Kwik Fit, the UK’s leading car servicing and repair company and title sponsor of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), hosted a day of educational events with an exciting motorsport twist for all age groups at Thruxton Circuit last Friday (6 June).

50 children aged 10-to-11-years old from local primary schools attended the ‘Kids in Motorsport’ day which aims to showcase the potential future career avenues within the motorsport industry.

The day began with four engaging workshops designed with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in mind. These included a media workshop with motorsport presenter Isi Browning; CPR and first aid with the TOCA Medical Team; a racing simulator experience with Pure Sims and an interactive overview of race car engineering with Driven By Us.

Paddock tours were next on the agenda with a behind-the-scenes look at teams and suppliers in the British Touring Car Championship. This included a tour of reigning BTCC Champion, Jake Hill’s race car and team area. After this, the children were treated to a lesson about race tyres courtesy of Goodyear, the exclusive race tyre supplier for the championship.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the race paddock, five lucky Kwik Fit apprentices got to put their training to the test with a host of hands-on activities within the Goodyear race tyre facility, designed to complement and develop skills they have learnt in their apprenticeship.

Kwik Fit’s apprenticeship programme is highly regarded in the automotive industry. Over 4,000 people have started their careers as a Kwik Fit apprentice, with many progressing to a wide range of senior roles, both within Kwik Fit and other organisations in the sector.

The Kwik Fit apprentices had hands on experience with some BTCC race teams, NAPA Racing UK, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA – as well as Goodyear - where they were able to get involved in race car preparation, pit stop tyre changes, race tyre fitting and engineering comparisons between race and road cars. They also received insights as to how the BTCC is run, with highlights from TOCA Medical, TOCA Technical – all ending with some fun on the BTCC racing simulators.

Once again, Kwik Fit has chosen as its charity partner Air Ambulances UK which supports vital rescue services all over the country. Both the children and apprentices spent time with the Air Ambulance volunteers at Thruxton circuit to learn more about their critical work and have a go on their helicopter simulator.

This is the third consecutive year of Kwik Fit hosting educational events at BTCC race weekends with hundreds of children and young adults benefiting from these unique motorsport workshops.

Michael Butler, Goodyear BTCC Event Leader, said: “I really enjoy being involved in the Kwik Fit educational events, as I feel like I’m giving something back. I explain what we do, what we bring to the track, our experience and we try to engage the apprentices and the children as much as possible through asking questions since this is a truly unique experience.

Hopefully, some of these young people will consider a career in motorsport in the future, as the industry is in need of the next generation of mechanics, engineers and tyre specialists.”

Tom Gentle, Head of Retail Marketing at Kwik Fit, added: “We are delighted to have run these educational events across the BTCC Thruxton race weekend, which provides a reflection of future career paths within the automotive and motorsport industries. With both the kids and apprentice events being tailored to maximise engagement and learning, we hope we have inspired the next generation in both the schools and our centres. This is another brilliant example of how mutually beneficial our partnership is with the BTCC.”