ROYCE-ZONE
Boyband star is successful GT driver but he’s got a more familiar trophy in sight
Maggie Barry
Singer Shane Lynch is vying with three of his mates for the Christmas No1, with a re-release of the East 17 hit Stay Another Day.
But performing is not the only passion for the former Boyzone band member.
He grew up in a motor racing family with the smell of the pit lane one of the most vivid memories of his childhood.
For 20 years, he raced cars himself – competing in GT, rallying, the Porsche Cup, racing Fords, Legends, and finally spending 10 years drift racing with Team Japspeed.
So how do his two pasisons compare? Shane pauses for a moment. He said: “On stage is something where you’re fed from an audience. The better the audience, their vibe is what you feed off of and, the louder they are, the more energy you have almost.
“In a race car it’s very different. If you’re at the back of the pack and trying to chase down it can be exhilarating. If you’re leading in the front and the pack’s behind you, it’s exhilarating and, if you’re toughing around in the middle, it’s the same. It’s just mad exciting.
“But it’s your own world, your own space, your own control. It’s big and it’s open and it’s vast and you like go with the crowd.”
One of his favourite venues in the UK is Knockhill in Fife where he raced in
GT and dri f ting and credits the instructors there as some of the best.
“One of them showed me how to drive the circuit and, after that, I always came home from there with a trophy,” he said.
Shane has put his racing days behind him now and instead gets a kick out of buying and customising new cars – lots of them.
He said: “I buy cars and I get them customed and that usually takes six months to a year to come in.
“At the moment, I’ve got a couple of G Wagons – one is kind of built into what’s called a square.
“It comes with a load of axle clearance so it’s not just a body jack for an off-road, it’s kind of jacked from the axle. It’s a
big build and it’s nearly finished, and then I have my black Rolls-Royce, a 1979 Si lver Shadow, and basica l ly it’s custom arched, it’s on air ride suspension and it’s got a drag box inside it – it’s a pretty trick machine actually.
“There’s quite a lot of machines floating around.”
Indeed, there’s the black Lamborghini Diablo, the black RS GT3 Porsche, the 1993 black Ford F350 pickup truck and his favourite the black AE86 twin cam Toyota Corolla. He is a one kind of colour man.
This year, meanwhile, the trophy he is seeking is slightly different. It is the No1 spot in the music charts.
Stay Another Day making its bid for Christmas stardom, sung by Shane,
Dane Bowers, Ben Ofoedu and Abz Love – collectively known as Boyz on Block.
And for the first time in 13 years, Shane will be able to watch its progress because he will be home for Christmas.
Not a lot of people know this but the ex-Boyzone star is normally in panto at this time of year (Oh yes, he is).
Will he be out for a bracing walk with the family – or maybe a bracing drive?
“No,” he said, his musical Irish accent still as strong as when he first walked on to the stage.
“But this is going to be a lovely, lovely Christmas. I’m really looking forward to it.
“I’ll sit there sipping champagne in my boxer shorts and go absolutely nowhere.”