Ben Keating Is Living Our Dream HEAD TOPICS
Ben Keating Is Living Our Dream
10/21/2022 10:01:00 PM Ben Keating is living our dream @keatingcarguy
Source Road & Track
Ben Keating is living our dream. keatingcarguy Corvette Racing's new amateur driver for the FIA WEC championship is 51 and keeps getting better with age. When Texan Ben Keating isn’t selling luxury and high-performance cars through his Keating Auto Group, he’s traveling the world, competing at legendary circuits, winning all manner of incredible sports car endurance events in his second career as a race car driver. He’ll join the legendary Corvette Racing squad next seasonGetty ImagesOnce the 2023 season is over, GTE will be farewelled altogether, replaced by a new formula where GT3-based cars will hold sway with models built by Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Corvette, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, and more. Read more:
Road & Track » F1 weekend at COTA: Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing F1 2022: what happened to racing in the rain? F1 back to racing as questions mount over Red Bull spending Tony Stewart Miffed at NASCAR Penalties, Happy to Focus on NHRA Drag Racing Watch Christina Aguilera s Life in Looks From Moulin Rouge to Dirrty
The pop star revisits her best—and boldest—outfits over her career. Read more >> F1 weekend at COTA: Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren RacingCircuit of the Americas welcomes back Formula 1 this weekend for the US Grand Prix. The sport has picked up traction over the years with the success of the Netflix series 'Drive to Survive'. Fans of the show will recognize the CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, who sat down with Good Day Austin's Tierra Neubaum to preview this weekend's festivities. F1 2022: what happened to racing in the rain? F1 back to racing as questions mount over Red Bull spendingThe big question looming over this week’s United States Grand Prix is what to do about Red Bull’s cost cap breach in 2021 and whether the team and its drivers should be punished? Tony Stewart Miffed at NASCAR Penalties, Happy to Focus on NHRA Drag RacingStewart aired it out this past week in Texas: 'I'm so mad at NASCAR right now. I'm not talking about it ...' cause him team got caught cheating .Dont do the crime if you cant do the time Gamers Rejoice: F1 22 Available on Free Play During Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix WeekendSim racing game can be accessed over multiple platforms, Oct. 20-24. Revved Up! Readers React to Week's Biggest Racing News, Oct. 19 EditionFrom Bubba Wallace to F1 in Austin to Hailie Deegan, there's plenty to talk about as racing season winds down. By Oct 21, 2022 Brian Cleary When Texan Ben Keating isn’t selling luxury and high-performance cars through his Keating Auto Group, he’s traveling the world, competing at legendary circuits, winning all manner of incredible sports car endurance events in his second career as a race car driver.Circuit of the Americas welcomes back Formula 1 this weekend for the US Grand Prix.Published: Today 15:46 Does F1 still race in the wet? What’s behind farces like Spa 2021 and Japan 2022 Esteban Ocon and Pat Fry explain Some of the best performances in F1 history have been in the wet; think Monaco 1984, Silverstone 2008 and of course Canada 2011.PUBLISHED 5:39 AM CT Oct. His crowning achievement came in June with a class victory in the GTE-Am category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It followed another defining accomplishment after earning the LMP2 title last year in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Fans of the show will recognize the CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, who sat down with Good Day Austin's Tierra Neubaum to preview this weekend's festivities. All of this at the age of 51 where, as the story usually goes in motor racing, the best days—the times of glory—should be in his rearview mirror. Rather than making the world’s best drivers adapt to the conditions, fans now get delays, safety car laps and if we’re lucky; a rolling start. For Keating, who started his journey as an amateur driver at 35, the opposite has proven to be true. Each new year in the sport has brought greater success and unbelievable new opportunities continue to emerge. The FIA has not announced any sanctions or disclosed how much money Red Bull overspent. Capping his upward trajectory, Keating just had an out-of-body experience when his name was centrally featured in a press release distributed by the factory Corvette Racing team. The first problem? The wet tyres themselves. He’ll join the legendary Corvette Racing squad next season when it shifts to Pro-Am racing on the international stage. Even in a life filled with unending joy, signing to drive for Corvette Racing—the New York Yankees of endurance sports car competition—is a touch surreal for Keating. James Moy Photography Getty Images Over its four-decade tenure in the sport, Corvette Racing has functioned as General Motors’ flagship team, winning everything in sight as GM’s globetrotting team of professional racers.’ Therein lies the problem. But with a change coming to the FIA World Endurance Championship where its GTE Pro category is being eliminated, Corvette’s move to the GTE-Am class presented the perfect opportunity for Keating to become the Am solution in the Pro-Am lineup that will pilot the Corvette C8. Ferrari, the series’ biggest legacy team and Red Bull’s closest rival this year for the championship, has called for “maximum penalties” for overspending. R. “It seems like a really good thing to do, right here towards the end of my time doing this,” Keating says. ‘The tread will wear away every lap, so you’ll go maybe 0. “You know, Corvette has never had a privateer program, a customer-based program; they haven't wanted it. They want to only worry about their factory cars, and they don't want to have to worry about competing against a customer. And I've talked to them for years, just because I have a huge desire to race what I sell.’ Fry is quick to point out that some low-grip tracks let you ‘get away with’ using a full wet tyre, but most tracks – including high-load ones like Suzuka will punish the softest compounds – and annihilate the super sticky wets. “It has to be something that hurts,” Bottas told The Associated Press. And the fact that the GTE-Pro class is going away created the environment and the opportunity for me to finally get into racing a Corvette with the factory involvement. Once the 2023 season is over, GTE will be farewelled altogether, replaced by a new formula where GT3-based cars will hold sway with models built by Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Corvette, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, and more. “And it just feels really special,” Keating continues. So, it’s, it’s a clear choice. “When we go into the new year, it's the last run for GTE. It's the first year of Corvette having customers, and it’s the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “I think it’s because we have been doing well. It's these special things, all combined into just a really special program. ‘But we can’t use the wets because they don’t give us enough performance in corners.” Keating’s current WEC ride. James Moy Photography Getty Images Renowned for his driving prowess, Keating rates among the top non-professionals in endurance racing. He’s currently leading the FIA WEC’s GTE-Am championship in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR run by the TF Sport team, and with Corvette fielding an entry in the GTE-Pro class, the factory outfit has shared the same tracks with its upcoming driver and seen that he’s worthy of representing the iconic American brand. ‘These cars throw the spray much higher [than last year’s cars], so you have even less visibility,’ Ocon told CAR. “You know, it helps that they’re a full-season team in the WEC this year, and it helps that I am leading the GTE-Am championship this year,” Keating says. By calling the violation “minor,” the FIA indicated Red Bull’s overspending was under 5% of the total budget. “It's not just some American driver who wants to race a Corvette; there are lots of those folks out there. I've been racing at the same places with them and I have performed well. It’s dangerous. I really feel like I have earned the right to be in a Corvette with them.” The honor of being nominated to drive for Corvette Racing alongside factory ace Nicky Catsburg isn’t a gift. In every Pro-Am class, the Am—Keating in this case—can shoulder some or all of the financial responsibilities for the season, often to the tune of millions of dollars to cover operating costs, the Pro’s salary, crash damage, and other assorted line items that would make the average person blush. The 2022 rules require cars to generate more downforce as a percentage from the diffuser and floor of the car; making them easier to follow, but throwing more spray out and up than before.. “I'm still paying more for this program than I paid for my full Aston Martin program the last two years,” Keating adds. “I'm excited enough to do this deal, but I am underwriting the whole project. Having the money to do this deal is the cost of entry. And I guess, as we generate a lot of downforce from the underbody of the car, you still get a lot of spray going up. It is a legitimate customer-based program. But it's about a lot more than just taking somebody's money. Those winners usually prompted copycats or rule changes, he said. They want it to be the right program and they want to perform well. That way teams would benefit from the water-clearing grooves of a wet but gain more endurance, making the tyre worth putting on in the first place. And that’s why it’s a good fit.” Keating’s raced Porsches at Daytona. Dodge Vipers at Sebring. We need them to stay. Ford GTs and Ferrari 488s at Le Mans, and a wide array of other exotic machinery.” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner told the AP any penalties should carry well into the future, even for several years, if F1 expects to compel teams with a lot of money to stay within the rules. He expects 2023 to be his last on the international stage, which would make his season of racing for Corvette in the FIA WEC his first and last. If Keating’s starting to slowly wind down the thrill ride he launched a little more than 15 years ago, he can only be thankful for all he’s seen and accomplished with some great friends along the way. Keating’s 2022 LMP2 ride at Sebring. Icon Sportswire Getty Images “I do this for fun, and, therefore, I've been very careful,” he says. “I don't want to own a team, I don't want to manage any people. “The celebrations have been done. I don't want it to become work. And I want to be around people I enjoy. And so I really enjoy all I’ve done with Bill Riley and Riley Motorsports. That's why I was teamed with him for so long. I really enjoy Bobby Oergel at PR1. “I’m looking at how I can win another championship,” Hamilton said. I really enjoy Tom Ferrier with TF Sport in the WEC. “Last year was a little bit of a pinch me year with Bobby and PR1 because it was the first time I ever won a full-season IMSA championship. This year has already been a pinch me year because of the way that we won Le Mans and now going into the final WEC race with a lead and the championship. If we can hold onto that, I can say I've won a world championship. And I do expect that 2023 will be my last year in the World Endurance Championship. "Partly because I've been there and done that. And I've enjoyed it. It's been a good time, but it's a big commitment. And while I have had extreme success, there's something really special to me, emotionally, about racing what I sell. And it's so easy to say that and gloss over it, but the Corvette is a very special brand from the retail perspective and from the racing perspective. This is just not something Corvette Racing have ever done, and I get to do it with them. It is pretty cool. And I hope to win another championship. I hope to win another Le Mans. I hope to add to the rich Corvette racing history. ” Advertisement - Continue Reading Below .