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Turning up at the race weekend is
the easy part of it. You think ‘how
am I going to be up on the top
spot on Sunday’ and you motivate
all the team around you to think
about how you get the win, and
then work backwards from that.
“It’s not that dissimilar to what
you need to do in business in
terms of getting a team around
you. When I’m actually in the car
I think about the mechanics of the
car and not the balance sheet.”
The balance sheet must have
been on Tomlinson’s mind, though,
when just over a decade ago he
completed a deal for Ginetta,
a company that was making a
“small profit” at the time. “The
history of the brand was intrigu-
ing,” he says. “I tried to buy TVR
but a Russian guy (Nikolai Smolen-
sky) bought it. So Ginetta was an
ideal platform for us to develop our
cars, because of the history of the
brand and what they did, which
was providing lightweight sports
cars. British sports cars tied in
exactly with what I wanted.”
DOING THINGS
DIFFERENTLY
In the decade or so since, Ginet-
ta has become embedded as a
truly iconic, global motorsport
brand. Road cars such as the G40R
and G60 have caught the public’s
imagination, while on track Ginet-
ta now boasts three single marque
championships – the Ginetta
Junior Championship, the Ginetta
GT5 Challenge and the Ginetta
GT4 SuperCup – plus the Ginet-
ta Racing Drivers Club (GRDC),
which was designed specifically
for the first time racing driver. Un-
der Tomlinson’s guidance, each of
these has become established as a
highly respected stepping-stone to
the big time.
Having acknowledged that
“Caterham did a great job with the
Academy, and still do”, Tomlinson
says one of his motivations was for
Ginetta to make motorsport even
more accessible. “With the super-
lights, for example, when drivers
explained to me what they were
doing I found it confusing – some
look the same but some are quick-
er than others,” he says. “Whereas
with Ginetta, we have put people
in the car and, especially with the
GRDC, they come along and drive
the cars to the limit and then move
into a completely different car
with a different challenge. With
our cars you are moving into differ-
ent racing and you’re not stuck in
a specific area. That’s what we do
differently.
“We have a very clear career
path and progression for drivers
of all ability. And we are also
extremely good value! The GRDC
package is £30,300 + VAT and you
get eight races, including Brands
GP, Silverstone GP, Rockingham
and Donington. It’s fabulous value
and that includes the car, which is
yours to keep!”
With most young drivers har-
bouring ambitions of one day mak-
ing it into Formula 1, Tomlinson’s
pride about the fact that Ginetta
can help youngsters get their
careers off the ground is palpable.
“We see now that Ginetta Juniors
is the obvious step to familiar-
ise your potential F1 drivers or
single-seater drivers with proce-
dures at a proper race event. It’s
the most prestigious event of its
kind in the world and I have never
come across anything anywhere
near it in terms of what your driver
learns,” he explains.
Using the multi-disciplined
Ginetta G40, drivers aged from
14 to 17 compete in support
races to the British Touring Car
Championship, receiving expo-
sure rivalled by no other junior
championship. “Being part of the
touring car package you have
30,000 fans, live TV, you’re in-
terviewed by the likes of Louise
Goodman and Steve Ryder, and
the drivers learn so much,” Tom-
linson explains. “So when people
come out of the Ginetta Juniors
and move on, it gives them a
really good advantage.”
A MAN IN DEMAND
Away from Ginetta, Tomlinson
has applied his expertise in other
areas of the sport, including as a
board member for the BRDC and
then as joint acting chief execu-
tive of Silverstone Circuits from
late 2014 until early 2015. At the
time, the company was in des-
perate need of leadership after
three senior executives had been
suspended from their roles. During
his six months in the role, Tom-
linson’s business acumen was an
important tool in starting to turn
the tide at the home of the British
Grand Prix.
“Silverstone is a great circuit
and what I tried to do was unlock
the potential of the great people
that had been at the circuit and
running it for many years,” he
states. “I think I went a long way
to doing that. Silverstone Circuit
is a happier place for the staff
since I had my time there. I think
there have been some significant
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