FROM 0-20 CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 10 YEARS

A decade on from its inception, the Racing Steps Foundation shut up shop at the close of the 2017 season.
Throughout the course of it 10 years at the heart of British motorsport, its founder, the entrepreneur and philanthropist Graham Sharp, funded the
Foundation to an unprecedented degree.

Sharp’s previously unheard of open-handedness enabled the not-for-profit fund to finance, support and
manage the futures of more than 20 of the country’s most promising drivers and motorcycle riders as
they strove to make it to the top of their respective motorsport ladders.

Graham Sharp

SEVEN INTERNATIONAL RACING CAREERS BUILT ON A SOLID FOUNDATION

At the end of its remarkable journey the RSF’s seven graduates were all to be found competing in some of the highest categories of international motorsport.

Oliver Turvey, Oliver Rowland and Jake Dennis all had contracts with Formula 1 teams, while James Calado (along with team-mate Alessandro Pier Guidi) became a world title winner with Ferrari in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Dennis and Ben Barnicoat also plied their trade in sports cars in the Blancpain GT Series while Turvey, a Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winner and Rowland competed in the pioneering FIA Formula E Championship.

Jack Harvey, keen to reinforce his hard-won IndyLights reputation in the USA, secured a seat in the IndyCar championship. Meanwhile, on two wheels John McPhee continued to make a name for himself as the sole British rider to compete in the FIM Moto3 world championship.

FOUNDATION’S PROMISE AND VISION

Masterminding the entire operation every step of the way on Sharp’s behalf was Worldsport
Management’s Derek Walters, the Foundation’s manager in chief. The RSF brand promise conceived by Walters was
‘To be the best, to work with the best, to provide the best for Britain’s best.’

To ensure the Foundation was true to its word, Walters:

  • Enlisted three of the most distinguished mentors in the shape of the late John Surtees MBE – the only man ever to have won world championships on two and four wheels – the late multiple world karting champion and guru Martin Hines and former F1 driver and World Sportscar Champion Derek Warwick
  • Forged solid and productive working relationships with the Motor Sports Association (now retitled Motorsport UK) the governing body for four-wheel motorsport in the UK, the British Racing Drivers’ Club, and others
  • Painstakingly researched the best available teams for the Foundation’s drivers and riders to race and grow with
  • Secured the services of the foremost human performance, mind and media coaches plus physicians, healthcare and legal practitioners

Nothing was left to chance. Competitive advantage was at the heart of everything the Foundation undertook.

Derek Walters


GET IN TOUCH

To find out more about the RSF’s remarkable journey and how it was planned and executed, contact:

Derek Walters
Chief Executive
Worldsport Management
Oxford
OX2 6EQ

M: +44 (0)783 622 8627
E: derekw@wsmf1.com