3 years on from GT Academy - I'm finally racing for real

  • Thread starter Dessy182
  • 21 comments
  • 2,091 views
Dessy182

Dessy182

896
Ireland
Carlow, Ireland
GTP_Dessy
Hi guys, I haven't been on the forums in a while but wanted to share this with a few of you that are also chasing the dream.

In 2012 I made it to the final 6 of the European Race Camp which was won by Wolfgang Reip. It was the most insane experience of my life and really showed me how amazing a career in racing could be. I drifted away from pursing racing several times over the next few years, trying my hand at many other things and trying to earn a steady income, but I eventually took the plunge this year and started racing Formula Vee. I got a small bit of personal sponsorship together to help me a long the way, but some of this was funded by myself as well.

Essentially Formula Vee is national level club racing, but it's very competitive at the top of the field, very cheap (relative to most series) and most importantly it's a great way to learn and get experience without worrying about writing off a car and being in debt for the rest of your life.

Here's a video that I recently threw together that shows my Top 10 overtakes of this season so far.



A lot the guys in this clip have been racing for years (Dan Polley for example has raced LMP2 in Asian Le Mans Series), so to be able to battle with them straight away in my rookie season is a great feeling. Years of Gran Turismo and iRacing helped a lot for sure.

If you want to know more about Formula Vee or how you could get started, I'd be happy to share what I know. Check out my Youtube channel if you want to see more videos like this.
 
Well played Des. Not sure why I wasn't subscribed before as I thought I already was, but I'm back subscribed non the less :D! Keep it up, seen some fantastic racing from you!
 
Terrific stuff Des. Some ballsy passes going on there!

Are you still doing the photography? You may recognise the track I'm on in my avatar and perhaps even know the photographer?
 
Looks like great fun and you certainly got some skills... Great vid Dessy 👍

Good luck for the series and all the best for the future :cheers:
 
turnupdaheat
Terrific stuff Des. Some ballsy passes going on there!

Are you still doing the photography? You may recognise the track I'm on in my avatar and perhaps even know the photographer?
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Hey man, yeah I noticed it right away haha! I still do photo and video work but things have quietened down a bit now :/ It's hard when you are completely freelance. What's your name, I'll come say hello next day I'm down at the track

Mr P
Looks like great fun and you certainly got some skills... Great vid Dessy 👍

Good luck for the series and all the best for the future :cheers:
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Thanks mate, appreciate the kind words and support - subscribe to the youtube channel if you want to see what I get up to over the next few months. Formula Ford test and Monposto races coming soon

Stotty
Good luck Des 👍
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Cheers man, thanks for watching :)
 
Nice video Des, great to see the fledgling motorsport career is going well! Those Formula Vee cars look awesome fun too - they're so narrow it looks like there's about ten possible racing lines for each corner :D

I'm at the 'finding sponsorship' stage at the moment. I think I need to sit down and have a proper plan of what I'm going to do. Alternatively, a few ex GT Academy guys and myself can prod Darren Cox until he agrees to start that Canadian Nissan Micra Cup over here..
 
GTP_Ingram
Nice video Des, great to see the fledgling motorsport career is going well! Those Formula Vee cars look awesome fun too - they're so narrow it looks like there's about ten possible racing lines for each corner :D

I'm at the 'finding sponsorship' stage at the moment. I think I need to sit down and have a proper plan of what I'm going to do. Alternatively, a few ex GT Academy guys and myself can prod Darren Cox until he agrees to start that Canadian Nissan Micra Cup over here..
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Lol, I don't think any amount of prodding Darren will help at this stage :P Wait, you're in Canada now? when did that happen.
 
Dessy182
Lol, I don't think any amount of prodding Darren will help at this stage :P Wait, you're in Canada now? when did that happen.
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Haha no I'm still in the UK! I just meant that Nissan has the Micra Cup running over in Canada with some ex-GT Academy guys competing in it, and it'd be cool to have a similar series over here.
 
