Question: Jeroen within the last few years, you have managed to win the Porsche Super Cup as well as the 24 hr Le Mans in 2008. At this stage of your career, what do you do to continue improving and motivating yourself?

I just love racing cars, so it’s not hard to get motivation. Every time I step into a car I love it. Hopefully I will be in a position to win the big races like Le Mans overall and work with big manufacturers. That is my aim at the moment. Also I could imagine having a career in the US, after joining the American Le Man Series for this year.

Question: We know that as proficient you are in a Touring car, you’re just as proficient in a Formula car as you’ve also driven for A1 Team Netherlands before. But in your opinion, how does a driver know what route is better for them? GT Cars or Formula Single Seaters?

That’s hard to say. Most of the time you need to bring money to the team in Formula racing. So if you don’t have big sponsors it’s better to focus on GT racing, because there, it is easier to make money. That’s what I did. But when you have a lot of funds behind you and you believe you can make it then maybe it is worth to get your hands into Formula cars. I think a good driver can be quick in both, so that doesn’t matter. If you’re experienced and quick in both types of cars, then the versatility of your skill can get you paid.

Question: There are many kids out there struggling to find sponsors to fund their racing. What is the best kind of advice you can provide them?

If you’re struggling to have the budget for racing try to find seats where the teams have money. And do many things at the same time, one thing can lead to another. And that means you could do some karting or some touring car at the same time. You never know where your next big potential sponsor might be watching you.

Question: If you had to rank these choices in level of importance, how will you rank it starting from the most important?

• Fitness Training
• Driver Training
• Psychological Training
• Race Experience

I feel that all of them are very important but here will be my list in order of importance.

1)   Race Experience

2)   Driver Training

3)   Fitness Training

4)   Psychological and mental training

Question: Being the son of a ex Formula 1 Driver must have been quite an advantage to you. Other than your father, is there anyone else that was pinnacle to helping you develop your race craft to the stage it is today?

I’ve had help from a lot of nice people around me, but at the end of the day I do most of the things myself as ultimately, I’m the driver that sponsors are looking at. My father’s contacts can only get me so far. This works for me well. And it’s always good to have experienced people around you who can help you out or give advice. I can understand the direction of my career a lot more easily with advice, so it is very important to have experienced and knowledgeable people around you all the time.

Question: For Kids that wish to drive in drive in a Le Mans Car one day, what series will you recommend they take part in as a way to gain sponsors attention and also to train their race craft?

The best way to get to Le Mans is to do GT racing. Of course Le Man Series or American Le Man Series is great, because those are the same cars that will be competing in your class. But as a start, series like the Porsche Supercup is also very good for learning and it would mean a lot in the eyes of sponsors and teams if you win.

They can start maybe in local GT racing. I also drive in our Dutch GT4 championship and that would be a nice series to start. I think most countries have a nice GT championship. So start with the local races and learn from there as it is cheaper and then move on to something like Porsche Supercup for more exposure and experience.

Question: Last but not least, Any kind advice for the kids in relation to development of their careers?

Work hard and try to get nice people around you. Any help you can get, take it. Remember that winning is always good for your career. Even if you have to take a step back it doesn’t matter, as long as you win. Winning will only make your profile more glamorous and easy to recognize.

Global Racing Schools will like to thank Jeroen for his time in granting us this interview.

Driver: EFTYHIOS ELLINAS

Eftyhios is an extremely talented young driver that has plenty of experience in local and international karting events. Eftyhios is a world Champion in the Vortex ROK Cup and also a Cyprus Rotax National Champion. However the problem is that funding is coming as an issue for Eftyhios as he is moving up the ladder to higher forms of motorsport. Although he is talented, the cost of driving in Formula BMW is simply something that is not easy for him to be able to fork out by himself. In Europe, the cost for 1 season in Formula BMW may cost as much as Euro 450,000 inclusive of training and testing sessions for the driver.

So he approached Global Racing Schools for help on this issue and we were more than happy to put him inside our Driver assessment program that is aimed at finding the best driver to sponsor right up to Formula 1 level. So on 23rd Oct 2009, he arrived in Leicester, UK for his driver test with our top world renowned coaches from the industry.

There were a total of 8 drivers for the day. The number of drivers were kept as low as possible so as to ensure that only the highest level of attention was given to individual drivers. Eftyhios  arrived on track at 8.45 and was invited to the VIP Hospitality tent to have breakfast and some refreshments while the briefing commerced.

