Racing With Praga - The Journey To 'The Big Race' 24 Jan 2021
Believe me when I say that even though racing has always been a dream goal, I never thought I would ever be entering this level of motorsport let alone so soon!
My dad was never interested in football or rugby when I was growing up, so instead we had the sound of motorsport echoing from the TV in our house. I think therefore my interest in cars and racing stems, quite simply, from sharing my dad’s passion, the unavoidable presence of Formula 1 in the house and the intoxicating sound that drew me to the TV in the first place.
We didn’t have the money to go ‘proper’ racing, even karting at a decent level is ridiculously expensive, so I would usually get my fix at the local rent-a-kart track on the occasional weekend, but even those fleeting experiences were enough to get the bug!
While I’ve been fortunate that my career has given me access to some incredible road cars, it has taken me until the ripe age of 33 to begin racing thanks to the incredible Caterham Academy series, a platform that taught me so much about this life affirming sport.
Team JWW has been working tirelessly behind the scenes on some incredible projects soon to be announced in 2021 but one we can finally announce is our partnership with Praga - beginning the journey of endurance racing in the Britcar Championship driving Praga R1T Evo racing car.
I am under no illusion that this journey is going to take a lot of preparation! On the outside it looks like a lot of fun to go racing in such an awesome looking car and, while yes certainly there is a huge element of that, this is also no small undertaking, it will require deep commitment through a lot of time on track, participating in many races, testing, training, simulator sessions and even exercise and dietary upgrades but - what is life without goals and challenges and ultimately I am hoping this will lead to us working our way through the ranks to the ultimate endurance race of all, the name I dare not even mention at this stage!
The journey begins with Praga in the 2021 Britcar Championship, a series which Praga dominated and won in the 2020 season. This series is an incredible step toward the world of endurance racing, as the championship and the Praga R1T Evo enter the realms of high downforce racing; two fundamental challenges I’ll need to have mastered if I’m ever to make it to 'the big race'!
The Praga is an incredible race car, constructed around a beautiful FIA spec carbon monocoque, the car weighs just 620kg. The 2.0L Renault Sport engine develops 380bhp but importantly the car utilises Prototype LMP style aero, capable of generating downforce 1.5 times its own weight. All of this performance is pushed into the circuit through sticky, slick racing tyres generating up to 3G of cornering force.
For the majority of events in Britcar the format is typically hour long races shared with a team mate, likely resulting in 30 minutes of driving each depending on team strategy. Before any of this however will be plenty of testing and car setup in the months leading up to the first race toward the end of March. There is also the additional challenge of swapping drivers quickly and efficiently mid race! A moment that requires a lot of practice with my team mate to optimise our techniques so not to lose too much time in the pits. Oddly this is one of the primary reasons I am looking forward to endurance racing, the team work!
I’m truly thankful to the whole of Team JWW for their work behind the scenes to pull this off and it’s awesome to be partnering with Praga who make one of the most exciting racing cars out there!
This is just the beginning, let me know in the comments below what you’d like to see from this journey!