Autosport Plus

The celebrity racer forcing critics to take him seriously

Emmerdale, Strictly Come Dancing and the British GT Championship form a unique combination on Kelvin Fletcher's CV - and make him one of Britain's best-known racing drivers, for off-track reasons. But what he's doing behind the wheel deserves credit

The reality of being a celebrity racing driver in national motorsport is both a blessing and a curse.

While it helps with opening doors and generating interest from sponsors, that external profile also means they are subjected to far more attention than their competitors, regardless of their level of experience.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.