In the first of his post’s 16 year old Team Samco driver Olly Tuner, introduces how he got into the sport and a little bit more about his background. Over the course of the season we’ll aim to share a behind the scenes look at what it takes to go racing, train for racing, practice for racing and also balance school work, a personal life and even try and earn some money to go racing!
My name is Olly, and you may be wondering what a 16 year old is doing writing a blog! Thank you for popping by and taking the time to have a read.
I am just a normal lad, attending a normal school studying my GSCE’s this year. I enjoy rugby, cars and most importantly a complete love of Motorsport.
I am very fortunate to have parents who allowed me to really pursue my passion for cars and sport and at age 9 I had the opportunity to start stock car racing at oval tracks around the UK racing a scaled version of a American NASCAR in the UK junior series called JASCAR.
At age 12, although I often attended circuit races as a wide eyed spectator, I was introduced to, having won the Downforce under 13’s driver of the year, the idea of competing as a junior at iconic venues around the UK in one of the 4 junior circuit formulas aimed at 14-17 year old’s.
This was far out of our radar for us as a family- it is not a sport that we thought was even a possibility, knowing roughly the costs involved. However, this introduction didn’t deter us and for 2 years as a family we worked towards developing me as a driver and finding somehow as a family, a way towards the perceived impossible.
At 13 after some coaching at the excellent IZone Performance Centre at Silverstone, learning some crucial techniques that I still adopted and will continue to use and develop forever, I passed my circuit racing licence at Mallory Park first time having only driven a banged up Nova a couple of times at stock car tracks and a test at Blyton with the team I eventually started my circuit racing journey with- Jam Sport Racing.
Moving on a couple of years…..
I am now, because of shear stubbornness, hard work, a smidgen of natural ability and the belief of great people, about to enter year 3 of circuit racing, eyes firmly on becoming a professional racing driver competing in top tin top or sports car formulas around the world.
Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for the full launch of Olly’s Samco Sport liveried car and more updates from him and the rest of the family. Good luck for the season Olly!