Eftyhios was then introduced to the all the coaches and chief instructor, Rob Wilson.  Rob Wilson needs no introduction to motor sport enthusiasts around the globe. A fast and successful competitor in all types of racing cars for the past 33 years, Rob is a highly respected driving guru of a number of today’s leading F1, GP2, Aussie V8, Rally, Porsche Supercup, F3, Palmer Audi and Formula Renault stars, including David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen and Valentino Rossi. He is also the chief evaluator for F1 drivers for Honda Racing and Red Bull Racing.

This was followed by a short Q & A session.

Then the program involved driving a Renault Clio Sport with Rob Wilson and one of his coaches.
Eftyhios spent the world day being coached and he said this about the training:

“ The Coaching from my instructor Rob Wilson was extremely and utterly good! I have really taken so many things about what he said about my driving that I never did know. I learnt techniques of steering, braking and also to get a good feel for the car so that I can drive it to its limit. He was a great instructor as from his work with other big names in motor racing and he was very professional in the way he coached me.”

Eftyhios was then paired up with another driver to continue his coaching session with a series of coaches for the day to train him to set the best lap. Driving continued for the rest of the  from 11:00AM to 5:00PM with a break for lunch from 1:00PM to 2:00PM.

The results of whether Eftyhios made it to Round 2 will be known in November but from prejudgment insides from the instructors:
“He definitely has the talent to be a professional driver with the right coaching”

We wish Eftyhios all the best in his bid to get through to Round 2. With our driver assessment program, he will stand a chance to get a fully paid season in Formula BMW, be paid a salary and have his expenses paid for him while he just concentrates on racing. We’ll be keeping you updated.

This article is about learning to market yourself as a driver so as to project your talents and skills for potential sponsors. Many drivers are lacking in funds for their racing careers and many of them do not know how to properly go about trying to find sponsors. In the end, most will end up either frustrated and disheartened or broke from racing. While learning to find the potential sponsors for his career, Sean Edwards has learnt the perfect formula to creating interest in his racing and earning the financial rewards to take him further in his career. Sean Edwards shares with us what are some ways to improve your chances of getting sponsored.

Here are the steps that a driver should take if they want to promote themselves as professional drivers for sponsors:

1) Build a website

This is arguably the most important marketing aspect of being a driver. You have to treat your skills and career like a marketable product or company. Imagine a company with a wonderful set of products that doesn’t have a website or any means for customers to get in contact with for purchase. How do you think the company will fair? Sure, people that know the owners of the company can actively spread word of mouth and give great testimonials about the products of the company, but that will be very limited. Without a website to update your readers and potential sponsors about your latest racing results or thoughts, no one will be interested to sponsor you because there is just no interest.

So start by building a website and add quality content about yourself. Be sure to include the following:

1. Pictures of yourself and every race that you enter
2. News of your racing results, team and other gossips that you might be able to share with the public
3. Contact details on how to get in touch with you or your public relations representative
4. Miscellaneous videos of you and other aspects of your life. The public loves to know what goes on in your life so let them know. Take videos of the pit areas, conversations with the crew or any other information that you feel the outside world will not know about.
5. Provide incentives for people that read your websites. For example you could provide a lucky draw for complimentary tickets to your next race.

Sean Edwards has a website that he actively updates with videos, pictures and quotes from himself and fellow drivers. In this way, he is able to connect to his audience about what is the latest news and results from him. Sponsors will not need to spend time searching for the progress and it serves as a good platform for sponsors to contact him too.

2) Develop a positive public image

It may seem that at lower levels of racing when there is not much attention on you that maintaining a positive public image is not important. It may be true at that point of time but when you climb up higher the career ladder, these things may come back and haunt you. So develop a positive public image to show the public about your personal life.

1. Always be well dressed in public
2. Gain publicity by attention events and doing charity work. Add these event and work pictures and content on your website for publication
3. If you are comfortable with a certain brand, use it all the time. Do not brand hop. For example, if you like nike, use 90% of nike goods and do not use a range. When sponsors see that it is easy for them to pick up from where you are. So if you feel there is a good chance of getting sponsored by red bull, then drink it all the time.

3) Offer Driver training Services

One of the best ways to earn financial rewards from being a driver is that your audience will automatically think that you are a better driver than themselves. Sean Edwards offers his services about 2 years ago and now his clients have been part of sponsoring him too.

When his clients learn from him, they will be drawn by the amount of knowledge that he has imparted onto them. So in other words, his clients are already convinced he is a great driver and will not hesitate to invest to sponsor him for 2 reasons:

• He is now a friend as initial contact has been established
• He has proven he is a great driver which will signal great opportunity.

Use these 3 techniques that Sean Edwards has shared with you to bring your racing career to the next level by maintaining a high level of exposure for yourself and your racing  career.

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