British GT star Tom Onslow-Cole tries his hand at Golf
Ex-BTCC star and current British GT contender Tom Onslow-Cole impressed both spectators and drivers recently by accepting an invitational drive in the Toyo Tires backed Teekay Couplings Production GTi Championship.
The Surrey ace, whose current ‘work’ steed is a £400,000 V12 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 racer, sportingly agreed to guest in the Championship at Brands Hatch in Kent. The car he used, a beautifully prepared 16 3 door built by scene stalwarts JabbaSport, may be slightly more attainable to most ‘real-world’ enthusiasts – weighing in at a much more reasonable £8,000. Branded with both Casio and Milltek decals, two brands for whom Tom is an ambassador, the car looked impressive even parked up in the Brands paddock.
With a packed schedule of multi-discipline racing, personal appearances and driver coaching appointments, Onslow-Cole - who is also the head coach for the sport’s governing body, the MSA – had to forgo any kind of seat-fitting or testing, simply arriving at the circuit and rolling straight into qualifying. As you might expect for a seasoned professional, Tom was immediately up to pace straight away, qualifying 3rd overall and just 2/10ths of a second behind regular winner Simon Gusterson.
In a Championship that boasts some of the most talented club-level racers in the country, it was never going to be a walk-over for the GT wheelman, and clearly remembering that he was in a borrowed car, and not wishing to blot his copy book, Tom was definitely keeping out of trouble throughout both races - yielding to club drivers in 50/50 corners and keeping things clean. That said, an impressive 5th in both races in a borrowed car was still more than a respectable showing, with a fastest class lap of the entire meeting proving that perhaps he was being a polite guest during his time on track!
Commenting on the meeting afterwards, Tom has clearly enjoyed his time with the PGTIs “My very first car was a Mk2 Golf,” he smiled, “so it seems fitting to have an enjoyable day racing them again. I have to say, the standard of driving in this championship is exceptional and the cars are clearly very well prepared. They don’t make it easy for you out there, that’s for sure! I also have to commend the build quality of the JabbaSport car I drove; that thing was impossible to fault and truly entertaining on the limit and the Proxes R888 tyres gave a lot of feedback and grip too… It really is a brilliant club-level racecar and I would recommend this as a first championship for anyone looking to get into cost-effective and friendly motorsport.”
Championship co-ordinator Rob Sadler said, “We are delighted that Tom could spare the time to join us for the day and have a play in the JabbaSport car. It’s always nice to hear from a professional that our driving standards are good, and although I think he may have been being gentlemanly out there on track, it’s clear that we have some truly talented drivers in our ranks, that can give even someone’s of Tom’s talent a decent run for his money. On behalf of all of our competitors and sponsors, I’d like to thank him once again for guest driving for us.”
For more details, visit tomonslowcole.co.uk.
