by Russell Atkins
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Damon Hill has spoken out about the importance of lending a hand to Britain's wealth of young motorsport talent after helping to launch the British Racing Drivers' Club's
Superstars initiative at
Silverstone.
The President of the BRDC and Britain's last
Formula 1 World Champion, twelve years ago revealed that the scheme had attracted more than 200 applicants, and admitted that it had been an extremely arduous decision to narrow those candidates down to just 14 in the final reckoning two more than had originally been foreseen.
I think it's extremely difficult to leave people out of the decision, the 47-year-old said, speaking exclusively to
Crash.net Radio at the launch. You want to help everyone. Fourteen is a large group of people, but it just shows you how many good and talented drivers there are in the UK.
The idea really is to use our expertise and our knowledge base in the BRDC which has had 80 years of the very best motor racing drivers congregating in the club and be able to hand that down and make it available to the cream of the talent that is out there in British motorsport at the moment.
I think that's very important. I remember when I was struggling to get money, that when you're on your own it's a little bit harder than when you're in a group. If you can say you've been selected not by people who don't know anything about the sport, but by people who know intimately who is good and who's got talent then that's a fantastic lever on people who you're trying to get to support your career.
We sincerely hope that we'll be able to do more in the future to put a spotlight on that talent and try to raise funds as well, which will enable them to be in the best equipment. Inevitably not all of these drivers will get to the top of their chosen career paths, but with our advice I do believe they will stand a better chance.
