Racing lines: From sim racing to a GT3 win for James Baldwin
GT3 win at Oulton was a first for both Baldwin and O’Brien
Young gamer makes winning debut for F1 champion’s team
Drivers transitioning from esports to real-world racing is no longer a novelty, but James Baldwin’s story still stands out as remarkable. Little more than a year ago, the 22-year-old from Buckinghamshire ditched studying for an engineering degree to become a full-time professional sim-racer. This month, he made his real-world GT debut, driving a McLaren 720S GT3 in the super-competitive British GT Championship – and, paired with Michael O’Brien, won first time out at Oulton Park.
“It was insane, most unexpected,” says Baldwin. “Sure, the luck went our way, but we were on the pace. The first time I met Michael was just two weeks ago for a shakedown test, and we’re getting along just fine so far.”
*Gaming as a career*
Baldwin did some karting as a child and tried Formula Ford 1600 in 2015. “We did two tests and two races that cost £15,000, which is a lot of money to the average family, so we stopped,” he says.
He turned to online racing and became so accomplished that it would turn into his profession. How does that happen? “It’s quite a rarity at the moment,” he says. “There aren’t many who are full-time. There are a couple of championships in the esports racing world, one of which is the official Formula 1 series. Most of the contracts with F1 teams are paid, so it is a feasible job. I was with Alfa Romeo last year, and that allowed me to throw in the towel on engineering and focus on esports.”
The next big break was winning the World’s Fastest Gamer competition in the US last autumn. This was 10 days of online and real-world action in front of a judging panel led by former F1 and Indycar hero Juan Pablo Montoya. The prize was a contract with the Jenson Team Rocket RJN squad, which is co-owned by 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button, with an ambition to race in the European-based GT World Challenge, but the coronavirus scuppered that plan. Still, six rounds of British GT is a fantastic platform for Baldwin to showcase his ability.
*A dose of reality*
The Oulton Park result stood out because, no matter how much sim-racing technology has come along, you would think that racing and winning in an all-too-real and expensive McLaren at one of the UK’s most challenging circuits must have been daunting. “I had driven it at Paul Ricard before lockdown, but at Oulton everything felt amplified and faster, because the barriers are right next to you,” says Baldwin. “Every morning before I got in the car, I felt nervous, but once you get in, you feel so connected, you just know what it’s going to do next. It’s really enjoyable to drive, so now there’s no need to be nervous.”
What about the physical sensations that a simulator can attempt to replicate but not yet match? “The physicality is different,” he admits, “especially pushing the brake pedal, because you need 120bar of pressure in heavy braking zones, which is quite hard.
“At Paul Ricard, I was hitting 80bar, then at Oulton I was hitting 100bar, so I’ve improved. The heat, even the smell inside a car, that can throw you off. But for the most part, you do what you would in a sim. The core skills are the same – except there’s no room for error.”
Has he met Button yet? “No, but I’ve been interacting with him over social media. I’m sure he’s going to come to some rounds later in the year and he’s quite involved [with the team] behind the scenes. It would be nice to get some advice. You couldn’t hope for a better coach.”
*Johnny Herbert returns to F1!*
Johnny Herbert is planning an unlikely return to Formula 1 this weekend at the age of 56. But the three-time grand prix winner hasn’t finally lost his marbles (well, not all of them). Instead of taking on Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, he will be lining up to race a 40-year-old Ensign N180B in the Masters Historic Series at Brands Hatch.
The guest appearance is to promote a new scheme run by the National Centre of Motorsport Engineering at the University of Bolton that encourages its students to gain hands-on experience of running a racing car.
Herbert has already tested the Ensign, which was an F1 backmarker in 1981, but it should allow him to be competitive this weekend, at a circuit with which he has a long and bittersweet association.
The Essex-born driver’s Formula Ford Festival win at Brands in 1985 set him on the path towards F1, only for a devastating Formula 3000 accident at the Kent circuit three years later to leave him with horrific foot injuries. Herbert’s recovery and subsequently successful racing career is the stuff of British racing legend, although he would surely have won a great deal more if he had never suffered that shunt. To see Herbert back at Brands at the wheel of an F1 car, albeit one that predates his own time at the top, will be something special.
*Open season at Donington Park*
The days of ‘run what you brung’ Formule Libre racing will be revived this weekend by the British Automobile Racing Club with the launch of an open-to-all-comers sports-and-saloon car racing initiative at Donington Park.
Two 20-minute races will be held for racing sports cars and saloons, from any championship run by any club, with a class structure decided by competitors declaring a minimum anticipated lap time as a means to encourage them back to the tracks following the lifting of pandemic-induced restrictions.
Back when he sold adverts in Autocar, Derek Redfern always tended to get his own way, and he has done it again with an idea that he has been punting around among friends for years. Well done, Derek. It should be terrific fun.
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