The path to forging a career in motorsport is a difficult one for aspiring drivers and, even for those with bags of talent, it can all count for nothing without the necessary budgets or the proper opportunities at the right time.
This is why scholarships, particularly on the national scene, can be such an important part of a young driver’s career, and one that can offer a vital boost as they look to climb the ranks.
Championships such as Ginetta Junior and Junior Saloon Cars have established, well-respected scholarships that attract lots of hopefuls, but a relatively new venture that’s hoping to become a mainstay was held for only the second time last month. The Dragon Sport Scholarship is the creation of Rhys Lloyd, the 2008 Welsh Sports and Saloon Car champion and a driver with years of experience in categories such as TCR and the Creventic 24 Hour series. The 38-year-old Welshman won the Britcar Trophy last season, after creating the scholarship to find a driver to race alongside.
The inaugural prize went to Jack Meakin, who made the most of the opportunity (see below), and the same prize has been put forward for this season. As well as a fully funded drive alongside Lloyd in a Dragon Sport-run Renault Clio in the Britcar Trophy, a test day in a TCR car plus an outing in the Spanish Endurance Series at Barcelona are also up for grabs.
“I think a lot of it is down to personal frustrations,” Lloyd responds when asked why he’s putting his own money into the scholarship. “I won the Welsh saloon championship and a few other things in 2008 and it was a very different situation to where I am now. I was hoping to make the step up into other series and I just felt like my racing came to a stop in 2009, pretty abruptly because of funding.
“I had a bit of a hiatus for seven or eight years, and I’ve still got a bit of a bad feeling about it and how there wasn’t that chance to make the step up and do anything else, so it kind of stems from that. It’s not the world’s biggest prize, but obviously it’s still a fair chunk and it’s giving something back.”
Autosport was given the opportunity to take part in the scholarship at Blyton Park to find out what went into the process of finding the 2024 winner. One thing immediately apparent at sign-on is that most hopefuls are there with their parents, while my ever-increasing number of grey hairs makes it clear that I’m towards the upper end of the age limit of 30 (and actually a bit above!).
Source: Autosport