Essex racer to celebrate 18th by racing 520bhp sportscar

What did you do on your 18th birthday? Have a big party with all your mates? Go down the pub for your first (legal) pint with your Dad? Or maybe even invest in your first car, albeit with help from the parents?

Chances are you didn’t do what Essex boy Dan Brown has planned for his 18th this Sunday, July 5. As one of Britain’s brightest young motor racing stars, on a day most youngsters would be downing the drinks, Dan will be at the controls of a 520bhp supercar and reaching speeds of 180mph as he battles in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship - the UK's top sportscar racing series.

But, when he's not thundering around the UK's circuits in his Mosler MT900R race car, which is powered by a monstrous 7-litre engine, Dan, who hails from Ramsden Heath near Billericay, gets ribbed by his mates for his penny-pinching attitude to driving on the road in his 1.2-litre Fiat Punto.

“Obviously I’d like something a bit quicker than the Punto, but then I’ve always raced fast cars, so when I get on the road it’s probably good that I have a slow one!

“All my friends don’t seem to understand why I drive slowly when they get in the car – they say I’m a racing driver and so I should be going quickly, but I still have to think of my petrol money!”

Brown, who only passed his driving test last August, this year became the youngest ever driver to compete in the series and the youngest ever winner – he took the chequered flag first time out at Oulton Park circuit on Easter weekend. He has now clocked up three wins and lies just three points off the championship lead.

After a difficult time in the last round at Knockhill where he had to balance racing with revising for his A levels, this weekend he’s competing at Snetterton in Norfolk - one of the fastest circuits in the country – and hopes to get back to the head of the field.

“I had a bad weekend at Knockhill and it didn’t go as I planned – I went there leading the championship and came out sixth. It was difficult – I wasn’t at my fittest because I was revising in the evenings instead of training, which is important when you’re racing GT cars like these. Also I was revising over the weekend just before the races, which isn’t ideal because your mind’s not focused enough on the racing.

“Snetterton’s a circuit I like though – in Formula Palmer Audi last year I had one of my best weekends and I’ve won there twice in T Cars, - I love the fact that it’s just such a fast circuit.”

As he concentrates on trying to win the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, 18th birthday celebrations will be held off until after the weekend, which starts with testing on Friday. Qualifying and one race take place on Saturday with a second race on Sunday.