Burnley FC season ticket holder Ben Hanley - an old friend of Lewis Hamilton - is living life in the fast lane!

Ben Hanley - an old friend of seven-time Formula One World champion Lewis Hamilton - is living life at 230 miles-per-hour and the Burnley season ticket holder isn’t showing any sign of taking his foot off the gas.
Dragon Speed racer Ben Hanley - who used to compete against seven-time Formula 1 World champion Lewis HamiltonDragon Speed racer Ben Hanley - who used to compete against seven-time Formula 1 World champion Lewis Hamilton
Dragon Speed racer Ben Hanley - who used to compete against seven-time Formula 1 World champion Lewis Hamilton

The 35-year-old shared the track with the record-equaling Laureus World Sportsman of the Year as a teenager on the karting circuit - along with other famous faces from the world of motorsport - before the two went their separate ways.

Hamilton would go on to receive universal acclaim and adulation for his achievements on the track.

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And the Mercedes driver would further enhance his already golden reputation earlier this month when matching Michael Schumacher’s return with a masterful victory in the Turkish Grand Prix.

The Dragon Speed team get to work on Ben Hanleys carThe Dragon Speed team get to work on Ben Hanleys car
The Dragon Speed team get to work on Ben Hanleys car

Hanley’s career may not have been as well documented, or celebrated with such exposure, but he has enjoyed his own outstanding success.

He has raced on some of the most iconic tracks on the planet, competing in some of the most coveted events in the process. Not bad for somebody who started out in a car park!

“My era was Lewis Hamilton,” said Hanley, who grew up in Cliviger. “I’ve raced against pretty much all the guys who are on the F1 grid now at some stage in my career.

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“When I was younger and I was racing nationally in the UK there was myself, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Lloyd [IndyCar] and Mike Conway, who raced for Toyota in the World Endurance Championships.

“Lewis started to race cars earlier than I did so we ended up losing touch during that period. Everyone was super competitive and he [Hamilton] was always one of the racers at the front.

“With all his achievements in Formula One he’s certainly a stand-out name and he’s a household name nowadays. They were great times competing against drivers who have gone on to achieve so much.”

Hanley says that his start to life in the industry isn’t anything new. The former British Junior Kart champion confirmed that most drivers will experience a similarly unceremonious baptism in racing.

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But the transition from tentatively accelerating around abandoned plots of land to competing on a national and international platform was quite swift.

With racing idols Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell fueling his ambition, and dad [Anthony Hanley] and step-dad [Paul Ibbotson] providing the inspiration, Hanley set out on his journey.

He said: “My Dad was always into motorsport, like bits of everything. He had a motorbike and a dune buggy, which he swapped for a go-kart.

“I had a go with it in a car park and I liked it so we found a local track - which at the time was in Wigan.

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“I went through the motions, started racing against other people, and then I got my licence. I started racing once a month and then it soon became my hobby, my passion. One thing led to another and then I was out racing most weekends.

“My ladder is similar to 90% of racers having started out go-karting in my single digit years and then as a teenager I moved to cars.

“My Dad was a big inspiration with the interest that he took in motorsport. He was definitely a big factor in starting me off down this path.”

Tragically, Hanley was in his mid-teens when his father passed away. The young driver had just started to venture further afield in a bid to enhance his reputation.

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He’d swapped British courses for more continental climes, taking on some of the hottest proteges the world of karting had to offer in the Junior European Championships.

That’s when things started to get serious. At 16, when most his age would be starting apprenticeships or heading to college, he got all of his belongings together and emigrated to Desenzano del Garda in northern Italy to pursue a career as a driver.

“As a little kid you don’t have much fear of things so at the time driving fast was a thrill and I enjoyed it,” said Hanley.

“I didn’t need any persuasion to go and drive on a track. I was always interested and focused. I knew that I was in a privileged position to be able to do it, but it was a great life experience. It helped me grow up and mature quite quickly.

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“It starts out as a hobby then at 12/13 you start to dream of being a Formula One driver. It’s a ladder system and nine out of 10 start out in go-karts.

“It’s every kid’s dream to race, mostly Formula One because that was the most televised and most accessible racing to be able to watch.”

He added: “It all happened very quickly. We started travelling around Europe at 13 to compete in Junior European Championships.

“Back then it was like the World Cup because the World Championship in karting is reserved for the top classes.

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“It’s a world event. The UK were probably the most competitive national championships in the world and the next step up was the European Championships.

“My step-dad is also involved in motorsport. We built up a trust and we had a really good relationship. That’s continued all the way through to now.

“He’s been around racing his whole life so he knows how it works. He was a big part of continuing my development as a racing driver because he had a lot of knowledge and experience. He also contributed a lot to my progression in racing.”

Hanley, who produced multiple wins and championships in various karting categories, including three Winter Cups, the Margutti Trophy, a European title and four world championship podiums, soon evolved to bigger and faster engines.

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He was accepted on to the Renault Development Training Programme and started his offensive on the single-seater ladder.

In 2005 Hanley would finish third in Formula Renault 2.0 Italy with six wins, nine podiums and two poles and would later follow that up with second in Formula Renault 3.5 for Prema Powerteam.

Hanley was making up for lost time. He said: “I had one shot to try and make an impression and to try and get some support. Fortunately that happened.

“I had to perform well in my first year of car racing. I raced in the Formula Renault Italian Championship and I finished in-between a Red Bull driver and a Toyota driver.

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“I wasn’t affiliated with any teams or brands and then I got the option to go with Renault from the second year.

“I managed to get good results in my first year and that opened up the door to become part of the Renault Development Training Programme.

“I then made the next step up in category and I did that for two years. It was a big step up. I made a big jump, which took some getting used to. The year after that I finished second in the World Series 3.5 Renault Championship.”

Despite financial constraints, which lacerated his partnership with Renault, the young racer continued to feed his insatiable need for speed, further decorating his resume with efforts in GP2 [now Formula 2] and the Euroseries 3000.

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Victory at Magny-Cours was the highlight while a third place finish at Zolder added to his growing reputation behind the wheel.

“The next year I went into the GP2 Series, which is the feeder class to Formula 1,” said Hanley, who was based in Northampton.

“Things didn’t go quite so well and there were some issues with the Renault Development Training Programme so I had my funding withdrawn after three races. That put me back.

“I had a few opportunities the following year, with people that I’d come across in the past, and I took my chance.

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“I won a race in F3000, finished third in another, and then in 2010 I did some racing in Super League Formula.

“Those cars were represented as football teams and there were a lot of very good drivers in it. I finished third in my first race [for Olympiakos], and won the second race, so the results have always been good.

“However, even that wasn’t enough to get me into a full-time job so I went back to karting for five years.”

It was a setback, there are no two ways about it, but Hanley persevered. He hadn’t come all this way just to allow his hopes and dreams to slip away without a fight.

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Fortunately, the contacts that he had built up over the years started to pay dividends. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

He said: “I was looking for opportunities in sports cars and endurance racing, but it was difficult. One year I got put in touch with Mike Perry, who managed other drivers at the time.

“He managed to get me in touch with a team called Dragon Speed. They decided that they wanted me in the car, I drove for them for a year, and since then I’ve never looked back. I was just in the right place at the right time at that moment.

“In the endurance categories you’re sharing a car with two other drivers, sometimes three, so it’s far more team orientated.

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“When I joined Dragon Speed they had a driver called Nico Lapierre and there was a gentleman called Henrik Hedman so I was the guy in the middle.

“I learned a lot from Nico on how to approach the endurance aspects of racing and it just went from there.”

You can read the second part of our interview with Ben Hanley in next Friday’s Burnley Express.

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