• Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship opens its doors to local school children ahead of race weekend at Thruxton Circuit

• Media skills, BTCC pit garage tours, CPR training, coding and helicopter simulator on menu of activities

• Engineers, racing drivers, doctors and TV personalities on hand sharing valuable career tips

Kwik Fit, the UK’s leading car servicing and repair company and title sponsor for the British Touring Car Championship, hosted its highly anticipated ‘Kids in Motorsport’ event at Thruxton Race Circuit today (7 June).

Sixty-five 9-to-11-year-old boys and girls arrived at the track eager to take on a host of fun yet challenging activities, designed to showcase the potential of what a future career in the world of motorsport could look like.

The children all of whom were from local primary schools (Kimpton, Thruxton & Fyfield CE Primary, Appleshaw St Peter’s CE Primary and Vigo School in Andover) tried various tasks specially designed to develop their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills, as well as giving them a unique behind-the-scenes look at the UK’s premier motorsport series.

The day began with a lesson in life-saving resuscitation with the BTCC paramedics including performing CPR and how to use a defibrillator. The children then got an insight into motorsport media techniques with ITV’s Louise Goodman, who showed them how to present to camera – followed by a close-up tour of the BTCC race cars courtesy of Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport.

Industry experts, Enovation Consulting worked with the children to build, code and race LEGO model cars. Then to round off an already action-packed day, they were treated to a turn in the Air Ambulance simulator – which is used to train pilots in this invaluable service.

Thomas Gentle, Head of Retail Marketing at Kwik Fit, said: “After running a highly successful Kids in Motorsport event last year at Brands Hatch, we’re excited to bring it back again for the 2024 BTCC season.

“Our aim is to show children the many disciplines in today's motorsport industry and to demonstrate the numerous opportunities that are open to them in this exciting and rewarding sport. We’re hoping to inspire the next generation in the paddocks!”

Alex Watts, MD at Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, added: “It’s always great to see how the BTCC and Kwik Fit come together to create such a memorable experience through the Kids in Motorsport programmes.

“It should never be underestimated the effect that days like today can have on the next generation and we at Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport are only too pleased to support that!”