Darren Turner goes back to school

In September 2009, Darren Turner, driver for Aston Martin Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, founded the company 'Base Performance' whose goal is to help teams and drivers develop their skills with a simulator. This week, the British driver hosted four of the Formula Student teams who will race at Silverstone next weekend, a week after the Formula 1 Grand Prix and six weeks before the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the fourth round of World Championship .

Formula Student, which has existed since 1998 in the UK, brings together teams of engineering students in motorsport from universities around the world whose goal is to design and build a car, then drive it. Students can develop their skills, but also show what they can do during a weekend, the competition has been taking place at Silverstone since 2007.

Darren Turner: “Motorsport takes the best people from every discipline and Formula Student is a very good way of showcasing young engineering talent right under the noses of the industry. As a racing driver I know first hand how vital it is to have talented engineers so this has been a good opportunity for me to play a part in the process of finding the next generation of engineers.”

With Ross Brawn, manager of Mercedes team in Formula 1, as sponsor, the trainee drivers and engineers have only one desire, to win. “It’s good to see the students applying themselves to this,” said Turner. “They all want to win and are working very hard to make sure they are ready for Silverstone. I think they’ve realised today that the relationship between driver and engineer is very important and they are all communicating very well now.”

Many of the former Formula Student alumni are now in senior positions in Formula 1 and endurance racing.

Dave Davies (quotes from driver's press release)

Photo: Le Mans (Sarthe, FRANCE), CIRCUIT OF 24 HOURS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, Sunday, June 17, 2012, PODIUM. Darren Turner on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2012 in LMGTE Pro.