About Me
Jamies daily routine begins with a grouling workout at the gym. Jamie believes that his personal fitness is a major role in developing himself as a driver.
"If am not driving , I'm training. I'll finish training one week before I drive a test or race".
"My training consists of mainly Cardio Vascular work to improve my general fitness and provide me with the stamina I need to drive as hard as I can in any length motor race".
"This year will be tough but I am getting acclimatised to it and my fitness level is as good as it has ever been. I am going to be in fantastic shape for the coming British GT season"
As well as a full time healthy eating regime Jamie comments "on the week build up to a race, I participate in 'Carbohydrate Loading' by eating mainly pasta and rice. So I am full of carbohydrates and energy and prepared as I can be to do the best job I can as soon as I get in the car".
"I train at the gym for at least 3 hours a day, 4 days a week doing Cardiovascular work. Mainly lots of running, cycling and cross training, I have also incorporated getting used to extreme temperatures by doing 'stints' in the steam room and sauna after each workout".
Besides training Jamie devotes the rest of his time to looking for new sponsorship deals as well as working for other teams on race car set-up and driver training.
Jamie's History in more detail
My first car race came up rather unexpectedly, i had gone to Anglesy Performance Driving Centre to do a Formula Ford experience in the summer of 2000. Here I met with the head instructor Richard Peacock. After only a hand full of laps Richard was very impressed and suggested that I applied for my race licence as soon as possible.
I applied for the licence and within days of taking it I raced on the anglesey circuit in a round of the North West FF1600 Championship. I drove a Mondial MS85, the car was not the most competitive but i managed to qualify 9th and finished the race in 10th position.
As 2002 approached I looked forward to competing in the FF1800 Championship with the new team but things did not go to plan as the car was not competitive enough and the withdrawal of my sponsor ended my chances after only two rounds. I spent my remaining budget on a one off drive with the Championship winning team Continental Racing at Oulton Park in a hope to attract some sponsors but the car broke down in Round One and in the Round Two i was involved in an accident but despite this still managed to finish 9th.
Midway through the year things were looking bleak but i was given a life line by one of my old team’s friend Bernard Baxter who had a car available and wanted a quick driver to pedal it as he was building his own engines and needed them at the sharp end of the grid. So i drove for him for a few races and competed in the Formula Ford festival before a full Championship assault the following year.
In 2004 i still did not have the budget to race at a National Level so i bought my own car a Vandiemen RF91 and it was Bernard who was to run it again. I opted for the Southern FF1600 Championship as I wanted to win another Regional Championship and also gain experience on other UK circuits. Again the season started well with a win and second place at Lydden Hill, i went on to have a season long battle with Matt Wood before finally clinching the Championship at the last round at Brands Hatch. During the season i had 3 wins and many podiums, poles and fastest laps, but my biggest break was also to come in 2004 and that was racing in fourth round of the British GT Championship for DRM Racing in a Ferrari 360. I found that it was a steep learning curve but at the last round at Brands Hatch I managed to finish 6th in appalling weather conditions, which brought me to the attentions of many other teams.
For 2006 i was close to doing a deal with Trackspeed racing but when the final date's were released the Rockingham round had been brought forward by two weeks and this clashed with my wedding, so I unable to commit for a full season. I had to find a team that was prepared to be flexible so i eventually decided on a very new team to GT racing RSS Performance. The team was owned by Graham Mundy who would also be driving so i knew they would be very enthusiastic. The car was a Porsche 996 GT3 and although it was a 2002 spec car and lacked some 50bhp we still had some excellent results finishing well in the top six at most races. The highlight was my drive from 12th to 4th missing out on 3rd by seconds in torrential rain at Donnington Park.
2008 saw Jamie leave RSS performance to join forces with the team he competed against for the 2007 British GT title "Beechdean motorsport " over the winter months team Principal Andrew Howard had radically changed the team and was now looking at a full assault on the British GT4 championship with a brand new Aston Martin N24.
