YouTube creator Driver61 has said there was “no convincing needed” when he was asked to take part in the Formula E Evo Sessions event held in Miami this week.
The online star, real name Scott Mansell, boasts 1.33 million subscribers to his YouTube account, which delves into the world of motor racing with in-depth analysis and technical explainers.
Mansell, himself a former racing driver, did not win an overall prize for his efforts at the Miami International Autodrome, but Motorsport Week understands that he set the fastest lap time that was recorded over the two day event in his Lola-Yamaha-ABT.
In fact, such was his speed, Mansell’s best lap was not hugely different to the benchmark set by the driver assigned to coach him – Lola’s permanent race driver Zane Maloney.
The event comprised of 11 influencers, content creators and celebrities – one for each FE team – who were put through their paces under the supervision of a driver from their respective assigned team, and set laps to determine the fastest driver, but Motorsport Week learned that the lap times will not be officially published, but instead further in-depth information from the event will be included in a television documentary to be shown at a later date.
Mansell told Motorsport Week that when he was initially approached by FE to take part, he needed little time or persuasion to say yes.
“Formula E reached-out, saying we’re doing this crazy thing in Miami, would you like to be part of it?” Mansell said. “They said you’ll be driving on track in one of the actual Formula E cars and so there was no convincing needed to be honest with you!”
Close-knit work with Lola Formula E team rekindled past experience
Mansell’s apparent speed should not be a total surprise, given he had been a professional racing driver prior to his online successes.
A veteran of BOSS GP racing series, Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the Indy Pro Series [now Indy NXT], Mansell enjoyed a varied racing career, and his YouTube presence has enabled him to continue to turn his hand to other cars over the years since.
Mansell said that his experience with the team was his first of a similar nature since his end of his professional career.
“The first thing, I spent a couple of days in the sim with the team. So if you start from there, the first thing is just me working with a very professional team.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve done that, probably not since 2010, it’s been a while.”
Such as the content his channel creates, Mansell was able to use his experience and interest in the technical and engineering side to assist him get to grips with the car, the world’s fastest accelerating car, the GEN3 Evo.
Mansell said that working with the engineers was “massively enjoyable,” adding: “If you look at my YouTube channel now, I love the engineering behind it, I love getting into the details of it, I love understanding how the cars work.
“And that’s probably the biggest thing about the Formula E car is that they’re very complex machines in different ways that I’m used to.
“With all the software and all the tools that you have to change how the cars behave, that’s been really, really interesting to get my head around.
“You have to drive it a different way. But then going out on the track, yeah, of course. I mean the headline figures are crazy.
“Obviously, they’re very fast under acceleration with all the torque that they have, but the ultimate grip that these cars have, because they don’t have a huge amount of aero and because they’re on the treaded tyres, it means that they are massively fun to drive.
“[They’re] One of the most fun cars that I’ve ever driven, because you can buy loads of power, loads of torque with not a massive amount of grip, you’ve got something that’s moving around all the time and as a driver, you really feel like you’re properly driving it.”
Lola’s ‘incredible history’ an additional excitement
Mansell was hugely excited to drive for the Lola team in Formula E Evo Sessions, given its history and heritage, and it added to the list of Lolas he had already driven.
“This isn’t made up, but I have actually driven a few Lolas of old! Driven the T70s [the 1960s sports prototype], driven a T210 [another prototype, from 1970] at the Silverstone Classic races.
“And so, of course, I’m very aware of the brand. It’s got such incredible history. I’ve driven the cars, the cars that I’ve driven also had lots of power and not a huge amount of grip and were lots of fun as well. So yeah, that was really the connection.”
Whilst technically a novice to Formula E, Mansell’s experience enabled him to observe how his fellow creators were reacting to how driving the cars felt, revealing he was able to engage with them.
“I’ve spoken to most of them. It’s been good fun actually just meeting them and seeing how they’re approaching it,” he said.
“You’re right. I do have more experience than most people here. There are a couple who have racing experience, but there are also people who’ve never been on track before, so that’s been super interesting meeting the guys as well. They’re a lot of fun.
“Some of the YouTubers as well, like Cleo Abram and Yes Theory – I love their content, so it’s been great to meet them and talk about the driving experience as well.
“I’ve worked on driving experiences myself on the other side of things [through his channel]. I’ve been running events where people have come and driven cars for the first time.
“And so I know the emotions that they’re going through, and you can see when they get out of the cars, they’re full of adrenaline.
“They’ve had a great time, and that’s what it’s all about really.”
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