SIMON KIRKBY

Simon Kirkby has been in motorsport virtually his entire life, beginning in 1966 when he started in rally and “grass track” competition, both extremely popular forms of racing in his native England.

Since then his curriculum vitae includes test driver for Reynard Race Cars; winning factory driver in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for both Alfa Romeo and Chrysler U.K.; winner of dozens of open-wheel races in FF2000, SuperVee, Formula Continental and F3 – including finishing second in the British FF2000 championship – and winner of the Avon (tyres) Motor Tour of Britain’s Manufacturer’s prize.

Throughout the years while racing in Great Britain and Europe, Simon was also mentor and coach for dozens of professional and amateur drivers. Coming to the U.S. in the 1980s, Simon became the chief instructor at Gateway International in St. Louis, Mo., while also winning the SCCA Midwest Formula Continental championship. He soon caught the eye of Skip Barber, who brought Simon on board at the Racing School, where he headed up numerous departments including corporate and OEM sales, program driver training and instructor training.

BMW then took advantage of Simon’s expertise and made him director of Formula BMW U.S.A. By 2007, Skip “stole” him back from FBMW to appoint him director of the Lime Rock Drivers Club, where his greatest pleasure is helping its members become the very best drivers they can be.

PETER ARGETSINGER

There are few instructors that combine as much teaching background with winning race experience as Peter Argetsinger. He’s raced in the Sebring 12-Hour, Petit Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and there isn’t a track, famous or otherwise, that he doesn’t have experience at including the Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Lime Rock Park, Laguna Seca, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Road America – the list is endless.

Born into the racing world – Pete’s father Cameron was the founder of road racing at Watkins Glen (1948) and first brought the U.S.G.P. there in 1961 – he made his name racing in the incredibly competitive and cut-throat European open-wheel championships in the 70s and 80s. Peter remains one of the very few Americans to win the British Formula Ford championship, and won the Brands Hatch-based Kentagon FF title, too. Also rare for an American, he won a British Racing and Sports Car Club Driver of the Year Award. As a factory Formula Ford driver for Royale, Pete set a lap record at the Hockenhiemring in the European Formula Ford series.

Pete’s terrific ability to teach was discovered, and soon his talents were required all over Europe: vice president and chief instructor at Brands Hatch; lead instructor for the Audi Quattro High Performance Driving School; and lead instructor for the Ian Taylor Racing School at Thruxton.

Returning to the U.S. in the 1990s, he became a lead instructor for the Skip Barber Racing School and chief instructor for the Ferrari Club’s southern region while continuing to win races, including the Petit Le Mans GT-class race at Road Atlanta and a Grand-Am Cup win at Watkins Glen.

Pete’s reputation resulted in him being hired as a private coach, too, with an enviable client list that includes world champion Damon Hill, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Indycar’s Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, the U.S. State Department’s Anti-Terrorist Division – even members of England’s House of Lords. For Formula BMW U.S.A.’s entire existence, Pete was the head coach and lead mentor, and he’s still chief instructor for Florida’s Sports Car Driving Experience. Pete is also hired frequently to pilot vintage race cars and has dozens of victories under his belt.

Skip Barber and Simon Kirkby are proud to have a coach as talented as Peter Argetsinger available to members of the Lime Rock Drivers Club.

ADAM BURROWS

Ever since moving from Washington, D.C., to the Lakeville area in the mid-1990s to work for the Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock has been Adam’s home track. Entering competition immediately, by 1998 he was the SCCA Spec-Racer Ford Northeast Division National titlist. His first win? Lime Rock…

In 2000, Adam won the American Cities Racing League eastern championship. By this time and through 2006, Adam was considered one of the kingpins in Spec-Racer Ford. Having had a bit of “saloon car” experience in GTU a few years prior, in 2007 Adam found backing to enter the Grand-Am Continental Tire Challenge series. As a rookie co-driving a Turner Motorsports BMW with Trevor Hopwood, Adam won the Street Tuner title!

Switching in 2008 to a Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si, Adam was championship runner-up with two wins and eight top-10s. The next year saw him enter 10 of 11 Street Tuner races with RSR Motorsports driving a Mini Cooper S, taking a best finish of fifth at Watkins Glen International and snagging seven top 10s. In 2010, KIA Motors went after the winning Burrows-Hopwood combo to lead its first factory effort. Racing a KIA Forte Koup run by Kinetic Motorsports, the all-new car notched a season-best fifth place at Lime Rock plus two more top 10 results. Adam and Trevor have confidence they’ll improve dramatically on that in 2011.  An incredibly knowledgeable and patient driving coach, Club members also love his wonderfully dry paddock humor.

 ELIVAN GOULART

Born in Brazil, where racing is as engrained in the culture as baseball is in America, Elivan was finally able to start a racing career when he moved to the U.S. at the age of 12 to go kart racing. Good right out of the box –    Elivan was rookie of the year in the kart series he entered, then won a bunch of other karting championships – by the time he was old enough to race cars he was hired by an SCCA Formula 500 chassis maker to race one of their cars. And all he did was win back-to-back national titles at the SCCA Valvoline Run-offs!

In 2004, Elivan was hired by Dolphin Motorsports to run the Cooper Tires Formula SCCA Pro Series. He dominated, winning five of eight races. Moving to sports cars, by 2008 he was racing in the pro ranks, contending for the title in the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Miata MX-5 Cup Series. In 2009 and 2010, Elivan won 11 of 14 races in SCCA Spec Miata competition.

It says a lot that Elivan’s winning percentage, from karting up to 2011, is an extremely impressive 50 percent. He’s also an extremely talented coach – and that’s why he instructs for the Club.

IAN PROUT

Ian Prout has won nine SCCA Regional Championships over a 20 year racing career, along with many other notable achievements such as teaming up with fellow LRDC coach Elivan Goulart in a Spec Miata for a podium finish at the 12 Hours of Nelson Ledges a couple of years ago.

Recent highlights include 4 wins in the 2012 season, two track records, and winning the July Pro IT Series race overall, . With his breadth of experience in formula cars, sports racing cars and sports cars, Ian has a wide range of knowledge in road racing for students to draw from.

As founder of SCDA, few people have more experience than Ian at sitting "right seat" with a wide variety of students while teaching them the essential skills of track driving. Whether you are a complete novice looking to learn in a safe progressive manner or an experienced racer looking for the difference between 4th on the grid or pole position, Ian can provide the answers during your LRDC personal coaching session.

JONATHAN GORING 

Multiple national champion Jonathan Goring was introduced to racing – at Lime Rock Park, as it happens – literally before he could walk. Raised in a family of racers, Jonathan was surrounded by cars and racing lore. At age 10, his father Keith (“Alfas Unlimited,” in Norfolk, Conn.) got him into a kart, where he went on to win dozens of National WEKA races and no less than nine championships. At the tender age of 14, he was one of the youngest drivers to race in the quasi-professional Skip Barber National Championship – and won the 2006 title!

Moving up through the ranks, Jonathan raced in Star Mazda in 2007, then won the IMSA Prototype Lites championship in 2008. Well, that’s underplaying it: he qualified fastest for all 12 races, broke the Lites lap records at every track, Lime Rock included, and even clinched the driver and team championships before the final race.

While racing professionally, Jonathan also discovered his knack for driving instruction and was soon hired by the Skip Barber Race Series to coach its competitors, who range literally from 15 years old to 70 years young. He also has a host of private clients, and is often hired by vintage racecar owners to bring their car home first.