A NEW SERIES FOR THE ELITE
Among the hundreds of stands at Autosport International earlier this month there was one in particular that was making its first appearance at the event.
Located just a few yards away from the main entrance at Birmingham’s NEC it was difficult to miss, but bared a name that unsurprisingly not many people will have heard of before… until now.
Series Elite is a new category for 2019 and fundamentally is aimed at motorsport enthusiasts over the age of 40 who want to go racing.
It will be run under the British Automobile Racing Club banner and will hold five rounds in the UK at Brands Hatch (twice), Silverstone, Donington Park and Snetterton, as well as a sixth round at the Algarve circuit. Featuring a Pro and Am class, each weekend will consist of practice, qualifying and two races of 20 and 30 minutes in length.
It’s the brainchild of Graeme Glew, father of 2009 Renault UK Clio Cup champion Phil, who is no stranger to the world of motorsport.
Having formed his own Formula Ford team and racing school at Cadwell Park in the 1980s, he brought through young talent such as future Formula 1 driver Julian Bailey before moving into sports management.
He believes there is a gap in the motorsport market for a series aimed at wealthy individuals who want a VIP experience as well as to go racing.
“I’ve spent all my motorsport career introducing young drivers [into the sport] and unfortunately in many cases the young drivers now have to come from a wealthy background,” he says.
“So I suddenly thought to myself ‘well who can afford to go racing?’ and then you look at all the trackdays around the UK and you think those are the guys that become addicted because they get the cars, they go on track but what do they do next?
“They do Series Elite. They come and buy a car that’s equally as powerful as what they’ve been used to and have some fun with it against like-minded people.”
Two of the cars that Glew speaks of were on show at Autosport International having been converted into race-spec.
They are Jaguar XE Project 8 SVO cars, boasting a V8 five-litre supercharged petrol engine capable of just under 600bhp, Pirelli Trofeo tyres, eight-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive.
It’s an impressive piece of kit and Glew states that nearly 60 drivers have tested the machines, of which Jaguar have limited production to only 300.
At least 20 of them have been purchased by Series Elite with drivers able to finance, rent or buy the cars outright.
But initially it wasn’t Glew’s first choice when he conceived the idea for the series and approached Jaguar two years ago.
“We had a situation where were going to use the Jaguar F-type GT4 spec car which we launched back in April 2018,” recalls Glew. “Then Jaguar said they weren’t going to proceed with the GT4 programme but would we like to test the Project 8 car?”
It’s not the only change to have taken place, with the age limit dropped from 50 to 40 after two drivers under the original age limit approached Glew wanting to race.
“Rather than turn them away we said ‘right, the minimum age is 40 now’ and that’s the reason that we did that,” adds Glew.
The fleet of Project 8 cars will be run centrally by Slidesports, creating a one-make arrive-and-drive experience, and Glew hopes the new series can have 12 cars on the grid for its opening round in May but is wary of the pitfalls that trying to start a new series brings.
“Nothing is more frustrating to me at the moment than people who have tested the car and say ‘yes I’m interested, I want to race this car but I want to see how it goes first’ but that’s the same with anything that’s new,” he says.
“Year one is a series, year two will be a championship and then we’ll attempt to try and get on a specific calendar. The BARC have been very, very accommodating, we’re going to support a couple of truck races, we’re going to support a classic car event, so we’re kind of a guest appearance at the moment at each event.”
Drivers planning to enter Series Elite can earn their ARDS racing licence through the series on a fasttrack course, which will also be done in tandem with Ferrari Challenge UK.
Like Series Elite, the BRSCC-RUN Ferrari Challenge UK is new for this year and could even be considered a rival series as it tries to attract a similar demographic of driver.
But Glew is keen to point out his series is specifically catered for the elder ‘gentleman’ driver who may have raced in their younger days or fancy taking up the sport now.
“It’s very important that we have, nothing against the young driver coaches, but we want a more mature driver coach because that’s what our drivers want,” says Glew.
“One of our coaches is Ray Grimes whose been around a long time and he started with me at my racing school 30-40 years ago.
“So it’s important to get the right level of coaching, the right level of hospitality and the right level of events [for our clients].”
And while the series could just be seen as an exclusive VIP racing club, Glew also wants to make sure that drivers are given every possible opportunity to improve.
“These guys need to know that being a racing driver isn’t just about driving a car around a track, and people like izone will teach them things about eye-track, they’ve got the simulators, reaction test and really what we’re trying to do is take these 40-year-old plus drivers and turn them into young drivers,” says Glew.
“Nobody has said what a ridiculous idea, or this isn’t going to work, everyone says what a great concept and to partner somebody like Jaguar is superb.”
Getting a new racing series off the ground is hard enough, let alone creating one that’s successful, and it’s unclear yet whether Series Elite is a name that motorsport enthusiasts will begin to remember or if it is another new series which will fade into obscurity. ■