BEING AN F1 WINGMAN: THE ROCKET CAPSTONE
In our regular column for Monaco Life, Simon Pavitt, pioneer in helping remarkable individuals with their ‘Capstones’, talks to those in the principality about how they are finding meaning and fulfilment through passion projects that are beyond their day to day business.
Simon spoke with Chris Buncombe the British Racing Driver, a former winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in LMP2 and a prolific career in the ‘golden era’ of GT racing behind the wheel of such cars as the Ferrari 575, Maserati MC12 and Corvette C5 GTI. Chris raced at Le Mans until 2011 with Aston Martin. After a 7-year sabbatical from driving, Chris made a racing comeback in 2018 winning the Blancpain GT Endurance Championship in Pro-Am and runner up in the Asian Le Mans Series. Chris is best friends with Jenson Button and together they have co-founded Jenson Team Rocket RJN. The team, amongst other racing, will partner with McLaren to run a 720S GT3 in the GT World Challenge.
SP: Chris why is Monaco so special to you?
Chris: I fell in love with Monaco when Jenson moved to the Principality in 2000. I started to spend more and more time here. I am an outdoor person and need sunshine, space and sport. The views of the Cote D’Azur are unrivalled. Monaco feels like a village to me, where I am always only 5 mins from catching a friend for coffee or popping somewhere for a meeting. I love zipping about on a scooter round the principality, on essentially, the most iconic circuit in motorsport. I have a great network of sporty friends that I regularly train with, especially cycling which the region is great for. Everyone is like-minded and there’s always a group of people in very close proximity to be able to catch up with. So much less planning required versus than say London.
SP: Let’s go back to what we call the cornerstone phase of a career. Growing up and some of the defining moments in the getting you to where you are today… tell us more about your early years…
Chris: I grew up just with a pure passion for racing. My early career began in karting where I drove for Jenson’s father, John Button’s Rocket Motorsport team. I moved through the junior ranks and loved going racing. I joined the Factory Nissan Europe Team and that’s where I first met Bob Neville who was management at Nissan Motorsport Europe. It’s funny now how it’s come full circle as Bob is the third partner in our new venture with Jenson. Much of our focus is giving back to the sport and so the early memories are always a good reference point. I’ve always remembered the people that would take time to mentor me and the drivers that would be nice in person. It’s important for kids to be inspired when they meet their heroes. What can be a short moment can have a lasting impact as a cornerstone experience.
SP: Next we say is your keystone phase, we consider this the time you make your mark, the ‘middle age’ where you make a dent in the world, create and achieve success.
Chris: It’s been an interesting one to look back on. I spent a huge amount of time racing in Le Mans, GT championships etc. But also as a close friend of Jenson’s, we had a really close group that would support him at F1 race weekends. It was really special times being there for your friend when he reached the pinnacle of the sport: F1 World Champion. There was a close-knit group of friends from childhood from Frome, our hometown in the UK. Jenson liked having his family and friends around him, some drivers just prefer having their trainer and manager there. As I was a racer, it helped having knowledge and understanding of the sport. It doesn’t always work having people at the track as they can be a distraction from the racing. But we loved going racing all together. Often during the race weekend’s we’d relieve the pressure by chatting about what we would do after both retiring from professional racing. We’d envisage doing Le Mans together, classics, off road etc… so when thinking about peak moments, I had my own highlights such as winning at Le Mans but also highlights within a group all supporting Jenson’s mission of reaching the top of F1. What made it special was the long-term friends and close family all together.
SP: Any top Monaco memories from the keystone phase?
Chris: The year Jenson won the F1 World Championship, 2009, he also won the Monaco GP. Every racer’s dream. Amazing times celebrating with the likes of his Dad John. We then had to follow him to support him in his fight for the Championship so I ended up supporting at 15 races that year. I was able to build a business also around Grand Prix hospitality and events. We’ve hosted on yachts for many years at the GP. One year, Jenson was out of the race early so came straight to the yacht to watch from there. That’s a pretty unique experience for sponsors and guests on the yacht! Also, for the driver… what other sport in the world can be cooler than those options… starting a race knowing you could either end up on the podium or on a superyacht? There’s a great video on YouTube of Kimi Raikkonen doing so in 2006…
We would host sponsors around the Grand Prix and it was always rewarding to bring them into the sport. Nothing beats being firmly at the centre of the action of the Monaco GP weekend… Many that experience F1 at Monaco are then hooked on the sport for life.
SP: So onto our focus, the Capstone phase. We like to look at what someone does after they’ve reached the top of their game, mastered their craft. What next for you?
Chris: I would say we are both in a bit of a transitioning phase at the moment. We are both still racing in various championships but have one eye on Capstone thinking. We are actioning now the plans we used to discuss at F1 weekends. For both of us its about giving back and thinking more about helping others. We want to make sure that young drivers have the chance to go racing and ensure that they are enjoying it rather than too much pressure at a young age. A few dots joined at the same time which has enabled us to form Jenson Team Rocket RJN. We were chatting to our friend Bob Neville who was running the Nismo GT racing team with Nissan. They were at a crossroads and we felt this was the right opportunity and time to all come together. Our vision is to use our experience and passion to be at the forefront of the next generation of motorsport. Our future is supporting young talent across a range of different mediums including the growth of women’s sport, the need for sustainability and the opportunity eSports provides in removing the barriers to entry into the sport. We want to rekindle the Rocket Motorsport name.
SP: It seems that you were happy to be a Wingman to Jenson in order to support him reach the top of motorsport. Now you are more about your joint ambitions.
Chris: Yes its now about shared ambitions and endeavours. Jenson’s late father John started Rocket Motorsport in the 1990’s as a karting team to help young drivers. Our team now successfully transitions drivers from the virtual to real world as the professional team for the World’s Fastest Gamer Competition. We have the opportunity for the team compete in numerous championships and race series in the future from Extreme E (electric vehicle off-road racing) to W-Series (all-female single seater racing) to eSports. Both of us also have a vision of us racing in the same team at an endurance race like Le Mans in the future. Time for us to be Wingmen to each other but also to many many others around us.
SP: What is driving your passion?
Chris: As mentioned, we are at the start of this new journey so it’s exciting to push to see where this takes us in the future. I want to leave a legacy and ensure I give back more to the sport so it’s in a better place for me being a part. We have shown already proof points for our potential. From supporting emerging drivers to getting more youngsters choosing careers in engineering. Our team’s chief engineer has come through the ranks having been with us since graduating. I am driven to create more of those examples.
SP: Final thoughts… Why do people undertake Capstones?
Chris: It’s enabling me to think about ‘what next’ in my life post professional racing. It’s giving me a purpose and something beyond just my own racing career and striving for personal championships. It’s a nice feeling to be free of certain constraints in order to think what next for our team and mission. It’s a chance to redress certain balances in life. Ideally it will be closely linked to Monaco whether that’s due to sponsors, team members, partnerships, collaborations or simply the team racing on the circuit. It’s about designing life and projects to fit our future needs as well as being able to help many others at the start of their career. Monaco hopefully will continue to be a key part of that.
More details about Chris can be found here: www.rocket-motorsport.com
TO READ OUR ARTICLE FOR MONACO LIFE: JEREMY WILLIAMS AND HIS DRAGONFLY CAPSTONE CLICK HERE
TO READ OUR ARTICLE FOR MONACO LIFE ABOUT EDDIE JORDAN CLICK HERE