Jeremy Clark hopes the forthcoming racing season will provide a springboard to a brighter future. The Attleborough racer has attracted an enthusiast sponsor in Fine Print, who aim to publicise a new product, called Inkflow, through their association with motorsport.

Jeremy Clark hopes the forthcoming racing season will provide a springboard to a brighter future. The Attleborough racer has attracted an enthusiast sponsor in Fine Print, who aim to publicise a new product, called Inkflow, through their association with motorsport. “It is a fabulous opportunity to be able to work alongside a marketing-driven company, and the choice of the Mazda Championship fits in well with their current aims,” said Clark. “If everything goes as well as we have planned, I could be moving on up the sportscar racing ladder, along with Fine Print, who, after launching Inkflow, aim to market the product to a wider audience in the coming years. The triple Formula Vee champion was keen to do a full season of racing again after a part season in the BMW saloon series last year, along with his Autosport Porsche Carrera prize drive at Snetterton.

“The Porsche was phenomenal,” he enthused. “It was a lot more powerful than anything I've raced before. Braking for the Esses at Snetterton from over 160mph is faster than I have ever driven before. It was an experience I will never forget.”

Invited to sample a Mazda MX5 at Oulton Park in October, Clark was setting highly competitive lap times while giving passenger rides, and it convinced him that this was a series in which he had to compete.

“The car was just so much fun to drive,” he said. “Unlike a Formula Vee, it can be thrown around in power slides.

“The cars look good, the grids are full and the series is well policed, which puts a premium on driving skill.”

And it's Clark's skills behind the wheel that he will be passing on to novice races this year after linking up with Team Shearspeed.

The team will be running up to seven cars and, as team leader, he will be expected to pass on tips to his team-mates, as well as coaching the novice racers who take part in the Mazda MX5 Scholarship run by Team Shearspeed.

“I couldn't get any better technical support, as Christian Dick of Team Shearspeed was only pipped to the championship last year at the final race at Snetterton,” said Clark. “It's a perfect partnership.”

Having rebuilt his championship winning Formula Vee Spyder, he had seriously looked at returning to the series, but felt there were more chances away from open wheeled racing.

He added: “Unless your are a teenager, it's hard to progress in open wheeled racing and sportscars offer so many more opportunities to attract sponsors.

“Currently I couldn't be happier, and will be working hard this year to make a success of my newly-formed partnerships.”