A catch-up with Charlie Hollings has been on the DSC UK Ed’s to-do list for quite some time now, especially as the two would seemingly bump into each other every few weeks over the past couple of years – in the Silverstone pits; at a Nissan GT Academy event; on the platform at Lille railway station on the way down to Le Mans ; etc. On only one of those occasions, however, was Charlie in his racing overalls – when he took part in the 2012 Dubai 24 Hours – and it seemed that he had joined the list of drivers for whom fate had let the air out of his tyres; an outing in Martin Short’s LMP1 Pescarolo-Judd at the Silverstone Le Mans Series race in 2008, alongside João Barbosa and Vanina Ickx, being but a false dawn in a top-flight sportscar racing career.
Recently, though, his name has once again begun to appear on entry lists and results sheets, with outings in GT Cup, Britcar and British GT already having been added to his CV in 2013; so what the devil have you been up to, Charlie Hollings?
“The daft thing is, although I’ve not done a huge amount of racing over the past few seasons, I’ve never been busier; but I know how easy it is for your name to drop off the radar,” he began.
“To give you the full picture, I came up through the ranks in the traditional way via Formula Ford and Formula Renault before racing in British F3 in 2005/6. I then spent a season in Australian F3 in 2007, where I came third in the championship with four wins – and I won the International F3 support race at the Australian GP, which was a real highlight for me.
“In 2008 I moved back to the UK, and it was then that my career moved away from single-seaters. I did the first two rounds of the British GT Championship in an RPM Ginetta G50, and later that year did the LMS at Silverstone with Rollcentre; but I also raced Mitsubishis in Australian touring cars and that led to a drive in the Bathurst 12 Hours in 2009.
“2008 was also when I started racing with amateur drivers and being paid for it. My first amateur partner was Damien Charveriat and we raced a Pilbeam together in the VdeV UK series for two years, as well as sharing an ORECA FLM09 in the Formula Le Mans Cup in 2009.
That led on to us moving up to FIA GT3 in a Chad Racing Ferrari Scuderia in 2010 and we tested the factory Zytek LMP2 in anticipation of a prototype programme in 2011.
“Unfortunately, that never happened.
“Then in 2011 I switched to the SPEED EuroSeries, where I was racing with another amateur, Mohsin Rashid.”
In addition to the above, Charlie also made numerous one-off appearances in the likes of the Britcar 24 and Radical racing.
2013 has seen the 31 year old Yorkshirite racing with and mentoring London-based entrepreneur, Jacques Duyver, in various races in an FF Corse Ferrari 458 Challenge. So where did the connection to FF and his driving partner begin?
“I started at FF Corse back in 2010 – pretty much from the start – and I was there for Jacques’ first track day in 2011 in a 458 Challenge. I coached him through all of his track days and then in 2012 he got his race licence and we did some races together in Britcar.
“This year we’ve got a mixed programme of races, with the sole aim being to build up Jacques’ experience. He took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours-supporting Ferrari Challenge race in June and did really well – qualifying 11th and finishing sixth out of 43, despite stopping at the end of the first lap to change tyres. I didn’t drive at Le Mans, but for some reason the timing screens had me listed as being in the car for the second half of the race. I was watching the TV pictures when Jacques went across the gravel at one of the chicanes…..and my name came up on the caption! He loved that!”
Why a 458 Challenge? Why not a 458 GT3?
“We talked about that prior to this season and I advised him that a step up to a GT3 at this stage of his racing career might be counter-productive, in that he could find himself a long way off the pace and end up becoming demotivated. Racing the Challenge version of the car is the ideal as, for example, he can race the car in the GTC class of British GT and get to know the tracks and the competition without also having to learn a new car. It’s a real shame that we appear to be the only car in the class this season, but the experience is more important.
“The intention is for Jacques and I to move up to a full season of British GT, with a 458 GT3, in 2014 and then take it from there as and when appropriate – we’re working on that now and will hopefully be able to announce something soon. Ultimately, he wants to race in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
In addition to his FF Corse duties, Hollings’ coaching duties extend in several directions. “I’ve been part of the Nissan PlayStation Academy coaching squad since 2009, alongside the likes of Christian Vann, Stuart Moseley and Rob Jenkinson; and I also do driver coaching for Fortec Motorsports’ European Formula Renault team.
“And I’m one of the official instructors for the McLaren MP4-12C. There are eight of us, including Danny Buxton, Tommy Erdos and Duncan Tappy.
“Like I say – I’m busier than ever. I think in June I was at a race circuit for 28 out of 30 days! From a racing point of view, it looks like I’ve had my feet up for most of the past couple of years, but in actual fact I’m one of the lucky ones in that I’m actually at quite a comfortable level – even though I’ve had to work hard to get there.
“Oh yes, I’ve also been developing a Trackday app with Mohsin Rashid. It’s called “Chicane” and is a circuit guide/timing device for amateur drivers that covers 20 UK circuits and 45 around the world. It should be in the App Store within the next few weeks.”
By the looks of things, Charlie Hollings won’t be spending much time away from a race circuit for quite some time yet!
MH
