Bingley father and son follow Formula One dream (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bingley father and son follow Formula One dream

5:07pm Thursday 20th November 2008

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Lewis Hamilton may have the Formula One crown this year, but waiting in the wings is a rising star.

Ben Jackson is highly regarded in the world of motorsport and is said to be destined for great things.

The 20-year-old, from Bingley, drives for BM Racing, a team established by Ben and his father Michael.

For most dads, enjoying a spot of car racing with their son is confined to the Scalextric track in the living room. But Michael, 59, a former pupil of Hanson Boys’ Grammar School, and Ben, who attended Bingley Grammar School, vie for pole position in powerful racing cars – at speeds of up to 160mph. The pair compete across Britain and Europe in sports cars made by the British auto manufacturer Radical.

The seeds of this exciting life were sown in 1996 when Michael, then chairman of a leading automotive consultancy, bought his first Ferrari and joined the exclusive Club Fiorano which gives owners the chance to drive Ferrari’s on some of the world’s most famous race tracks.

He was encouraged by club chairman and former British Formula One star Peter Gethin to get himself a competition licence and start racing.

Recalls Michael: “Peter urged me to take the exams for my racing licence, so I went ahead. I’d always been passionate about cars and used to go and watch on track days. Peter said you should do this properly and gave me a lot of coaching.”

He got his licence at Derbyshire’s Donington Park race circuit and the same year discovered that his son – then only eight – was destined to follow in his footsteps. “We were on holiday in Spain and we went to a go-karting track. Ben jumped into a kart and within a few minutes he was intuitively driving it flat-out, applying the opposite lock to sideways drifts and taking corners as if he had been doing it all his life.”

Michael began to take Ben on regular outings to local karting tracks and, when Ben was 16, they began competing. In 2003 they then took part in a Honda Pro-Kart world season and finished third.

The following year the pair were leading the championship and made the decision that Ben would pursue a career in the industry.

Ben made the choice to use the talent for racing he’d inherited from his dad, rather than following in his musical footsteps. Michael shot to fame when, for six years, he was a member of the 1960s band Love Affair, which had eight top ten hits including the chart-topper Everlasting Love.

The pair raced for a year with a team called In2Racing, and at the end of that year joined Radical, and the fastest single-make racing series outside Formula One.

The pair decided that Radicals were the cars they wanted to race a test drive in an SR3.

“It was a huge, huge jump from the 70mph kart,” says Michael.

Using the letters of their first names, the father-and-son team formed BM Racing. Ben is the lead driver, while Michael – who sold a successful automotive consultancy business to channel all his energies into motor racing – is number two and team captain.

They race two Radical SR8 cars which can achieve speed of up to 180mph, just 21mph less than the top speed of an F1 car.

The 2.6 litre vehicles have a unique, lightweight, powerful V8 engine which can accelerate from 0 to 100mph and stop again in the time it tales a Porsche 997 Turbo to accelerate to 73mph.

Each is built to protect the driver in the event of a collision. “They are incredibly strong,” says Michael. “The chassis is a criss-cross of one-inch-wide steel tubes. There is also a pyramid-shaped crash box made from a mix of aluminium, carbon fibre and honeycombed polyurethane that sits around the driver’s feet and ankles. It absorbs impact.”

The seat moulds to the driver’s body shape, and a six-point racing harness is worn. Says Michael: “You have to sit in the seat for about 30 minutes and it moulds around you. That fits into a carbon-fibre tub surrounded by a tubular steel cage.”

The tension before a race is palpable. Says Michael: “The adrenaline is surging – any racing driver who does not seem nervous before a race must have no feelings at all.”

“Motor racing is universally fascinating. To a certain extent it is gladiatorial. It is a very dangerous, very glamorous, intoxicating sport.”

Michael and Ben compete in 18 races each season, at nine venues in the UK and Europe. They compete under the expert guidance of manager and coach John Miskin, who has in the past managed a host of top names in the sport including Mark Blundell – now a TV Formula One commentator – Gary Ayles and Piers Hunnisett.

Michael’s wife Patricia, who runs a hypnotherapy practice in Bingley, is team co-ordinator taking care of the administration, while Michael also takes care of the marketing, securing and liaising with sponsors, who include London-based Close Brothers Merchant Bank, Dunlop, Menheim Inspection Services and Sunoco. In his first season – it runs from April until September – with Radical FR3 cars, Ben finished third. This season, in the V8 competition, he finished fourth.

Next season, father and son move from 50-minute to 90-minute races, over 250km – and, in what is a major change for the pair, they will race against each other.

“Ben hopes to win the championship next season,” says Michael, who, along with many others in the sport, has every confidence in his ability Michael hopes to finish in third or fourth place.

Like his dad, Ben loves the adrenaline rush before a race. “I like the excitement, the competitiveness. When you are sitting in your car on the grid, for the first few minutes before the light goes green, your heart is beating very fast,” he says. “After the first half lap you settle down a bit.”

He enjoys working with his dad, although, understandably, they sometimes disagree. “We have had a few arguments about the car – each driver likes the car to feel a certain way, but we get on well as a team.”

Ben appreciates how fortunate he is to be doing a job he loves. “My dream is to eventually go into Formula One, but I’m happy just to be racing. I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to try and fulfil my dream.”

Ben is looking forward to racing against his dad. “I’m sure he won’t get in my way,” he laughs.

Looking to the future, the father-and-son team intend to develop BM Racing into a leading motorsport brand that will progress to the Le Mans series, and on to Formula Three and Formula One.

Michael and Ben, who in real-life drive a Porsche GT3 and Toyota Yaris respectively, live and breath cars. “We love what we do – Ben and I are complete petrolheads,” says Michael.

Michael and Ben will be racing at tracks across the UK, including Donington Park, Derbyshire, Croft near Darlington and Silverstone during the next racing season. For more information visit bmracing.org

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