As you watch the thousands of nervous runners lining up at the start of the London marathon today, spare a thought for Darren Turner. A Le Mans 24-hour champion, Turner, 35, is one of Britain’s most experienced racing drivers. His body is honed to withstand the stresses and strains of travelling at 200mph and he is used to covering 26.2 miles in eight minutes. The thought of spending more than three hours labouring over the same distance will, he admits, be mental as well as physical torture.
“I’m used to long-distance racing, but the physical pain of running for 26 miles will be in a whole different league,” he says. “I’m worried about my right knee because that’s the leg that does a lot of the work when I’m in the car. Usually I’d put a cold pad on the joint if it was sore behind the wheel but that won’t be possible in the marathon. During the last few miles it’s going to be mentally and physically exhausting and I know I’m going to wish I could just slam on the accelerator to push me over the finish line.”
Turner started training for the marathon last summer and is in the middle of intensive preparations for Le Mans in June, having won in 2007 and 2008 in the GT1 class, driving an Aston Martin DBR9. This time he will be racing, again for Aston, but in the more challenging LMP1 class, which stands for Le Mans prototype. These cars are the fastest closed-wheel cars used in circuit racing. Their cost and technology make them comparable to Formula One cars, and they boast an even higher top speed.
Combining two different training regimes has not been easy, he admits. Although modern racing drivers are encouraged to be as fit as possible — Lewis Hamilton, in particular, is famous for his gruelling fitness regime — long-distance running calls on different skills and strengths from long-distance driving.
“Preparing for the marathon has been a huge challenge because I am not a natural runner,” says Turner, who started out running for no more than 30 minutes at a time and now hopes to finish the marathon in less than 3½ hours. “Some days my running is very strong and I feel positive about it. Other times it can be a struggle.”
Much of Turner’s usual gym work is designed to strengthen his upper body for driving, particularly his neck and back, which must be strong enough to pull 5-6g in the corners. Preparing for the marathon, he has had to improve his cardiovascular fitness and leg strength. Fortunately, the exercise should also improve his driving.
“If I didn’t exercise my legs at all I would look like a gorilla around my chest and a stick insect from the waist down,” says Turner. “Running gives me a better balance. As I’m getting older, it becomes easier to carry a little bit more fat as well, and running helps me to stay trim.
“Sometimes losing a kilo or two makes a difference in a race car too. When you’re swapping drivers at a pit stop during Le Mans, it also helps if you are quick on your feet and can dive in and out of the car quickly.”
To help motivate him, Turner has hired a personal trainer. “Sometimes he really pushes me to the limit,” he says, with a grimace. The biggest stumbling block has been the demands of the motor racing calendar and he admits his training has been “erratic”. “I was recently away in Spain practising with Aston Martin and didn’t get a run in once,” he says. “Then I was home in Oxfordshire and went out every day. It’s not ideal preparation but when the challenge is there you have to rise to it.”
Born in Camberley, Surrey, Turner took up motor sports at a young age and won the McLaren Autosport young driver of the year award in 1996, an honour also taken by Jenson Button and David Coulthard. He has worked as a test driver with the McLaren, Jordan and Arrows F1 teams but in recent years has concentrated on touring cars. After two years driving for Keke Rosberg’s team in the German Touring Cars Masters, he turned his attention to Ascar, the British version of Nascar. He then joined the Seat team in the British Touring Car Championship and finished on the podium in his first race.
Apart from driving and running, Turner’s passion is mountain biking. When he is not on the racetrack, he heads to north Wales, or Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, to ride with friends. Cycling for hours on end has improved his stamina for running, although not all racing teams are happy with the idea of their star driver crashing down the side of a mountain. “I always have to make sure anything in a contract that doesn’t allow cycling is taken out,” says Turner. “I need to have a balance between work and pleasure. I don’t take massive risks. You hope that the teams acknowledge the fact that you are not crazy and won’t do anything stupid.”
However, the dangers were brought home to Turner when he and Tomas Enge, the Czech racing driver, took time out of racing in the American Le Mans series to enjoy a mountain-biking break in 2006. “We were in Utah and had a week off before the next race in Portland,” he recalls. “Tomas fell, broke his arm and had to be replaced for the next race. It was as simple as that.
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