THE POWER BEHIND THE ON-TRACK GLORY
Behind every g rea tb tccd river, there is a dedicated partner.
Those moments when a driver stands on the top step of the British Touring Car Championship rostrum mark the summit of years of effort that has gone in on and off the circuit, and it is not just about the hours spent in the workshop or the miles of testing and preparation.
Whatever happens on the track, drivers will then go home to their partners and families. The champagne is nowhere to be seen and life has to go on – whether the weekend before has been strong or a disaster.
Drivers’ partners have many different roles over the course of a race event and there has to be a strategy as to how to cope with the highs and lows.
There are several roles the girls perform at a meeting. For example, champion Colin Turkington’s wife Louise looks after the commercial and performance aspect of her Bmw-driving husband over the course of the event.
Louise explains: “I am the eyes and ears on the ground and I have no hidden agenda other than to have Colin’s best interests. Wherever that takes me, or whoever I have to speak to or whatever I have to do, that’s for Colin.
“It’s up to me to remove distractions and manage his energies so that his complete focus is on his own performance.”
The Turkingtons have been together since 1999 and the relationship between them has evolved over the seasons that they have spent at the forefront of the BTCC.
Louise says: “It is not easy but it is instinctive. I understand what he needs and that helps because I am as passionate about the end result as he is. It has almost become like a kindred spirit. If we communicate or we don’t communicate, we are both on the same page.”
Toyota Avensis driver Tom Ingram was the runner-up in the championship in 2018, and his partner Laura Drysdale is a constant at every race meeting. However, she is rarely in the pitlane, as she has a hands-on role with the running of the Speedworks Motorsport team in the hospitality unit.
“It is actually a treat that Tom is busy when he is at a race meeting: it’s awesome,” she says. “We are a bit like ships in the night. Tom is one person, and I have anywhere between 70 to 100 people to look after in hospitality. They are my focus for the day.”
It seems leaving a driver to it is a popular way of coping. Three-time race winner Rob Austin’s wife Lucy says the race weekend doesn’t only start when the Alfa Romeo driver turns up at a race circuit.
“The run up to the race weekend can be quite up and down,” explains Lucy. “Rob could be a bit stressed or he could be looking forward to it. There are a whole range of emotions going through him. He likes to be prepared. Everything has to be right – so I kind of just leave him to it.
“Over the race weekend, even if he has won a race or been on the podium, I am not there. It is the engineer, mechanics, it is the team manager: it is all those people who have helped him to get there that should be there. It’s not me really: they are the ones who get their hands dirty and do the hard work.”
There are different approaches as to how to deal with the driver on race day, there has to be a coping mechanism. If the racer has had a bad weekend and had a dent in their title hopes, it can be tough for the partner.
Laura Drysdale explains that she has ironed out the peaks and troughs that Ingram might have experienced over the campaign, particularly if it went badly.
“He used to get very overemotional and upset,” explains Laura. “But I didn’t sign up to deal with that sh*t, so I had to stop it. I couldn’t deal with him being this prima donna, I didn’t want that. I started to train him: I used a distraction technique. We would find the nearest Mcdonalds to the circuit. Big Mac, chicken nuggets, fries – usually a milkshake too. That sorts it out and then we can have a conversation.”
Then, on the flip side, there’s the joy of a strong weekend. There were many of those for Ingram in 2018, and again, it is another food outlet that feels the benefit.
“After a good weekend, it is podium pizza,” says Laura. “As soon as we get out of the track. Then on Monday, we will go out and do an activity together as a couple, usually involving animals. An animal farm somewhere: we both love llamas. They are cuddly, approachable and nice – just ask [BTCC boss and former llama owner] Alan Gow.”
Louise, too, knows that a tough weekend can have an impact but the Turkingtons have a more pragmatic attitude to the rollercoaster rides of motorsport – especially reflecting on Donington Park in April, where the three races yielded just six points after some mechanical woes.
“It is instinctive. You just know what to do,” says Louise. “But it’s funny you mention Donington. The first thing I thought was ‘sh*t, I don’t know where this chapter is in my manual [of how to look after Colin]!’ It was unchartered territory – and how do you find a positive in that situation? Because everything that could possibly have gone wrong. But you have to try and keep the focus on the end goal. You can’t get pulled down by the lows and you can’t ride the highs too high.
“He responds to empathy and tough love. I will tell him it as it is. The facts. I am not afraid to tell him what the situation is: I won’t pussyfoot around him. He responds well to a positive attitude, not sympathy. He really has got his head together and it’s up to me to compliment that. He does the same with me. We work really well together.”
Lucy Austin explains that her husband’s attitude after a bad weekend can take a while to defrost, but he generally recovers quickly.
Lucy says: “The good thing about Rob is that if he has had a sh*t weekend, he will have an hour to himself where he feels down or whatever and gathers his thoughts, but then he will just get on with it. He will quickly start becoming positive again.
“By Monday morning, he is absolutely fine. He puts it behind him, he thinks about the weekend and looks at what’s happened and he just gets on with it. Rob just gets on with life and moves on. It is about what’s next.”
Louise Turkington says that the highpoints along the way are just staging posts along the season-long campaign. It is not until the final chequered flag of the season and the final points totals have been counted up that the couple can truly enjoy what they’ve been through.
“Then the emotions come out,” says Louise. “That is the finish line for us. And that’s when you start to see what you’ve done and how far you’ve come.”
And while it was Colin Turkington who stood on the top step of the rostrum at Brands Hatch to collect the silverware, it wasn’t long before he was joined by Louise and his boys Adam and Lewis. That is one of the unseen measures of what goes into making a successful driver. ■