BRSCC TEAMS UP WITH STUDENT MOTORSPORT TO LAUNCH NEW CITYCAR CUP STUDENT MOTORSPORT CHALLENGE FOR 2021
The British Racing & Sports Car Club are delighted to announce a partnership with Student Motorsport (www.studentmotorsport.com) to deliver a 2021 UK racing programme for Colleges and Universities – the Student Motorsport Challenge.
To run within the 2021 CityCar Cup Championship, the Student Motorsport Challenge will see colleges and universities compete on-track with regular competitors using the budget-friendly Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo built to the same CityCar Cup regulations.
As well as their appointed driver(s) competing for the outright CityCar Cup Championship, colleges and universities will also be battling for honours in the Student Motorsport Challenge within a variety of on and off-track award categories, including Team Professionalism, Car Preparation, Media and Commercial Activity.
Student Motorsport – a membership network dedicated to careers and educational development within motorsport, will be providing entrants with consultation, teaching materials and mixed-media resources, offering an unprecedented opportunity for educators to provide a practical learning experience. The resources will cover areas such as setting up a race-team, preparing a car, operating trackside and the many aspects of the peripheral activity that goes into making a racing venture sustainable.
Student Motorsport’s Operations Director, Patrick Hathaway, said that this exciting partnership with the BRSCC gives colleges and universities a perfectly blended project with options around how they tailor their involvement.
“I’m thrilled that we and the BRSCC can now unveil this project. It’s not an exaggeration to say this is one of the best opportunities in the UK for colleges and universities to compete in motorsport. The Student Motorsport Challenge offers a platform to provide learning opportunities across multiple-subjects, commercial opportunities to promote their offering, their partnerships, and a project that can be refreshed each year, without needing the same initial outlay. What’s more, teams can get going in a variety of ways. They can source a donor car themselves and build it to race-spec as a project, purchase a race-ready car from the CityCar Cup Championship’s technical provider, or even find a registered driver/car owner and create a partnership.
“As well as the clear benefits for learning and experience for the students, the educator can tap into the commercial and promotional benefits sports marketing offers. The BRSCC, along with Student Motorsport, will be providing an excellent media package, so there’s great potential for entries to promote themselves or bring additional value to their partners. Also, it’s not uncommon to sell ‘arrive-and-drive’ packages for race drivers – meaning you can create some on-going return.”
Student Motorsport founder John Paul (‘JP’) Latham was keen to stress how important an opportunity this presents not just educators and students, but the UK motorsport industry at large.
“Student Motorsport’s ethos has always been on building stronger bridges between education and industry to provide better opportunities. The UK has some of the best educational institutions with some of the best facilities, particularly where automotive and engineering is concerned. Educators need to be able to demonstrate their capability and their talented students. If the industry can also show them how the motorsport eco-system works and can provide viable careers, not just in Formula 1, then the UK can ensure it’s right at the centre of how motorsport develops in the decades to come. Considering how much technology is expected to shift in that time, education and industry need to be in tandem.
“The Student Motorsport Challenge and the BRSCC CityCar Cup provide a great foundation for those bridges; the experience, a fundamental understanding of how the sport works and the ability to demonstrate just how professional and talented these educators and students can be.”
Responding on behalf of the BRSCC, Greg Graham, Head of Formulae Development said,
“When we were approached by Student Motorsport to discuss their plans, we quickly recognised that the CityCar Cup Championship could provide an ideal platform to support this project.”
“From the outset, some of the key goals for CityCar Cup was to attract new people into the sport, not only by focussing on keeping the costs as low as possible, but also ensuring that the cars offer an authentic racing experience, and that the format of racing is exactly the same as other more expensive and “professional” series. We look forward to working with Student Motorsport through 2021 to deliver the best motorsport foundation to their entrants and teams”
Having launched in 2020, the massive level of CityCar Cup interest shown by the UK marketplace for ready built cars and build kits means packed grids are expected throughout the 2021 season. The Challenge series has already developed a roster of 6 colleges looking to confirm funding and entries.
Interested in competing in 2021? Colleges and universities can find out more and register their interest at:
www.studentmotorsport.com/challenge-series
Alternatively, they can e-mail: enquiries@studentmotorsport.com
