsport” he said. “Anyone that thinks they are Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button can take their own car out on track and find out if they have driving talent or not. The road is not the place to do that, but the race track is, and for £25 you can do that at the MSV circuits.
“I would never have thought you could do this. I literally could have driven down here in my M Class or my GL Mercedes, paid my money, put my crash helmet on and driven that car around the race track.
“If you’re a fan of motorsport you get to drive iconic race tracks like Brands Hatch, the home of the European and British Grand Prix in the past, and you can find out if you actually have car control and put your money where your mouth is.”
Alex Baker, Club MSV Manager, welcomed the Scots visit: “It was great that David could come and visit us at Brands Hatch,” he said. “Many people don’t realise that you can get out on the circuit from just £25, but the piece on the BBC as part of the National Motorsport Week should encourage more drivers and riders to come and give it a go.”