The club helping Scottish racing talent thrive

It's remarkable to think of the successes and influence a country of just over five million people, and a racing community of far less, has been able to demonstrate in world motorsport over the decades.

Five Formula 1 championships, 65 race wins, seven overall Le Mans 24 Hour victories, four at the Indy 500 and a further four Indycar titles are just some of the achievements recorded over the years.

Created over the winter of 1949 and operating in its current form since its merger with Ian Scott-Watson's Border Motor Racing Club after the demise of the popular Charterhall circuit in 1964, the SMRC has propelled the likes of David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Allan McNish onto the global stage.

Yet the club has often battled limited resources, less accessibility and reduced driver pools than its rivals south of the border. But as the saying goes, 'There's no such thing as lack of resources, just a lack of resourcefulness'. The SMRC of 2020 is happy to do more with less.

"We have a much smaller pool of competitors, of circuits and of resources than down south so you do have to be a little bit more creative about how you make the events work," says the club's business development manager Rory Bryant.

"That's true not just of the club but also of drivers and teams in Scotland in general. I'm certainly not getting the violin out but, generally speaking, things are a little bit harder for us north of the border. We don't have the proximity of the likes of Donington, Silverstone, Oulton Park and we don't have the variety in clubs either.

"But having said that, we've been able to lead the way in certain areas and deliver a great amount of talent to championships in the rest of the UK from within the SMRC."

Bryant's role goes further than simply drumming up entries. It's part of a modernisation that aims to engage competitors from all walks of life, to encourage grassroots racing and run the club as a business that generates revenue to feed back into the sport.

"We couldn't have been happier with the success of the C1 Cup last year. We wanted to deliver a cost-effective championship that enabled a mix of young and perhaps budget-limited drivers to get onto the grid, which is exactly what happened" Rory Bryant

"There's no magic wand to get another 100 entries onto the grids, so we need to work on ways to generate more memberships and therefore, more revenue for the club so we can continue to put these events on," explains Bryant.

"On average, grid numbers have gone down across the club's championships since 2015 and last year was the first time we've sort of reversed that trend.

"So, from that perspective, the club has been in decline, but we're working on other ventures such as the Esports championship as a way of getting more money in."

While the future involves building business, others within the club believe that seeking revenue as a means to longer-term sustainability is the wrong direction for the SMRC.

Former racer and current Formula Ford 1600 team owner Graham Brunton is one with concerns.

"Generally speaking, motorsport is a business in that we all spend money to go racing," Brunton explains. "I used to be on the SMRC committee and, organisationally, I always advised that we refer to the club as a business, without it being one.

"Basically, I think the club is too small for it to be run as a successful business, despite Rory being a very able person to run it.

"In my view, if it costs £10 to be at an event, we need to make sure £10.50 comes into the club otherwise there's no point in showing up, so thinking of it as a business without it actually being one is how it should be run."

In the current climate of national lockdown, it is clear that club finances will be under the microscope more than ever. There is no racing until at least July following Motorsport UK's announcement last month that all event permits will be suspended - but that doesn't mean the racing has stopped, far from it.

A key component of what positions the SMRC ahead of the curve compared to other clubs is its adoption of Esports, as it launched its own series at the end of last year. That's why it was quick to replace its scheduled opening event of the real season at the start of April with the first of a four-round SMRC Esports Spring Championship.

The uptake was impressive, with a large number of regular competitors taking part through the Project Cars 2 platform across PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One races. The game and the races - divided up into qualifying sessions, heats and finals - have proved immensely popular, with 145 entries received for the opening round.

"I think it's a good initiative and it's something which is only going to grow in popularity over the next few months while we're not racing on track," says Bryant.

"The great thing about Esports is that it's encouraging everyone to get involved and build their own sims and to keep that community spirit, which we've worked so hard to maintain over the years, so the competitive nature is definitely still there among our drivers."

If there is a crossover between the real and virtual world, the SMRC needs to exploit this to get more drivers on the grid. Motorsport has suffered a few lean years of late and, such is the scale of the downturn nationwide, Scotland statistically will always be worse off.

Popularity in national racing is cyclical and, while some of the SMRC championships have endured dips in entry numbers over the last decade - with some even folding, such as the BMW Compact Cup and the Fiesta XR2 championship - Bryant and the club's officials have acted quickly to introduce alternatives.

"We couldn't have been happier with the success of the C1 Cup last year," Bryant adds. "Obviously, we wanted to deliver a cost-effective championship that enabled a mix of young and perhaps budget-limited drivers to get onto the grid, which is exactly what happened."

"One of the biggest problems drivers in Scotland face is finding sponsorship to go racing. What we do in the Rising Stars is help the guys create their own sponsorship proposals and learn how to promote yourself" Malcolm McNab

The SMRC has also placed great emphasis on consolidating what it has been able to build up over the years. Popular championships such as the Legends and the Mini Cooper Cup continue to thrive, with the latter revelling in the nationwide passion for touring cars.

For 2019 runner-up Michael Weddell (pictured below), choosing Minis was a no-brainer.

"I always liked watching the BTCC so the Minis were always my first choice," he says. "You can see why it's so popular, it's very evenly matched, the racing is so close and pretty spectacular as well and almost everyone has a chance of winning.

"Guys like Kyle Reid and Robbie Dalgleish, they're able to move into the Cooper Pro championship down south and win it. Now, they're on the TOCA package in the JCWs, so it provides us with a decent pathway to get into touring cars."

A mainstay in the SMRC since making his debut in 2017, Weddell is also a member of the club's Rising Stars programme, launched last year to provide young drivers more support in their racing endeavours.

Activities include sim work, media practice and sponsorship lessons, all in the name of making racing an easier task.

It is a programme that both Weddell and Rising Stars organiser Malcolm McNab believe is long overdue. McNab explains: "The main goal of the Rising Stars programme is to give drivers a proper platform to improve themselves both on and off track.

"We launched it last year and between Rory and I, we're very happy with the way it is going.

"One of the biggest problems drivers in Scotland, and I suppose everywhere, face is finding sponsorship to go racing.

"What we do in the Rising Stars is help the guys create their own sponsorship proposals and learn how to promote yourself.

"It's an important trait to have, so knowing and understanding that early is only going to make it easier for them in the long run."

Weddell concurs: "It's a huge thing to be able to take to potential sponsors and it's really good to have the backing of the club when doing it."

And the progress does not stop there. Bryant and the SMRC are keen to stress that increased female representation is a major part of the club's future and this has been supported by the creation of the Women on Track programme.

Heading that initiative as the Women on Track representative is Mini Cooper Cup rookie Lucy Grant.

"It's a big honour to be part of the Women on Track programme because it's all about showcasing women in Scottish motorsport," Grant says.

"It's not just drivers, we have women in race control, scrutineering and marshals, and it's important to show that to people.

"I have personally never had any barriers to racing to overcome, but it is down to us as women in motorsport to say to other girls that you can do this and we should be giving them the opportunity to take part."

Whether it's encouraging more females to get involved or leading the way in running Esports competitions, it is clear the SMRC is doing all it can to make sure Scotland remains on the motorsport map for years to come.