Career Moves Joe Parr

Part of a conversation with Joe Parr of McLaren talking about how he got where he is and what some options might be to fund driving. It is always interesting to hear how people got where they are!

• Joe Parr  Hi Andrew, The key that I’ve seen is doing the dirty work and starting from the bottom. I’m not sure how old your son is but contacting kart teams, touring car teams, Ginettas, F3 anything medium to low level and just wanting to help out will put you in a great place 3, 4 or 5 years down the line. It’s a slow process and competitive but if you’re willing to start at the bottom it snowballs from there. Personally I did a degree in motorsport technology at the University of Hertfordshire but what got me to where I am now started with instructing people on red letter day type experiences and working on motor show events at an entry level. Does he know what area he’s aiming to get into? 
• Andrew Phillips Hi Joe, Thanks for the info. The story in a paragraph is at 7 he got expelled from school, because he had mild Aspergers. We needed something to build his confidence and went to Thruxton kart centre. The quote from the instructor Des was "He can do this you know..." The rest is history and He is now house captain at his school.
  
• He is 16, and been karting since he was 8 seriously from 10. On a budget (I know everyone says that) but lets put it like, a chassis once every 2 -3 years and a second hand one at that. 1 engine and 1 sticker kit. That sort of budget! and he won 4 championships at 2 different tracks and 2 different classes.
  
• He recently moved up to cars last year and did a four races in VW Funcup, He did his first race when he was 16 and 14 days, missed practice due to a GCSE exam and stepped into the race car for the first time on race day and proceeded to set the 10th fastest time out of 80 drivers. This year we are doing the full season and he just won last week (2nd race of this season, after leading the first race for 156 laps) He is looking down the road at Le Mans LMP1, but he would be happy just being a paid driver.  We went to Funcup as you get a lot of time in the seat with 4 to 8 hours races for the money and its very competitive. Also, a lot of teams and drivers do other series like Brit car or GT, so it might lead on to something else. As I said I don't have a big budget so I need sponsorship to continue this. He is studying A levels, but finding that hard because it's not directly relevant. He is looking to do a motorsport degree and work on his ARDS instructor.  Sponsorship seems hard, I am trying to show the value but finding getting sponsors hard! Thanks for any help. Andy
• Joe Parr Sounds like he’s had an excellent start to the career then! At 16 he’s a little young to be in a car with guests on our events but by the sounds of it that shouldn’t be something to be ruled out for a later date. All of our driver coaches are professional racing drivers and coach in between. I’m unsure of the age restrictions but precision driving in films/tv can be a big earner on the side too, a few coaches do that. The motorsport degree was good but if he’s aiming to be a professional driver then it may not be the best route to go down, it’s more designed for the technical side of things. The ARDS instructor course is great, he could always do red letter days etc when he’s a touch older and that’s a great way to network and move up in terms of earning. I’m not sure how I can help you directly just yet but I’ll have a think and speak to a few of the coaches here to see if they’ve got any tips.
  Regards, Joe