Jeff Smith (British racing driver)

Jeff Smith
Smith in 2015
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1966-03-27) 27 March 1966 (age 58)
Coventry, England
Related toBrett Smith (son)
British Touring Car Championship career
Debut season2010
Current teamEurotech Racing
Car number55
Former teamsTriple 8 Race Engineering
Starts156
Wins0
Poles1
Fastest laps1
Best finish12th in 2012
Previous series
201617
2015
2014
2014
2012
2010
2009
200810
2008–10
Mini Challenge UK
24H Series
British GT Championship
Michelin Clio Cup Race Series
Superstars Series
Renault Clio Cup France
Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe
Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom
Renault Clio Cup Italia

Jeffrey Frank Smith (born 27 March 1966) is a British racing driver and businessman. He is the owner of Industrial Control Distributors and Eurotech Racing, who he previously drove for in the British Touring Car Championship.

Racing career

[edit]

Renault Clio Cup UK

[edit]

Born in Coventry, Smith entered the Renault Clio Cup UK championship in 2008, competing in all but two events. He continued in 2009 with a best result of 9th in the final race of the season at Brands Hatch. In 2010 he competed in all races except the rounds at Knockhill, where he raced in the British Touring Car Championship instead. Smith returned to the Clio Cup at Silverstone where he scored his best finish of 4th, but did not race in the season finale at Brands Hatch, and finished the season 8th overall.

British Touring Car Championship

[edit]

Triple 8 Race Engineering (2010)

[edit]

Smith competed in three rounds of the British Touring Car Championship in 2010 at Knockhill, driving a Vauxhall Vectra for Uniq Racing with Triple Eight,[1] where he finished 12th, 13th and 10th.

Eurotech Racing (2011–2013, 2015–)

[edit]

In December 2010 Smith was confirmed as a driver for Eurotech Racing, under the Pirtek Racing banner, in 2011.[2] He raced the entire 2011 British Touring Car Championship season for the team. At Oulton Park he was fined £500, given a reprimand and an endorsement of three points on his racing licence for an incident which saw him collide with Tom Boardman in race one.[3] He finished the season 18th in the Drivers Championship.

In 2012 he raced an NGTC Honda Civic for Pirtek Racing.[4] He started on pole position for the reverse grid race at Donington Park but finished fifth having had a slow start and losing the lead before the first corner. He took his first podium finish in the series at Knockhill with a second place finish in race three.[5] In the wet conditions of race three at Rockingham, he lost control of the back of his car on the high speed banking and spun into the concrete wall. He escaped unhurt but the car was severely damaged at the rear.[6] His car was re–shelled before the next round at Silverstone.[7]

Smith driving the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic at Oulton Park during the 2013 British Touring Car Championship season.

He stayed with Pirtek Racing in 2013.[8] He took a further podium finish at the season-opener at Brands Hatch, but slipped to fourteenth position in the championship after missing several races in the second half of the season.

Smith missed the 2014 season due to business commitments, but returned to the championship for 2015 by buying the Eurotech team, following the departure of lead driver Andrew Jordan and his father Mike as team principal. He is competing as an owner-driver alongside Martin Depper.

In the first race of the 2017 season, Smith took his maiden pole at the Brands Hatch Indy round, the opening round of the season, as qualifying was interrupted by rain and red flags. During qualifying at Croft Circuit, Smith was involved in a multiple car pile-up, causing chest and shoulder injuries, which put an end to his season. He was replaced for the rest of the season by his son, Brett Smith.[9]

Ahead of the 2018 season, it was announced that due to the severity of Smith's shoulder injury, he would also miss the 2018 season, but is expected to make a full recovery.[10]

Superstars Series

[edit]

Smith joined the Superstars Series for the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps round of the 2012 season, driving a Team Dinamic BMW M3 (E92).[11] His best result of the weekend was seventh in race two, with both races having taken place in wet conditions.[12]

British Endurance Championship

[edit]

In 2013 it was announced Smith would be racing for BPM Racing in the British Endurance Championship in a Renault Megane V6 Trophy car.[13]

Personal life

[edit]

Smith's son, Brett, is also a racing driver, currently competing in the BTCC with the family run Eurotech Racing team. Jeff's partner is Jo Polley daughter of George Polley.

Racing record

[edit]

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point given all races)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pos Pts
2010 Triple 8 Race Engineering Vauxhall Vectra THR
1
THR
2
THR
3
ROC
1
ROC
2
ROC
3
BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
OUL
1
OUL
2
OUL
3
CRO
1
CRO
2
CRO
3
SNE
1
SNE
2
SNE
3
SIL
1
SIL
2
SIL
3
KNO
1

14
KNO
2

15
KNO
3

14
DON
1
DON
2
DON
3
BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
29th 0
2011 Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra BRH
1

