Young People in Motorsport
JACK FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY continued from previous page
Alan Wakeman is now helping guide other young drivers and parents into the sport through StreetCar
“ I wanted them to get to experience all the benefits I obtained from motorsport – to be safe on the road and have good car handling skills, but also to gain the wider social and life skills it gives you that can help with your career,” he recalls.“ StreetCar would have made it far, far easier for my kids to start if it had existed back then!”
All three are now in, or approaching, their 30s and there has been plenty of sibling rivalry over the years. They are even challenging their more experienced father these days, and Wakeman adds:“ My younger son is a great, unflappable navigator and my eldest started beating me on rallies quite early – but my daughter hasn’ t quite caught me yet!
Although Wakeman’ s children are now focused on careers, they still compete on occasional events and all plan to return when time in their lives allows. To fill the gap, Wakeman is now helping guide other young drivers and parents into the sport through StreetCar, giving them the opportunity to grow through motorsport, as his family did.
He concludes:“ My kids all acquired real life skills through motorsport and the effect on my daughter was probably the greatest. When she went for job interviews after university, all the discussion was about her motorsport success, and employers were very interested in how she apply that background in a working environment.“ As a family, motorsport has been fantastic for us. It lets you get away from other things and allows you to really put full focus into an event. There have been highs and lows, but we got through it together and we now have great mutual respect, we enjoy great competition, we’ re closer as a unit and we know that we can always rely on each other.”
Revolution Magazine 19