Aston Martin Racing’s Darren Turner tells us what it takes to race in the WEC

Plenty of boys and girls grow up dreaming of a career in motorsport. It’s easy to see why: the appeal of a life spent driving fast cars, drinking champagne (that’s after and not before, let’s be clear) and travelling all over the world needs no explaining in this region of the internet.

But the reality is that racing cars is a demanding job. Especially if you’re expected to perform for hours at a time whilst hunting down every tenth of a second that can physically be squeezed out of the track.

That is the raison d’être of an endurance driver. With stints of three hours or more, the lap time you set while fresh and focussed in the first minute is the benchmark for when you’re sweaty and fatigued in the last.

Anyone who has done even half an hour of karting in a stuffy, unventilated warehouse will understand just how tough a challenge that is.

But what exactly do you have to do to join this elite group of competitors? Being rich, or talented, or both certainly helps, but for those who are neither gifted nor loaded, the long path of studious learning does at least remain.

To get some pointers, TG spoke to racing veteran Darren Turner, now entering his twelfth year as a works driver for Aston Martin Racing. Having tasted success at Le Mans and beyond, he understands better than most the sacrifices that have to be made en route to motorsport glory.

So what does it take to mix it with the best? Let’s find out…

Where is the best place to learn good racecraft?

“I was on the journey of karting, single seaters, Formula One; and there’s a lot of people on that journey. But there gets a point where that’s not going to happen. There’s so many people doing it, and you’re probably as likely to get a lottery win as you are to get a seat in Formula One.

“So you do your education in single seaters, but you just want to drive fast and win races. That’s it. I did British touring cars for two and a half seasons: driving the car fast wasn’t a problem. Racing… my style of racing is not the style of BTCC. And maybe for me, that isn’t what I’m good at, naturally.

“Going round for lap, after lap, after lap as fast as I can, not getting distracted, keeping the concentration, and being able to do it for two, three hours at a time… I just happened to be good at that.

“But there is no set in stone way of being a racing driver. No one has got there on exactly the same path.”

What’s the key to driving fast over a long period?

“My feeling is if you’re a good driver, you could probably drive most things fast, and well. Probably the difference between a good endurance guy is being able to control the aggression, know when to push, and know when you need to be conserving energy and looking at the bigger picture.

“Whether that’s race strategy over 24 hours, or making sure you’re not going to damage the car: by hoofing over all the big kerbs to make yourself look a hero on lap times, actually, you’ve probably damaged the car in the long-term.

“There are a lot of good guys who are super-fast over one lap, but probably don’t have the mentality to be good in sportscar racing year in, year out. There’s no doubting their speed, but I definitely think there’s guys who are more suited to a sprint racing format than they are to endurance racing.”

How do you need to behave behind the scenes?

“There’s stuff off track as well. It’s a package. You need to be able to talk to media, be able to talk to the sponsors, the investors, the brand itself, the bosses. You’ve got to be able to communicate with all these guys, the engineers, the mechanics; they need to be wanting to come on the journey with you as well.

“There’s the feedback and the technical feedback of improving the car as well. So there’s loads of different elements to make a good driver.

“There’s always going to be someone who is better at media, who is better at feedback, better over a qualifying lap, or more efficient on fuel. But if you can be the guy who brings it all together and has a high average across all of that, then you’re going to be a successful person within the sport.”

How fit do you need to be?

“Sportscar racing is about conditioning. You’re going to be in the seat for a long time, so you need to be relaxed behind the wheel. Your level of fitness needs to be fairly high, but I don’t think you need to be an out and out athlete.

“As soon as you’re starting to have something in the car that is limiting you, then you need to do something about it when you’re out of the car. You need to train in a certain way to get on top of that. So I think generally a high performance of fitness is good.

“I do mainly cycling, and, randomly, 20 minutes in the sauna on a regular basis is like being in a sweaty car. Your body gets conditioned to that sort of temperature, so I’m a massive advocate for that.”

Is a good diet important?

“I’m careful with what I eat. Right now I am at a good weight for the start of the season: I’m 66kg, and I’m happy with that. Hopefully I will maintain 66-67 kilos throughout the whole year. Then the team know exactly what they’ve got for the season.

“If I was just not racing, I’d probably be 75kg. Because I’d be out enjoying a curry a week, going for a few beers with my friends. But there’s a focus here, and I know if I’m 10 kilos lighter than the next guy in the car, I’ve got half a tenth on him. So my job is already half a tenth easier than his job.

“And also if you’re unfit and overweight, getting in and out is difficult. It’s physically difficult for me and I’m a little bloke, so for these big guys, it must be a big effort to compact themselves down. It’s quite a small thing you’re trying to fire yourself into.”

Can you develop your concentration?

“It’s not like I’ve ever gone off to some specialist on focus or read a book on it from some guru of that type of thing. If you’re in the zone and you’ve got your personal objective, the focus comes from wanting to achieve the maximum you can with your skillsets and ability.

“You want to make sure that when you get back, your average laps over that whole hour are high. So the only way to do that is to focus on being absolutely precise the whole way round, and maximising every corner, of every lap, of every point. And that’s where the focus is.

“Strangely, things like Le Mans, when you’ve got more time on the straight, your mind does wander every now and again. At night you can smell barbecues, because there’s stuff going on. It’s quite a lively circuit on the other side of the barriers.

“So things will distract you, but then you have to get back to it very, very quickly.”

How do you make the right career moves?

“Last summer, there was a lot of movement in the market. So yeah, you talk to everyone because the team you’re with might decide ‘Actually, we’re talking to this guy and we want him.’ And you might be replaced, you don’t know. So when you know your contract is coming up, that year you generally start to talk to people you know.

“It’s a small world, the motorsport world. You just make it known that you’re possibly available next year. You don’t ever want to get caught short, because ultimately, this is my job. This is how I pay my mortgage, this is how I’m going to pay for my kids’ education.

“So it’s a reality check. You just need to be honest about it and know that if you’re not producing the goods, why are they going to keep you on board?”

What advice you would give to an aspiring driver?

“If you’re not a nice person, you career is going to be short. And you’ve got to remember that everyone in this sport is there because they love it.

“Ross Gunn, he’s the [AMR] academy winner. He’s at the start of his journey, and I saw him over dinner and I said ‘Dude, you’re doing a great job. You’re good out of the car, you’ve got confidence, you’re not arrogant, you’re doing a great job in the car, you’ve won the British GT Championship. Just carry on doing what you’re doing.’

“’You’re going to gain all the experience, you’ve got access to people like Pedro Lamy who’s won the Nürburgring five times, I’ve won at Le Mans. Do it your way, but just take it all in and just maximise the opportunities that are going to come your way. And hopefully at some stage you’ll be in the right place at the right time for it all to come together.’”