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Chris Walsh Profile
Name: Chris Walsh
Age: 37
Hometown: Heywood
Occupation: Company Director & Performance Driving Instructor
Family: Wife Tracy and Daughters Megan & Niamh
Car: Van Diemen RF’89
Other Interests: Football, Tennis, Films and Family
How did I start racing?
I have always enjoyed cars and Motor racing from being a small boy. From about the age of 6, I used to sit and watch the Grand Prix with my Grandad each Sunday afternoon. Never coming from a racing background, it wasn't until I could drive myself, that I first attended a race meeting at Oulton Park. I was 18 and I remember then that the best race of the day was the Formula Fords. That was back in 1989 and some of the guys I was watching then, I race against now!
I decided that I would like to give it a go and for a Birthday present, my wife Tracy booked me into a track day at Oulton Park. It was amazing. The instructor I had (now a fellow competitor) told me I should give it a go as he thought I had what it takes (?).
So, Tracy and I decided to try and go career with the racing. We went to Donington where I took my ARDS course. Following that, I lined up a drive in the National Formula Ford Championship with Carlton Tingling Racing. Over the course of the next 2 years, try as we might, we couldn't secure the sponsorship needed. We had plenty of assistance in the way of free and discounted parts, endorsements and sponsorship hunting advise, but for all this, as we never had a proven record in racing, it was hard to convince potential sponsors of our abilities. Catch 22 really. Whilst always trying, we had to concede that it was looking unlikely that we were going to get the budget we required.
Undeterred, our next move was to buy our own car. We scratched and saved to buy the car (a Swift FB’89) and off we went, trying to set the world alight, but it was a million miles away from big budget racing. We set-up our own team, ‘CTMotorsport’ and we recruited the help of family and friends as race crew. Everyone played his or her part amazingly. This was a big big help. It allowed me to concentrate on driving the car instead of whether or not the fuel was in, or the tyres were pressured right.
Everything we had went on buying the car, so it didn't leave a lot to spend on testing and racing it. It was a very steep hill to climb. Learning how to drive it and get the best set-ups. We had a lot of help from fellow competitors and one person in particular. Owner/Driver Stuart Sanders of San International Motorsport has been like a mentor to us. He helped us at each crossroads, supplied us with contacts, gave us parts and invested a lot of his own time into our cause. We purchased our car back in 1996 and only replaced it for the 2005 season. It had been highly modified from what it was, just to get a better balance from it. In 2000, we took a couple of years away from racing to start a family and move home. Whilst not driving, I became a member of the San International racing team as a race mechanic and driver coach (through my knowledge of computers, I looked after all the Data Logging equipment on the cars) for the new drivers. In our 2nd year of competition as a team, our lead driver, Alan Pike won the North West Championship. Even though we won the Championship and had many drivers approach us for drives with promises of racing budgets, motor racing in general fell on hard times and due to a lack of funded drivers, we closed the team down.
Now, back for a full attack at the North West Formula Ford Championship, we will have to see how we do. With a new car, we are back under our own banner of ‘CT Motorsport’, but still pair up with Stuart at the circuits as he is also back driving.
The future?
Racing. For sure. Not just for myself, but as a family unit. We cannot imagine it not being part of our lives. Like most sports, if you are passionate about it, it gets under your skin. It has given us the chance to meet lots of great people and make many new friends. We have travelled up and down the country in the pursuit of racing and with the more time spent in the car, the quicker we go. When talking about racing, you may notice that I always use ‘us’, or ‘we’. That’s because it is very much a team effort. Yes, I drive the car, but without the people around me, it would be all the harder and I am forever indebted to these individuals.
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