The History of Westbourne Motorsport
Westbourne Motorsport was officially formed in 2007 when they entered a car into the Saxmax Series driven by James Colburn. However before this Westbourne had previously prepared Jaguar MKII’s, Mini Miglias and Ford Fiestas to a very high standard,
as can be seen in the image that has been captured of a Jaguar MKII 3.8 prepared for Hillclimbs and Sprints.
Having only formed in 2007 Westbourne very quickly tasted championship success as in 2008 they clinched the Saxmax title with a meeting to spare. Taking 7 wins, 7 poles and setting 2 new lap records in the 10 races they competed in. In the other 3 races they could sadly only take a 2nd place in each!
In 2009 the team looked for a new challenge and they had their eyes firmly set on the TOCA Support Package, the championship in question being the Renault Clio Cup Championship, the pinnacle of one make saloon car racing.
Westbourne instantly proved they belonged with the best as in the first qualifying session at Brands Hatch as their car driven by graduate James Colburn finished 5th and 3rd , in a grid with 32 of the best drivers in the country. Ending the year having the highest placed rookie driver in the championship, 9th overall. Then followed this up with 4th overall in 2010.
We almost took Clio Cup Championship victory in 2011 with Colburn, with only 4 points covering the top 3 drivers into the final round, ending with the runner up spot.
2014 has once again brought even more success for the Westbourne team, the newly rebranded Saxmax series, now the Junior Saloon Car Championship, had rookie driver Ben Colburn, younger sibling of James Colburn, at the wheel. Instantly the sweet taste of success was upon the young driver as out of the 12 races during the year he took 10 podiums, including 2 wins. He sealed 2nd in the championship, quite an accomplishment in his first year of Motorsport. The following year Ben took the JSCC crown with a dominant display all season long securing 6 wins and a further 6 podiums out of 14 races.
2016 saw Westbourne Motorsport went back to its roots and started producing and running cars in the Historic Racing Drivers Club (HRDC) with cute little Austin A35 Academy cars which we still run in today and with a whole load of success! That year saw the team at the Goodwood Revival for the very first time running 6 Austin A35s in the St Mary’s Trophy. Both of the Westbourne built A35s managed an incredible front row start in the Part 2 at the hands of James and Ben Colburn! We have been fortunate to race at the Revival every year since 2016. We were also very lucky to get an entry to the Goodwood Members Meeting in 2017 where our just finished Lenham Sprite GT competed in its first ever race in the Weslake Cup. Straight out of the box it was an instant success as it claimed victory at the first attempt and this car continues to provide many class wins in the HRDC still today!
We have been a regular supporter to the HRDC over the years and continue to grow our customer cars with a very eclectic array of historic race cars from both cars we have built ourselves and already built cars. Westbourne are looking forward to the upcoming years to continue their success and create even more history and meet new friends along the way.