2022
At last a year where we were without influence from COVID.
The team saw many great results at club meetings with victories at Kimbolton and Shenington and very close at Whilton Mill. The major change was the movement back to Rotax from X30 with over 60% of our drivers in Rotax. Tyres issues meant that Rotax drivers had to run on X30 tyres for some of the year but otherwise we were back to a "normal" year.
Once again the team continued to grow and now boasted 16 drivers in Honda Cadet, Mini Max, Junior X30, Junior Rotax, Senior Max and Senior X30.
The outstanding performances of the year came from Ewan Thomas with victory at Kimbolton and many second places to figure in the Championship at Shenington in Junior Max, William Pemble's success at Kimbolton and Shenington in Junior Max, Jack Collins victorious at Kimbolton and numerous great finishes in Junior X30 and Luke Taylor, who once he changed from Junior to Senior X30, he blossomed and took many victories at Kimbolton including the prestigious Anglian Trophy Meeting.
We welcomed Hawkie Findlater, Andrei Stelian, Torrin Byrne, Marc Gaw, and Daniel Gurney in Junior Max, James Shotton in Junior X30 and all the way from Kenya Kris Bhanderi and Marcel Laczycki in Senior Max.
The best day of the year was in July when the team hired the Whilton Mill circuit and the drivers were joined by their parents for a tremendous day out. It was fun seeing Honda Cadets lap their parents every 3 laps!!!
2021
Well - another COVID influenced year. We started with a lockdown until 29th March and then it was flat out!!!!
The team jumped back in to action with the most training days and race team test days seen in a month since the team was started. Racing started at Kimbolton with one day meetings on 10th April for our X30 drivers and 11th April for our Honda Cadets. A system repeated at Shenington the following week and finally Whilton Mill reverted back to a full race meeting at the end of the month. We were back in action and Shenington and Kimbolton finally returning to normal for June.
The team continued to grow and now boasted 14 drivers in Honda Cadet, Junior X30 and Senior X30. Great results from Adam Hill in Honda Cadets at particularly Shenington and Whilton Mill showed that the lockdown had not affected his performance.
We welcomed Rotax Max back with Murfie Aldridge in Junior Max, who stunned with brilliant results particularly at Kimbolton where he won. This was a common theme with more and more of the team moving over to Mini Max, Junior Max and Senior Max plus welcoming William Pemble, Tristan Burnard and Ewan Thomas into the sport in the class. Honda Cadets were joined by Kian Burnard and Sebastian Clark, with wins for Kian in his novice races.
The team continued to produce great results and springboard into a non Covid hit 2022.
2020
What a year!!! It all started off extremely busy and with horrendous weather. Two consecutive weekends of 70mph winds luckily only saw minor damage to the teams awnings but meant some race days were lost, the first of many!!
The team grew to 16 drivers with Oliver Gibson and Seb Tuzzeo starting with Protrain in Hondas and then later in the year joined by Daniel Butcher and Luca Tuzzeo. Hugh and Adam kept the charge at the front of the grid.
Junior X30 saw the arrival of Sam Longley, surprised by his parents when he was turning up for a training day, and finding that he had actually his own new sparkling kart!!! By the end of the year he was battling with Mackenzie and Daniel. It also meant the return of Protrain's first employee, Duncan O'Connor, an Open Champion himself and successful European Championship racer now Sam's race engineer.
Lucas Romanek moved to Senior X30 and immediately showed his skill, setting a new lap record at Shenington and winning his first race in seniors there. We welcomed Ben Southgate in X30 and it was good to see Joe and Nathan battling at the front, particularly in the wet where both of them were usually the class of the field. Guy Smallridge made an appearance after a year's break. Guy and Ben got together at Whilton Mill's first turn and provided Stu an award winning photo.
Shravan moved into Mini X and in his first year finished third in the club championships, a fabulous performance.
Dan Parrans-Smith was victorious in Junior Rotax at Kimbolton, Shenington and Whilton Mill but did not compete often enough to win a championship.
But the main story was Covid-19 and the many lockdowns. Karting lost the whole of April and May but with great efforts returned in June with racing starting again in July. All these efforts were then curtailed by another lockdown in November and Tier systems in December meaning the season only had January - March and July - October. Everyone is hopeful for a full season in 2021!!!
2019
The continuing popularity of Protrain saw the team awnings increase in size to cope with the extra drivers and 14 in total.
The Honda Team was successfully lead by Ryutaro continuing his trips from Japan and ably mentored by Nick Parrans-Smith. Now also taking trips to PFi Ryutaro was often the talk of the paddock. Adam Hill, and Hugh Roche joined the cadet ranks and started to develop as novice drivers.
Joe Ahrens, James White and Nathan Amess led the charge in Senior X30 and the Junior X30 drivers were enhanced by Lucas Romanek, Thomas Mullet, Daniel Hackett and Mackenzie Stevens with Finley Harrison almost winning in Mini X.
