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SAFETY FIRST
Safety is imperative in motor-
sport, so Team BRIT works with
disabled drivers on getting in and
out of the car. Not only is this im-
portant for driver changes during
endurance races, but in the event
of an accident it means they can
clear the car quickly, too. Player
says: “When our lads want to race
we take photos and videos of them
getting in and out of the car. We
time them and then email over the
video or they inspect it there them-
selves.”
Encouraging troops into sport is
important and Player believes rac-
ing is the perfect outlet for these
men and women. He says: “Some
people like football and some
people like motorsport. There are
adrenaline junkies who love taking
themselves to the limit, finding
that edge and pushing the bound-
aries. That is part of what makes a
British soldier. I think that’s what
motorsport gives them.”
Team BRIT has taken on civil-
ian amputee and personal trainer
Gemma Trotter, and is actively
encouraging more women into the
sport. Player says: “I want women
to race and still don’t understand
why F1 doesn’t. Gemma came
along when she heard about us,
saying she’d struggled to get
any opportunities to race, so we
thought it was only fair to help.
She’s had a lot of troubles with
her own prosthetic leg and when
she is all mended we will get her
started.”
While the team has targets and
is consistently helping soldiers
get into this environment, the
work is always ongoing. “It’s a
never-ending job,” Player ex-
plains. “For example, we are con-
tacting schools and our lads prob-
ably benefit more from talks at
schools than the children do. We
go there and they are totally nerv-
ous, but when we leave they are
all buzzing and this goes a long
way to boost their confidence. So
much so that one of them went
from dreading it to wanting to do
it at his old school.”
For drivers who are looking
for sponsorship, Player has this
advice: “Don’t send masses of
junk email, everyone has so many
every day and they delete them.
The subject of your email has
to be something that a sponsor
would read. If there is no effort,
they will delete it. Once the email
has been opened, you want them
to be impressed and carry on
reading it. Keep it short and no
rambling. Something along the
lines of: ‘We are looking for spon-
sors, are you willing to discuss
further?’ Give links to other infor-
mation too.
“Most importantly, research the
person you are contacting. Use
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
to find out about that person. See
what their interests are. If they
are into green energy then they
will never sponsor motorsport.
Just do a bit of background re-
search. Get the name right, too.”
Regular press coverage is also
important for drivers and teams,
as this can help put you in front of
the right people and that’s exactly
how Team BRIT pricked up sup-
port from Coldplay. Player says:
“Chris Martin read about us in
the Exeter Gazette, as our driver
Martyn was from that area. Chris
rang us up saying he loved what
we do and is now supporting us
in our second year of racing. He’s
not really into motorsport but his
brother was in the army. He liked
what we were doing - giving in-
jured troops the chance to rebuild
their lives.”
Team BRIT continues to focus
on supporting troops and getting
more people into motorsport, and
we’ll hopefully see them at Le
Mans in 2018.