Kelvin Burt

Career Highlights:

Kelvin discovered his passion for motorsport while karting on holiday as a teenager. This led him to enrol with the Jim Russell Racing Drivers’ School where he won both the school’s qualifying events and scholarship final.

In 1987 he picked up a national scholarship award and made his race debut in the British Formula First Series. His first win came soon after and he has never looked back since, developing a reputation as a versatile and reliable racer in many different categories.

His two seasons in the British Formula Ford 1600 Series brought Kelvin to the forefront of a new and exciting generation of drivers and he was up against some formidable talent. His tally of twenty-three wins over two years took him close to title honours but he was thwarted by F1’s David Coulthard on both occasions.

Moving up to the British Formula Opel Lotus Championship brought him to greater prominence and he clinched the 1991 title with nine wins and rounds of the Championship to spare. He was in the same year named Club Driver of the Year at the prestigious Autosport Awards, and was also awarded the Graham Hill Memorial Trophy for top British Driver.

Kelvin followed up a powerful debut F3 season in 1992 by winning the title the following year with Paul Stewart Racing. His nine victories and dominant form were despite using the unfavoured Reynard in the first half of the season, and his successes led to F1 test drives for the Williams and Tyrrell teams.

The following year was character-building for Burt because, in spite of being a reigning Champion, he was unable to secure a full season of racing. This did, however, allow him to develop his versatility and both test and race in a number of different formulae. This included guest appearances in the Porsche Supercup Grand Prix support races and his win at Silverstone made him the sole British driver ever to win a race in the Series.

Having also shown his skill in a couple of one-off BTCC events, he began in 1995 three good years in the British Touring Car Championship with the Ford and Volvo teams. A serious accident at Oulton Park damaged his 1996 title hopes but his form returned and he won one race and finished second to Alain Menu in the revived Tourist Trophy event.

In 1998 Kelvin headed East, joining TOMS Toyota in Japan to contest both the Japanese Touring Cars and GT series. He was a consistent front-runner and took several wins and podium finishes.

The new Millenium saw him return to Europe where, after a frustrating couple of years, Kelvin once again made his mark in the 2001 British GTO Championship. Driving a Porsche, he took eight class wins, six poles, eight fastest laps, seven lap records and four overall top 3 finishes. He followed this with a year in the new British ASCAR oval series where he was Championship runner-up.

In 2003 Kelvin will be driving for the newly re-launched Team Maranello Concessionaires in the FIA GT Championship, as well as contesting the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans for Veloqx Prodrive Racing.