WHEN I was a lot younger, a bit sillier and was forging my own way into the Motor Racing industry I started my own little business.

I was fresh out of several dead-end jobs I didn’t like, pretty much broke and with no real plan about where to take my life – other than that I wanted it to be in car racing and that it needed to be something in the media.

Other than that, there were no real plans but, as my idol Peter Brock used to say: Bite off more than you can chew.. then Chew like hell!

Having come from a background in community radio broadcasting and from a year of hosting a community Motorsport TV program, I decided to name the business after those two properties. Continuity, and all that.

And thus, Race Torque media was born. Race for – obviously – the racing and Torque as a slightly amusing play on words on what it was I did for a living.

For a while there was a website and there’s been some social media but in the intervening 10 years there’s never been a concerted effort to build my own brand. In a rather ironic turn, things got too busy building everyone else’s to worry about my own. Don’t get me wrong – that’s not a bad thing.

However as the industry has changed, the shift towards digital consumption, instant media and online platforms has increased, I thought it was time we dust off the old play on words and turn it into a website a few people might actually be interested in reading.

So, I welcome you to The Race Torque.

I’ll be honest, the goals for this website aren’t exactly clear – much like when I started RTM all those years ago – just yet but there are a few ideas.

Obviously, it’s firstly going to be a place where I can tell the stories people I work for and with get up to. I’m lucky enough to work with incredible, interesting people and cover some outstanding racing so this will be a place where I can tell those tales.

Secondly, I’d quite like the place to become somewhere respected voices from within the paddock can comment and muse about the state of the sport, a recent event, a news breaking piece or just something that’s on their mind. It will literally be a place where people can Talk the Torque.

But the overriding message is this: Stories. There’s so many great ones around and what keeps me compelled and engaged with this game isn’t necessarily the racing, the drama or the politics – it’s the stories that go with it all. Dissecting the how and the why and actually learning something about what is going on in front of you at the tracks or on TV.

If we can tell a few good stories, hear from some interesting people and produce some decent content that people actually might be interested in reading, then after 12 years this little brand of mine might actually be something more than an amusing play on words on which I’ve been incredibly lucky to make a living.

I hope you enjoy what we’re trying to do, and what the site grows into becoming.

Whatever that may be..

Craillsy

P.S: You might have noticed a great quote from NASCAR legend Carl Edwards in our header. If you know of a great motorsport-related quote, flick it through and we’ll give it a run.

And Carl, I literally found this Googling for ‘great motor racing quotes’. If you didn’t say it, we’re sorry – but claim it anyway. It’s a ripper.
February 28, 2017