OUR INSTRUCTORS

SIMON KIRKBY

LRDC DIRECTOR

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 Motor Tour of Britain 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.

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. An incredibly knowledgeable and patient driving coach, Club members also love his wonderfully dry paddock humor.

ELIVAN GOULART

Elivan Goulart, a native of Brazil and now a dual citizen, started his racing career in the United States with Karts in 1993 at the age of 12. Winning Rookie of the Year in karting was just the start of a very successful racing career. After a great stint in Formula 500 as a teenager, he went on to compete in the Cooper Tire Championship series in a Formula SCCA powered by Mazda, where he dominated 5 out of 8 races. Later, he switched to sports cars and raced in the SCCA Pro Spec Miata series as well as the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series.

2015 marked Elivan’s debut in the Pirelli World Challenge series at CMTP with Tech Sport where he brought home a pole position, a win, and a track record. In 2016 he will race a full season with his father’s team SAC Racing.

Elivan has won over 100 races, holds four SCCA National Championships, various track records, and was awarded the very prestigious SCCA’s President’s Cup Award, joining the likes of Roger Penske.

In addition to racing and driver coaching, Elivan is the VP of the Sports Car Driving Association and an Automotive Sales Instructor. He and his wife Sarah have three kids: Nolan, Adriana, & Ethan. Following in his father’s footsteps, his oldest son Ethan has already won his first Karting Championship at the age of 6!

Career Highlights

2015 PWC TCA win, poles and track record at CTMP
2013 SCCA STU (Lotus) National Champion
2012 Grand Rolex GT Audi R8 LMS driver
2011 SCCA Spec Miata National Champion
2011 SCCA President’s Cup Award Recipient
2011 SCCA North East Division Driver of the Year
2011 NASA 25hrs of Thunderhill Champion
2004 SCCA PRO- FSCCA Cooper Tires Championship Series Champion
2002 SCCA Formula 500 National Champion
2001 SCCA Formula 500 National Champion
Winning ratio of over 50% throughout entire career
Win in first professional race entered
Track records at various tracks
Multiple Karting Championships and “Rookie of the Year” in 1993

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.

DON DRISLANE

In the early 2000s, racing in the super competitive SBRS Formula Dodge series, Don won at least one race at nearly every track the series went to.

By 2004, owning and wrenching his own Reynard FF race car, Don won the SCCA's incredibly competitive Formula Ford championship, and was also that year's North Atlantic Road Racing Championship Formula Ford winner – then repeated both titles the next season.

As it turned out, Don had another particular set of skills, and soon was working at SBRS showing the way to hundreds of racing and driving students, from tweener karting phenoms to baby boomers.

Although familiar with most of the North American tracks Don particularly loves coaching at his home track, Lime Rock Park. "It has a rhythm unique to itself. You look at its track map, it looks easy to be fast... but it's exactly the opposite of that. It has so much nuance and subtlety, and it's hard to find time on your own. That's what I enjoy about coaching Club Members. There is a point when they grasp a concept or two – and they light up. When they just start to build on something, I love it. I like getting people just a little bit out of their comfort zone and showing them what is possible... and then telling them how to get to the next step.” So satisfying.

Don, his wife Erin and their two kids – and a menagerie of pets – reside in nearby Canaan, Conn.