GTP_Ingram
Haha no I'm still in the UK! I just meant that Nissan has the Micra Cup running over in Canada with some ex-GT Academy guys competing in it, and it'd be cool to have a similar series over here.
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Ah, I hadn't heard about that. Yeah I'm sure they could set up the series but in the end someone is still going to have to pay for the drives so.. Micra Cup sounds fun though. We have a fiesta series here in Ireland and there is a very big field turning out each weekend
 
Great video @Dessy182! I am completely unfamiliar with this class of racing, but it looks awesome. How can you not love open-wheel racing? Thank you for sharing the video...I hope you have continued success in your racing career. 👍
 
ALB123
Great video @Dessy182! I am completely unfamiliar with this class of racing, but it looks awesome. How can you not love open-wheel racing? Thank you for sharing the video...I hope you have continued success in your racing career. 👍
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Thanks a million for taking the time to have a look - really glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the support.
 
Dessy182
Hey man, yeah I noticed it right away haha! I still do photo and video work but things have quietened down a bit now :/ It's hard when you are completely freelance. What's your name, I'll come say hello next day I'm down at the track
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Hey, my name's Derek and I live only down the road from you in Kilkenny. I don't race myself, just a few trackdays during the year and I'll be next out in Mondello on the 21st of this month. I'll keep an eye on the Formula Vee calendar and try to get up to see you in action some day. Best of luck with the season!
 
turnupdaheat
Hey, my name's Derek and I live only down the road from you in Kilkenny. I don't race myself, just a few trackdays during the year and I'll be next out in Mondello on the 21st of this month. I'll keep an eye on the Formula Vee calendar and try to get up to see you in action some day. Best of luck with the season!
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Ah cool, yeah Kilkenny is only down the road from me. Next day I will be in Mondello is the 18/19 for Leinster Trophy. I might be driving something other than Vees that weekend - maybe I'll do both but could be a big ask physically and financially. Do call down and say hello if you're there!
 
kart.no.38
Best place is my Facebook page: http://facebook.com/davidperelracing

Also my YouTube page has all the behind the scenes action: http://youtube.com/davidperel
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Nice videos David! Casey Neistat is a huge influence I see :P love his stuff too. I have been planning to do something like this for the last few weeks, although I have had no races recently, but I was thinking it would be cool to show what goes on behind the scenes like you do - I can't imagine my stuff will be as exciting as what you are up to with GT cars though! Still, gotta start somewhere!

I'll follow your racing page as well, best of luck :)
 
Dessy182
Nice videos David! Casey Neistat is a huge influence I see :P love his stuff too. I have been planning to do something like this for the last few weeks, although I have had no races recently, but I was thinking it would be cool to show what goes on behind the scenes like you do - I can't imagine my stuff will be as exciting as what you are up to with GT cars though! Still, gotta start somewhere!

I'll follow your racing page as well, best of luck :)
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Yea he's a huge influence. I'm no movie creator so I decided to be inspired by him until I understand what I'm doing :)

My advice would be to just start vlogging, don't wait till the right moment. Check my first two pilot episodes to see how bad I started but at least I started... it gave me some momentum and some confidence.

Also... I'm pretty sure your friends and fans (like us) would love to see as much as we could while you go racing. Heck, even video blog about exercise if you have to!
 
kart.no.38
Yea he's a huge influence. I'm no movie creator so I decided to be inspired by him until I understand what I'm doing :)

My advice would be to just start vlogging, don't wait till the right moment. Check my first two pilot episodes to see how bad I started but at least I started... it gave me some momentum and some confidence.

Also... I'm pretty sure your friends and fans (like us) would love to see as much as we could while you go racing. Heck, even video blog about exercise if you have to!
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That's the plan, I just don't have any races coming up for a while and I want the first one to have some good content. I have been practicing and getting some feedback though. The format and editing is going to be quite similar to what you are doing because I took inspiration from Casey as well - just know I'm not ripping you off, it just seems like the best style to film something like this!
 

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