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R O A D
T R A C K
R A C E
S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
T
eam BRIT came about
from the charity Kart-
Force, which introduced
injured soldiers to endurance
racing. Player explains: “After five
years doing anything from two- to
24-hour races, some of our lads
suggested we set up an endurance
racing team. I said “yes” and called
it Team BRIT, which stands for
British Racing Injured Troops.
“We decided it wouldn’t be a
charity and instead would be a
limited company owned by Kart-
Force. The lads would have to work
for a seat just like any other rac-
ing driver. It’s not another charity
where you can rock up and race
for free and do nothing for it. The
whole idea is to teach them how to
be businessmen and women, what
corporate sponsorship is all about
and how important it is to look after
those small businesses, because
if you do they’ll look after you too.
What they learn from this will be
valuable for the rest of their lives.”
The team set a goal to race at Le
Mans 24 Hours - a big step up from its
karting roots. Player says: “Racing at
Le Mans is a big goal but it’s the pin-
nacle of motorsport. We stepped up
from karting to BritCar, where the lads
won eight out of 12 races in the first
year and didn’t crash once - no DNFs.
Insurance company Grove & Dean,
who are a sponsor of the team, were
thrilled we didn’t make one claim!”
ALL EYES ON 2018
The aim is to get to Le Mans by
2018 and the team is preparing for
this by competing in other 24-hour
races. The first was at Silverstone
in April, where the team were run-
ning second until a gearbox failure
set them back. Player says: “We
actually didn’t expect to do very
well but our drivers are so compet-
itive and at one stage, in the mid-
dle of a windy and rainy night, we
were P2 and 15 seconds quicker
than the leader. We were confident
GIVING INJURED TROOPS A CHANCE TO STEP UP
INTO ENDURANCE CAR RACING, TEAM BRIT TAKES
THEM THROUGH ALL THE NECESSARY COACHING IN
ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN EVERY ELEMENT OF
MOTORSPORT. MSD SPOKE TO TEAM OWNER DAVE
PLAYER ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE TEAM, ITS
PLANS FOR LE MANS AND HOW IT’S ENCOURAGING
MORE PEOPLE TO GET INTO ENDURANCE RACING.
THE ROAD TO LE MANS