9
BRH
2

16
BRH
3

13
DON
1

10
DON
2

13
DON
3

5
THR
1

9
THR
2

12
THR
3

11
OUL
1

Ret
OUL
2

Ret
OUL
3

10
CRO
1

15
CRO
2

Ret
CRO
3

14
SNE
1

11
SNE
2

16
SNE
3

17
KNO
1

16
KNO
2

18
KNO
3

14
ROC
1

14
ROC
2

8
ROC
3

7
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

24
BRH
3

14
SIL
1

17
SIL
2

16
SIL
3

25
17th 19
2012 Pirtek Racing Honda Civic BRH
1

10
BRH
2

7
BRH
3

4
DON
1

13
DON
2

6
DON
3

5
THR
1

13
THR
2

11
THR
3

9
OUL
1

Ret
OUL
2

DNS
OUL
3

12
CRO
1

Ret
CRO
2

13
CRO
3

11
SNE
1

10
SNE
2

11
SNE
3

11
KNO
1

14
KNO
2

9
KNO
3

2
ROC
1

Ret
ROC
2

13
ROC
3

Ret
SIL
1

8
SIL
2

11
SIL
3

10
BRH
1

10
BRH
2

8
BRH
3

17
12th 157
2013 Pirtek Racing Honda Civic BRH
1

5
BRH
2

3
BRH
3

7
DON
1

10
DON
2

11
DON
3

10
THR
1

5
THR
2

6
THR
3

6*
OUL
1

11
OUL
2

10
OUL
3

18*
CRO
1

12
CRO
2

10
CRO
3

10
SNE
1

13
SNE
2

Ret
SNE
3

19
KNO
1
KNO
2
KNO
3
ROC
1

12
ROC
2

10
ROC
3

10
SIL
1

18
SIL
2

DNS
SIL
3

DNS
BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
14th 132
2015 Eurotech Racing Honda Civic BRH
1

19
BRH
2

23
BRH
3

14
DON
1

14
DON
2

15
DON
3

13
THR
1

17
THR
2

20
THR
3

Ret
OUL
1

19
OUL
2

10
OUL
3

10
CRO
1

26
CRO
2

24
CRO
3

14
SNE
1

26
SNE
2

18
SNE
3

18
KNO
1

12
KNO
2

Ret
KNO
3

14
ROC
1

25
ROC
2

15
ROC
3

Ret
SIL
1

16
SIL
2

16
SIL
3

Ret
BRH
1

24
BRH
2

14
BRH
3

16
20th 31
2016 Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R BRH
1

14
BRH
2

10
BRH
3

7
DON
1

7
DON
2

18
DON
3

Ret
THR
1

4
THR
2

25
THR
3

11
OUL
1

21
OUL
2

15
OUL
3

Ret
CRO
1

20
CRO
2

18
CRO
3

18
SNE
1

Ret
SNE
2

15
SNE
3

15
KNO
1

Ret
KNO
2

15
KNO
3

Ret
ROC
1

25
ROC
2

17
ROC
3

13
SIL
1

15
SIL
2

25
SIL
3

15
BRH
1

19
BRH
2

11
BRH
3

17
18th 55
2017 Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

16
BRH
3

17
DON
1

9
DON
2

13
DON
3

Ret
THR
1

11
THR
2

10
THR
3

27
OUL
1

13
OUL
2

21
OUL
3

24
CRO
1

WD
CRO
2

WD
CRO
3

WD
SNE
1
SNE
2
SNE
3
KNO
1
KNO
2
KNO
3
ROC
1
ROC
2
ROC
3
SIL
1
SIL
2
SIL
3
BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
26th 25

Complete International Superstars Series results

[edit]

(key)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points
2012 Dinamic BMW M3 MNZ
1
MNZ
2
IMO
1
IMO
2
DON
1
DON
2
MUG
1
MUG
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SPA
1

13
SPA
2

7
VAL
1
VAL
2
PER
1
PER
2
31st 6

Complete British GT Championship results

[edit]

(key)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
2014 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 GT3 OUL
1
OUL
2
ROC
1
SIL
1
SNE
1

11
SNE
2

13
SPA
1

3
SPA
2

13
BRH
1

3
DON
1
17th 37.5

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hudson, Neil (4 September 2010). "Second Triple Eight car for Jeff Smith at last minute". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  2. ^ Meissner, Johan (2 December 2010). "Jeff Smith joins Eurotech in a Vauxhall Vectra". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  3. ^ Hudson, Neil (8 June 2011). "Jeff Smith punished for incident with Boardman". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  4. ^ Meissner, Johan (6 October 2011). "Pirtek Racing to run two NGTC Hondas in 2012". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Knockhill – Race results (3)". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  6. ^ "Rockingham race round-up". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 23 September 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  7. ^ Hudson, Neil (5 October 2012). "Back to Silverstone for the penultimate round". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 21 June 2015. Eurotech Racing have also pulled out all the stops to get Jeff Smith back out this weekend.
  8. ^ Turner, Kevin (25 October 2012). "Andrew Jordan targets overall BTCC title in 2013". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  9. ^ James, Matt (29 June 2017). "Injured Eurotech BTCC driver Jeff Smith to be replaced by son Brett". Autosport. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Jeff Smith to miss 2018 after latest surgery". TouringCarTimes. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  11. ^ "BTCC racer Jeff Smith to make Superstars debut this weekend at Spa". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  12. ^ van Leeuwen, Andrew (15 July 2012). "Morbidelli caps off perfect Superstars weekend at Spa with victory in race two". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  13. ^ Broomhead, James (15 February 2013). "New Pairing Join BPM Racing For 2013 Season". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
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