2018
Further development of the team at club level, continuing to successfully concentrate on Kimbolton, Shenington and Whilton Mill club meetings
The Honda team was pleased to include Ryutaro Sakai, travelling all the way from Tokyo, Japan to race and we quickly developed him into a top driver in the UK. Harrison Morrow, Tommy Harfield, and Shravan joined the current drivers and the team produced great results particularly at Whilton Mill.
The X30 team was further enlarged welcoming Vishal Patel in juniors and we were pleased to see the success of James White after returning at the end of 2017.
Protrain returned to Rotax with Dan Parrans-Smith who produced some brilliant top three results in Junior Rotax.
2017
An important year for Protrain with a change in emphasis for the Protrain Team. The Team focused on club racing, bringing in new drivers from the very successful training days and developing them in Honda Cadet, Junior and Senior X30 classes.
The Honda team developed rapidly with Dan Parrans-Smith leading the way and success in the Kimbolton club championships. He was well supported by new drivers William Hepher, Ralph Leckie, Wesley Swain, Haydn Chance, Alex Mikos, Henry Joselyn and more experienced William Johnson.
Archie Forber again figured at the front of the Whilton Mill club Championships and he was well supported by new driver Nat Thomas and the more experinced Guy Smallridge. Luke Richardson rejoined the team after leaving to compete in the Super One Series and was stunning in the wet.
We have a large movement of Junior drivers into Senior X30, because of their height, saw Nathan Amess and Joe Ahrens progressing well at Whilton Mill and Kimbolton. At the end of the year James White rejoined the team and showed stunning pace at Whilton Mill, 2018 should be a strong year for him.
2016
Protrain started to take a new direction, after dominating the Rotax classes for over ten years, the team started a movement into cadet, and particularly Honda Cadet, and X30 categories. The sport in thye UK rapidly changes and after 15 years of dominance the Rotax classes start to decline. To maintain our position at the pinacle of the sport, the team reacted to this.
In cadets William MacIntyre and Dan Parrans-Smith were our main protaganists, and despite their young age and short period in the sport, they produced brillaint results and fantastic speed.
Luke Richardson continued the Protrain record of winning the Shenington Mini Max Championship with many victories throughout the year.
Entering Junior X30 Archie Forber produced a string of results to secure 4th in the Whilton Mill club Championship and Reggie Duhy won the Midland Championships. New comers Nathan Amess and Joe Ahrens have developed well and will see success in 2017.
At the Super One National level a brilliant secondf at Glan-Y-Gors was the highlight of theseason and the team wishes Harry McQuillan well with his movement into cars for 2017.
2015
Protrain continued their successful history with more Championship victories.
Kieran Wragg dominated the Shenington championships and was ably supported by James White, a novice in January, vice champion by the end of the, brilliant development throughout the year.
Luke Richardson started in Mini Max and narrowly missd winning race meetings, this will happen in 2016.
Charlie Turner was taken out of victory at the International Open in Italy in Seniors when victory looked on, a great education for Charlie and will lead to stunning performances in 2016. His 5th place in the Super One was the result of some brilliant drives and he narrowly missed out on victory,
The Junior side of the National Team picked up Rookie trophies with some great results from Harry McQuillian and Tommy Foster, supported by the Prince of Monaco.
Protrain were instrumental in the tyre testing for the Motor Sports Association and the chosing of the MSA Cadet tyre for 2017.
X30 was the new major class on the UK scene and Protrain were once again at the fore with Victories for Jake Bowman and Kieran Wragg.
The Protrain Cadet team continues to grow with many drivers in IAME and Honda cadet, it has been great seeing them all develop into mature drivers.
2014
A great year for the team continuing to push our red image, the team were the "Ferrari" of the karting world in their bespoke team wear.
A great year for the team in Super One. The team was lead but Rookie Johnathan Hoggard who produced some fantastic podium finishes and an amazing third overall in the Championship. Other notable results were produced by Andrew Wong and Ricky Donison in Junior Max and Charlie Turner and Hiroaki Tsujinoue in Rotax Max.
Kieran Wragg won the Shenington Club championships for the second year running in Mini Max after a successful foray into European racing in Italy.
Ido Cohen was the stalwart of the Euro Max finishing just outside the top ten in the International Open. Ricky Donison reached the World finals representing India after his superb performance in the Indian Championship winning the Indian Open and many other championship rounds. Protrain were pleased to also race manage the Oman team at the World Finals in Valencia, Spain.
James Bailey fought for the Shenington club championship with a great finish to the year.
2014 saw the launch of Protrain Asia, based in India to handle the growing Indian, Malaysian and UAE markets. Victory in India and a domination of the Championship should see a strong development of the team.
