What Formulae do people drive in professionally?

[crofty1984]

OK, There's been plenty of discussion over Button et. al's salary recently.
Obviously F1 is a sport where usually a team will actually pay a driver to race for them. And there must be other series where the same happens (WRC maybe?).
I guess there's also instances where a drive is high-enough profile for sponsors to think it's worth the exposure to pay substantial sums (i.e. costs for a season=£500,000, sponsorship pot=£600,000, driver's "salary" £100k)

So, over to PH, what racing formulae (UK and international) have drivers in that have "given up the day job"?

[covboy]

These days, I think it works all the way down to the “starter” formulae. Some F Ford/Renault drivers are either Full time drivers, or closely associated with Race Schools/Trackday Organisers etc.

Would you consider these as “day jobs” or an extension of their Motorsport career?

[TimCrighton]

BTCC back in the supertouring days. A handful are now paid, but the majority of them rely on bringing sponsorship with them for which some may make enough not to have to 'work'.

Historics, there are some guys that will be paid for racing a historic, Neil Cunningham for example could be classed as such but even then I'm not sure Neil just drives, I think he bolsters that with instruction and other things like buying and selling cars for customers.

British GT, there are a very small selection of drivers in BGT that are paid either by the other drivers budget, or through sponsorship.

I would reckon in domestic UK circuit racing (not rallying) then you might be looking at 20-25 'professional' racing drivers that make a living solely from racing without having to subsidise it with instruction etc. Not many given the numbers racing in total! Most are just either happy to have their budgets subsidised or to race for free!

Edited by TimCrighton on Thursday 26th November 10:46

[belleair302]

Five years ago a study was taken looking at global motorsport and the number of drivers who received a salary compared to those who brought money / sponsorship into motorsport. This included cars, bikes, trucks and covered everything from F1, NASCAR, GT, single seaters and Moto GP through to Rally Raids, Historic Motorsport and Endurance events.

The number of paid drivers was under 200 globally.

Most either had private wealth and were hobby drivers or carried significant personal sponsorship from family concerns or private businesses.

[Jungles]

Most "works" drivers are paid, although the amount they're paid depends (in the Australian V8 Supercars championship, a top driver earns circa AU$200,000). And just because a driver is paid a salary, doesn't mean they don't need to bring sponsorship with them.

[Marc W]

Most if not all the DTM drivers are paid, there are several paid drivers in LMS and ALMS too.

[intrepid44]

I think some drivers are paid in the Kart World Championship, Marco Adrigo (sp?) and Davide Fore. Although I don't think they're paid much but enough to get by I suppose.

[Ian Davidson]

A lot of professional European karters were paid. Ranging from £10-40,000 and that was 10 years ago.

[belleair302]

There is always an issue regarding manufacturer works drivers, ie DTM and drivers carrying sponsorship as a number 2 and thus paying part of the number 1 drivers salary. I have no idea what M-B or Audi spend on DTM but they lose money racing in Germany each year but subsidise the championship vastly. All in the name of German engineering and regions where circuits are based owning shares in each car manufacturer.