TEAM PARKER RACING: HOW BROKEN DREAMS LED TO AN AVALANCHE OF SUCCESS

Stuart Parker cut a forlorn figure, sitting on his own at the end of the bar. It was the awards evening for the Vauxhall one-make series at the end of the 1996 season, and this was before the festivities had even got underway.

Parker had stepped up from karting and battled year-long in his self-run Formula Vauxhall Junior car, but without any real rewards.

The then-21-year-old was reaching a personal crossroads. He said, out loud and to no-one in particular: “I’m not very good at this, am I?”

Motorsport News was sat a few feet away, and we jokingly concurred, and bought him another pint. The only time Parker had made it into the pages of MN that season was when he shunted at Brands Hatch and ended up with the nosecone of his car straddling the cockpit of a rival. MN printed a picture caption with the headline ‘Nosey Parker’.

After that awards night, Team Parker Racing was born. OK, so MN can’t take all the credit, but it was the start of a remarkable journey