2013
The year started with the team on the Formula K karts, but after an amazingly successful Winter Cup we were forced to switch on to Tony Karts
Our lead drivers Tommy Preining and Jack Saffrrey both had a fantastic season, finishing 8th in the European Championship Junior Max and Super One Rotax Max. Tommy also won the Austrian Championships and represent Protrain at the World Finals in New Orleans, USA with Jack Saffery from his Super One performance.
The logo and branding was updated and the team were resplended in their clothing.
In the UK Kieran Wragg dominated the Shenington and Whilton Mill club championships, winning both in his rookie Mini Max season.
2012
At the start of the year we welcomed Charlie Eastwood and Ed Brand to the team, who then went on to finish 1st and 2nd at the World Finals held in Portugal. 2012 also saw a change to the kart chassis, with Protrain becoming the UK distributor for Formula K – a new chassis which we believed would become the best in the world.
We welcomed several new drivers into their first full season of Karting and helped them achieve good results throughout the year.
We sported newly designed clothing which was based on the highly visible red and white with new driver suits, we continued the use of our bespoke kart graphics wherever individual driver sponsorship allows.
The year finished with runners up at the World Championships and top ten in the Super One UK Championships and RGMMC European Championships.
2011
The year starts with new employees - we welcome Scott Taggart into the team, new vehicles, our new custom built race truck with a new larger 110m2 awning and newly fitted interior given a more professional environment for the teams drivers and mechanics to maximise our performance. Also all new design clothing moving to a more dramatic red and the introduction of our own livery and graphics on team karts. Later in the year the team introduces for the first time ever the use of the Italian Tony Kart chassis in the race team and continues the success of the team.
2010
What a year!!! it was so close to 3rd in the UK, 2nd in Europe and World Champions - unfortunately despite totally dominating the World Championships in La Conca Italy Jack Aitken after winning every heat and the first final crashed out half way through the second final whilst dicing for the lead. Fastest lap was no consolation.
For the first time Protrain won the prestigeous British GP title at Kart Masters when Jack Hawksworth won in Senior Max.
Other notable performances came from Alessandro Latif narrowly missing a podium at the International Open in Spain and numerous club victories. Kaan Onder contiuned to put in great European performances and Max Aitken starred at club meetings.
2009
A development year for the team with new drivers. Raoul Owens was featured highly in the European Championships and carried this on in the World Finals in Egypt with a great performance to earn him eighth on the grid for the final. A first corner incident ended his chances. Alessandro Latif drove well all year in Mini and Junior Max and Kaan Onder was victorious in the Turkish Championship.
2008
Protrain maintain their remarkable record. Once again the team will be competed at club, UK and European levels. Many of the 2007 team have moved from Juniors into Seniors and so it was a learning year for them. The team continued to figure in the European Championships with Luke Varley dropping out in the German round when second and Tom Fawcett crashing out in Czech Republic when a certain third and podium was on. In the UK Michael Taylor had a fantastic second at the Super One in Rowrah and we continued to figure strongly in Juniors with Shaun Pirie and up and coming stars Alessandro Latif and Kaan Onder. At the World finals Protrain were pleased to race manage the Iranian team to great success.
2007
What a year!!! The Protrain Team continued to be the most successful Junior Team in Europe. The highlight of the year was the Team's domination of the UK Super One National Junior Rotax Max Championships winning 4 of the 6 rounds. Luke Varley won the Championship with a round to go and Kazuki Hiramine narrowly missed out on a top three place with fourth. They were ably supported by Tom Fawcett, fastest in qualifying at round 4 and Shaun Pirie 10th in Mini Max. In Europe Kazuki won the Austrian round and Steve Cobb won the Belgium round in Seniors, both finishing third overall in the Championship.
At the World finals in the United Arab Emirates, a crash in the pre final saw both drivers starting from the back for the final, but overtaking a total of 47 drivers between them Kazuki & Luke finished an amazing 5th and 6th.
Protrain also dominated club meetings, at the end of the year winning every race in Juniors at Whilton Mill in October, Shenington in November and Kimbolton in December.
2006
Concentrating on the excellent European Rotax Championship, Super One National Championships and club racing at Rissington, Shenington and Whilton Mill using Gillard's World dominating chassis. Jack Hawksworth dominates the race season and wins the European Championships with top three results at every one of the four rounds in France, Italy, Austria and Belgium. Aly Heinemeyer wins the Egyptian championships with victory at every round. In the UK - vice champions in Stars of Tomorrow UK National Championships plus 3rd at the ABkC National Championships. A very dominant year.
2005
New Iveco truck with 106m2 of awning space totally dominates paddock and raises team's profile. European Rotax Championship plus National Championship season. Numerous club meeting victories, fastest laps and lap records. Gillard win world championships.
1998
Protrain gain superior vehicles and pit facilities and dominate the Formula 100C National Championships although it all ends in tears at the final round. European Championships also end in tears with crashes into the fence.