If anyone ever needs 5 months of intense, action packed, adrenaline injected fun then they need look no further than the MINI Challenge. Alongside the JCWs MINI Challenge run 3 classes giving lots of opportunity for different budgets to enter a thrilling single series championship. Stuart ran in the Cooper Am Class with the Hybrid Tune team in an R50 Cooper. Hybrid Tune is directed by Sam Weller who drove this season in the Cooper Pro class. Good team support is essential in racing and Hybrid Tune built and ran a fantastic car that had great pace and phenomenal grip even on the most challenging of circuits. A special thanks goes to Matt Willgoss #1 mechanic.
For a rookie, the season was a solid and really exciting one. MINI Challenge holds 18 races spread across 7 meetings at some of the country’s best lov
ed motorsport circuits. The diary both starts and ends at Snetterton with the final meeting round the Snetterton 300 with its fast straights and some technical corners in the in-field.
During the season Stuart made it to the podium 16 times with 11 of those visits being for 1st Place. There was great pace too with Stuart securing fastest lap in 9 races and taking overall fastest driver of the weekend in class 4 times with the Sunoco trophy. Proving your worth as a racing driver is also part of getting qualified to teach others and during this season Stuart gained his ARDS Instructor qualification under his sponsor Pete Edwards of the Motorsport School.
So what does 2018 hold in store? Well MINI Challenge has been too much fun to just run for one year so look out for Stuart in Cooper Pro next season. He will be run again by Hybrid Tune and they have a second place available. If you are thinking about racing then a place with Hybrid Tune would be highly recommended. To find out more about the team email sam@hybridtune.com or see the team web page www.hybridtune.com
If you wish to hire Stuart as a Driver or Coach then email stuart@mclaren0260.com or see his web page www.mclaren0260.com
A huge thanks to all of our sponsors: Hybrid Tune, MINI Challenge, ZVLine, beatSCAD, jerseylite
Stuart McLaren 