Adrian Newey, Technical Director for the McLaren F1 team, is out to prove he is as adept at driving a PlayStation®2 backed sports car, as he is at designing a Formula One car, when he competes in the final round of the highly acclaimed AVO Ginetta Championship, taking place at Silverstone on 8 and 9 October 2005.
Adrian's reputation as one of the leading aerodynamicists in motorsport was cemented with his move to the Williams F1 team in 1990, before moving to McLaren International in 1997. Since this time, and with the support of an excellent design office, the West McLaren Mercedes team has won both the 1998 Drivers' and Constructors' Championships; and the 1999 Drivers' Championship, and has secured three runner-up positions, twice in the Constructors' World Championship and once in the Drivers' World Championship.
David Wilson, Head of PR for PlayStation 2, said, “We were all delighted when Adrian Newey accepted our invitation to drive the Ginetta car at Silverstone. We have received a great deal of help from the F1 teams in the past to enable us to recreate the new Formula One games for PSP™ and PlayStation 2 to an unparalleled level of detail, so it’s great to be able to offer something back - especially to someone who has achieved so much in F1.”
Having risen to the challenge of designing one of the of the most competitive F1 cars in the world, Newey now faces a fresh test when he competes in the PlayStation 2 Ginetta sports car at next weekend’s Ginetta Championship - now the biggest single class one make series in Europe.
The Championship is recognised as one of the best ways for motorsport fans to take their first step into competitive motorsport at an affordable price. Ginetta provide a safe 1.8L engine car, which is challenging and rewarding to drive and is seen as the perfect stepping stone into GT racing.
Adrian Newey commented, “I’ve done a fair bit of historic car racing this season but this will be my first race in a modern sports racing car, so I am really looking forward to it. Over the years I have spent hours working with our drivers and looking at the data from Silverstone, this will be a bit of role reversal.”
Getting a high profile name in Adrian Newey to drive in the final round of this season’s championship provides a fitting tribute to Ginetta Cars - one of the few remaining British sports car manufacturers left that has also just celebrated its 10th anniversary of racing in 2005. The British owned company has manufactured kit, and fully built road and race cars, since 1958 and is the oldest kit car manufacturer in the world.
