Last year, I covered the short, but impactful motorsport journey of Jamie Shaw, an aspiring GT racing driver from Mumbai. Straight away, Jamie’s approach towards his racing and more importantly, the preparation for it stood out. At the time, Jamie was in the later stages of his karting journey, aiming to make the big step into car-racing in 2022.
Lo and behold, 9 months later, Jamie competed in his first season of car racing, taking part in the MRF Saloon Series, an Indian National Championship. He placed 6th in the championship with two podiums and a points finish in every race. Just what are the challenges of jumping up from karts to proper race cars? How tricky is it to fund such a big, but volatile career step, and crucially, how do you get better as a driver without any formal coach or mentor? In this article, we discuss these aspects while sharing the story of Jamie’s impressive rookie season in car racing.
The transition from karts to cars
What initially started off as an Indian formula car test to see if Jamie was capable of making the jump to cars soon turned into an opportunity to test the the previous generation Volkswagen Polo Cup cars. In his first testing session Jamie was able to get to within 3 seconds of the car’s track record. Within the next two sessions, Jamie was able to drop down into the 2 minute 5 second range (the fastest the car has been around the circuit in its history) without a coach, which is some remarkable improvement for someone in their initial days in the discipline.
Confident with his performance, Jamie Shaw made the decision to compete in the MRF Saloon Series. Meant for rookies, this championship allowed those racers to compete who had not won a championship yet. This meant that Jamie, the youngest in the championship at 19, was up against some of the most experienced racers in the country not to have won a title yet, a fine place to gather some quality experience.
In only his first car race weekend ever, Jamie bagged a 2nd place finish after qualifying 3rd and another 2nd place finish after qualifying 2nd with a points finish in the reverse grid race.
For the most part in the championship, Jamie held his own, consistently holding second place in the title. A couple of tricky rounds offered him some valuable learnings about racing hard with saloon cars, eventually leading to him finishing 6th out of the 25 drivers with a points finishes in all 9 races!
Jamie Shaw ‘s learning spirit
So just how does a rookie end up performing so well in their very first year of car racing against a very competitive grid? As has been the case throughout his entire career so far, Jamie’s inquisitive nature and dedication to learn from past experiences has been a great catalyst for improvement. This dedication goes as deep as learning about the technical aspects of the car from his team’s technicians and through an internship at a garage too!
Whilst most may get confused by listening to multiple perspectives on the same issue, Jamie kept an open, trial and error based approach to the technical and sporting aspects, which greatly helped him learn what works and what doesn’t. ‘It’s better to ask and look foolish with people laughing at you than to not ask at all!’, claims Jamie. Clearly, this turned out to be a major advantage for him throughout the season while adapting to the intricacies of car racing!
As I covered in the last article with Jamie, his mentality is where he truly stands out. Realising that you face a shortage of funds to go racing is one thing, but actively working on it to close down the deficit is where the challenge truly lies. This is where the dedication comes in handy; over the last year, Jamie has attempted to bridge the gap through an array of internships and also through offering his freelance videography services and his own fundraising website, all whilst studying in college!
Moreover, producing educational videos on the world of motorsport, especially the latest happenings in India helps him serve multiple purposes at the same time. Not only is it a great opportunity to build himself as a brand and increase visibility for potential sponsors, but also offers a great pathway to aspiring racers that are keen to learn more, but are unaware of the road ahead and the happenings in the sport.
The road ahead is simple in theory, but tricky in execution. Since Jamie now believes that he belongs in the world of car racing and can do better, it all comes down to finding the most cost-effective racing series where he can show his talent against strong rivals. The hurdle with motorsport, as he rightly claims, is that showcasing your talent requires a great deal of funding too.
That said, as Jamie has constantly spoken about, while funds are key, a person can make up for it with enough hard work and the right mindset and that’s one thing there is no shortage of with Jamie Shaw thankfully!
Follow Jamie Shaw and his work here: https://linktr.ee/JamieShawRacing