The season got off to a great start with a podium at Oulton Park but it was obvious that the main competitors using Ginetta G50’s had an unfair advantage as they were not homologated and performance balanced as the regulations stated, to prove this point the team decided to enter the first round of the FIA GT4 championship which does not allow the Ginetta’s to enter, this proved a wise decision as Jamie won the second race!
2009 saw Jamie continue driving with Andrew Howard. Beechdean Motorsport amalgamated with Aston Martin specialists Barwell Motorsport to run their new Aston Martin DBRS9 chassis X1 in the British GT championship.
The season started at Oulton Park were the car suffered fuel problems due to the championships change of controlled fuel supplier, this was remedied for the next race at the world famous Spa-Francorchamps were the team scored an impressive 4th place in poor conditions.
The following race at Rockingham produced a much deserved podium; following races produced consistent top six finishers.
Overall Jamie and Andrew struggled for race wins in 2009 against newer and more competitive machinery from the likes of the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and Ford GT. Half way through the year Jamie was approached by Top Cats Racing to partner their regular drivers in the 24 hours of Zolder in their Mosler MT900, Jamie was on the pace straight away and impressed in night qualifying being 4th fastest overall against some very experienced Belgium teams, during the race the car ran as high as third but a finish was not to be as an internal gear box pump failed causing the retirement of the car.
To end the season Beechdean Motorsport rolled out their Aston Martin N24 for an end of season foray in the Britcar Championships night race at Brands Hatch.
Jamie Smyth: Brief History
In 2001 I decided to do a whole year in the North West FF1600 Championship on the recommendation of Richard Peacock who had helped Eddie Irvin in his early career. I drove a Mondial MS93 run by Richard’s team. I had some great results including many podiums and one win. I also finished the Championship in 2nd position, which was a great result considering that the Mondial was never the most competitive car in Formula Ford.
During that year I knew I had to make the step up to National Class FF1800 Zetec but knew this would be difficult due to the budget required. To my rescue came Richard’s partner in the team who bought a 2000 chassis Van Diemen for me to do the winter series with. I had some good results including a podium at Snetterton.
In 2003 it was back to FF1600 North West Championship as i just could not raise a budget for a National Series. I was driving Bernard Baxter’s Vandiemen RF85 which was the car to beat throughout the Championship. The season started well with two wins at Anglesey and from there on I dominated before becoming the overall Champion with 9 wins, 2 podiums, 7 pole positions and 10 fastest laps. During this year I also won the Four Round Star of Anglesy Championship
During 2005 it had to be GT racing, i had gone as far as i could with Formula Ford winning two Championships back to back. Guiding me was Adam Wilcox who had secured me the drive with DRM Racing the year before. I had an option with two teams Tech9 who were the current Champions and Damax who were established and wanted to do the whole season of British GT. Again budget would make my decision and I went with Damax driving a ferrari 360. The season got off to a good start with a fourth at Donnington and a podium at both Croft and Knockhill, but from then on we experienced appalling reliability at most of the remaining races, two of which while leading. Also during 2005 i was asked by Avon to help develop the tyres for the 2006.
In 2007 Jamie decided to stay with RSS performance for another shot at the British gt title. Early thoughts were to run in GT3 using a Porsche 997 but having closely observed the developments of the cars over the winter it was evident that the 997 was not going to be competitive. Having talked it over with Andy the head engineer it was decided that Jamie and Graeme would drive the teams 996 again in GTC, there was to be no option but to win the championship! The season got of to a great start with a second and third at Oulton park followed by a podium in every race the car finished this included 3 wins 6 seconds 3 thirds 3 pole positions and 2 fastest laps winning the 2007 Avon Tyres British GTC championship.
Hoping this would force the British GT championship organizers to do something the team decided to remain in the championship until the half way point at Snetterton, unfortunately nothing was done and Beechdean had to withdraw from the championship. Not being one to quit Beechdean made the decision to put all their resources into the Silverstone 24 hour race, this proved to be an excellent decision as the Number 24 Beechdean Aston Martin driven by Jamie and team Principal Andrew won class 2 and finished 2nd overall beating the factory entered Aston Martin! 2009 will again see Jamie and Andrew competing in British GT but in the team’s new Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3!!!
