High powered watts

SOME people get hooked on driving after they started playing with toy cars or go-karting. But Danny Watts says he fell in love with racing when he was six or seven, sitting on his dad's lap behind the wheel of their family car cruising down an airfield. 'Sometimes, he would let me hold the gear lever,' recalls the SC Global Racing driver. He was lucky his father was a 'major racing fan' who would take little Danny to F3 races every weekend.

Little wonder then that he became a race driver when he grew up. Watts, 29, says he is equally comfortable in a grand tourer or open-wheeler. Since he started driving in 1993, he has competed in everything from the Macau Grand Prix and Le Mans, to Formula 3 and A1 GP.

Last month, the Englishman drove to a podium finish in his first Porsche SC Global Carrera Cup Asia race. But he says the Formula One support race at the Singapore Grand Prix was tough. 'There are a lot of talented experienced drivers in it. I was actually running fourth until the last lap where I overtook another competitor and took the final podium place, which was very pleasing as Singapore is notoriously difficult to overtake on,' he says.

For SC Global, coming in third in only their second race was exciting for both the team and its corporate guests. 'Danny is not only an extremely talented young driver with an impressive track record, but he also has an uncompromising drive to be the very best which resonates with our SC Global brand,' says SC Global spokeswoman Sarah Jane Smith.

Watts himself is modest about his achievement, attributing his success to his familiarity with the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Last year, he raced in the Aston Martin Asia Series here. 'The circuit has everything which makes it a big challenge for any driver and getting the ideal car setup is difficult,' he says. 'In the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the corners are mainly second gear apart from the high speed final corner which is taken in fourth at around 190kmh.'

 

But he adds: 'I love every part of the circuit. It has a nice flow about it and is fairly low grip but you have to respect it, as there are very few run-off areas and any mistake is punished by way of hitting the walls.' It helped therefore that prior to arriving in Singapore, he did some serious 'training' in the form of the Le Mans Series of endurance races.

One particularly gruelling six-hour round had taken place at night in Portugal. His 650hp Ginetta-Zytek LMP1 car reached a top speed of 320kmh and it was 'physically and mentally tough'.

'After dark, the whole perspective of speed is very different,' he says. No doubt the experience was enhanced by the fury of the rear-mounted 4.5-litre naturally-aspirated V8 engine but still, he says he enjoyed every minute of it.

'There was lots and lots of driving and my first love is driving a racing car. It's an amazing rush and when you win, it's a great feeling,' But back home in Buckinghamshire, near the Silverstone circuit, he jokingly says he has to take instructions from his fiancee, Fiona Leggate, when he is driving the family car. 'She'll say: Careful, watch that lorry,' he adds with a laugh.

Then again, Leggate is also a race car driver and she happens to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the woman who has competed in the most races in one day - six. 'She was helicoptered from one circuit to another,' says Watts, explaining how the 2005 record was set. It looks like everyone in the Watts family has a love affair with racing.

samuelee@sph.com.sg