Growing up, my family were never really sports focused, it seems strange then that one on my fondest memories was watching the famous Australian 1000 km motor race, Bathurst, the event consumed our day. This was not the traditional Ford vs Holden rivalry, it was the battle, the success, the crashes and following these drivers. Now I call it 'Snackhurst' a day to myself and experiencing memories of growing up and of my Dad who passed 25 years ago. My guest today was one of those drivers.
Fast track roughly 10 years ago, I was at a networking event and someone stood up to introduce himself to a group of 50 business people and I heard the name "I am Paul Stokell" the name hit a chord, a memory and again my motor racing connections fired up. and this time, I get to work within one of my favourite sports and travel with teams and be in the pits as the drivers prepare to do their thing.
After Paul and I chatted and met in a separate meeting, he invited me to a track day to present to his gathering of car enthusiasts. A 30 minute discussion and the application of a process, I use still today for professional driver in world motorsport, one of the Instructors went out and came back in several laps later beaming... he had dropped him time by close to half a second per lap.
Paul Stokell then introduced me to a young guy, (about 15 at the time) walking past a Lotus and kicking the tyre... Paul said, 'there is the future of world motorsport' it was Matt Campbell. Matt became a client and has introduced me through his connections to many Australian and International drivers. Here is a link to see what Matt is now up to in Europe as a Porsche Factory Driver. https://www.instagram.com/mattcampbell22_/?hl=en
Paul knew his stuff and this is what I share with you in this chat. Like many people believe, Paul could have been one of the greats in F1 and was well on the path... here is Paul's story, Flat out or Flat Broke. Paul these days is still all about motorsport as his business and still passion.
Please connect to Paul through his website, https://drivingevents.com.au/
Thank you and please take a moment to listen to other episodes and share this story.
Stuart Walter
