What is the FIA Best Young Driver Competition?
The FIA Best Young Driver (BYD) Event is an annual initiative to raise awareness of road safety among young drivers and put forward the message that young drivers can drive skilfully, responsibly, safely and in an environmentally conscious way.
Last year, IAM RoadSmart was nominated by FIA to select two finalists from amongst our young members to represent the UK. Our finalists battled it out in a close-fought competition held in Williams F1’s E-sports suite, with the two winners going on to compete in the international final at the Circuito Del Jarama near Madrid, Spain.
The 2023 UK final will involve a series of in-car skills competitions at Thruxton circuit, at which two finalists will be selected to represent the UK in an all-expenses-paid trip to the international final, taking place at a state-of-the-art vehicle testing facility in Austria.
Proud Partners
IAM RoadSmart x Formula Student
For 2023, IAM RoadSmart has partnered with IMechE to open up this opportunity to pre- and post-graduates of the Formula Student competition, giving them the chance to test their driving abilities in the UK final, competing for the honour of representing the UK in the FIA’s international final.
Formula Student (FS) is Europe's most established educational engineering competition. Backed by industry and high-profile engineers including patron, Ross Brawn OBE, the competition aims to develop enterprising and innovative young engineers and encourage more young people to take up a career in engineering, with over 100 university teams taking part every year.
Selecting our UK finalists
As part of this year’s application process, applicants are required to complete our FIA BYD 2023 quiz, from which the top scorers will be shortlisted to take part in the second round of selection – The Driving ‘CV’.
After reviewing applications, 12 finalists will be selected to take part in the UK final: a day of exciting physical driving challenges at Thruxton Circuit, to include exercises such as accurate manoeuvring, cornering control, skid control skills and off-road driving.
Driver Entry Requirements
To be eligible to take part in the UK Best Young Driver final, drivers must be either a current IAM RoadSmart member, Formula Student/IMechE member or participant, or alumnus of the Under-17 Car Club, and:
- Be between the ages of 18 and 26 at the time of the international final.
- Hold a current full UK driving licence for Category B vehicles (free of convictions for any serious motoring offences, and not suspended).
- Be a UK resident.
- Ensure that they are available for both the UK and international finals:
- UK National final – Wednesday 2nd August, Thruxton circuit
- International Final – 6th-8th October, Austria
- UK National final – Wednesday 2nd August, Thruxton circuit
Note: previous years’ international finalists cannot participate in the national final again.
- You must hold a valid passport allowing you to travel to Austria in October should you be selected. If a visa is required for you to enter Austria this would be your responsibility to arrange.
- You must agree to any additional insurance or liability issues that may arise out of your attendance at the semi-final or final.
- Participants must agree to behave at all times in a proper and legal manner at the UK final and whilst representing IAM RoadSmart. This includes agreeing to follow instructions issued by nominated marshals and representatives of IAM RoadSmart,
the FIA or others involved in administering the competition process.
- You must agree to take part in any publicity generated as a result of participation in the competition.
- You should be competent and/or knowledgeable or confident in operating a vehicle in a range of scenarios such as: blacked out windows, maintenance of speed, reversing, light trailer towing, slalom, first aid, skid pan and off-road driving.
- If you are selected to take part in the UK final, you will be responsible for your own travel to and from Thruxton circuit.
- By entering the competition, you’re accepting the driver entry requirements.
How to take part
1. Complete our FIA BYD quiz.
2. If successful, you’ll be invited to the second round of application.
3. Wait patiently for the UK Finalist announcements.
4. Test your skills at the UK final at Thruxton Circuit.
5. Compete in (and win?!) the FIA International final in Austria.
FIA Best Young Driver Selection Results
Aaron Farmer Bradley Cross Daniel Brooks Jordan Dobson Nev Cohen | Alex Weeks Callum Chamberlain Farhal Bashir Kiersten Keogh Neve Rooley Ross Willcox | Amy Kinder Craig Fayers Harry Williams Kyle Tait Oliver Ganfield Thomas Holm-Johansen | Ben Jude Daniel Grey Jake Moran Megan Thompson Robbie McGregor |
- Aaron Farmer
- Alex Weeks
- Amy Kinder
- Bradley Cross
- Callum Chamberlain
- Craig Fayers
- Daniel Brooks
- Daniel Grey
- Farhal Bashir
- Harry Williams
- Jake Moran
- Jordan Dobson
- Kiersten Keogh
- Kyle Tait
- Megan Thompson
- Neve Rooley
- Nev Cohen
- Oliver Ganfield
- Ross Willcox
- Robbie McGregor
- Thomas Holm-Johansen
Alex Weeks Daniel Grey Megan Thompson | Amy Kinder Daniel Brooks Nev Cohen | Ben Jude Farhal Bashir Oliver Ganfield | Bradley Cross Jordan Dobson Thomas Holm-Johansen |
- Alex Weeks
- Amy Kinder
- Ben Jude
- Bradley Cross
- Daniel Brooks
- Daniel Grey
- Farhal Bashir
- Jordan Dobson
- Megan Thompson
- Nev Cohen
- Oliver Ganfield
- Thomas Holm-Johansen
FIA Best Young Driver UK Team
Ben Jude
The final was an enjoyable day. Everyone’s driving skills were put to the test across multiple different challenges, and I particularly enjoyed the circuit driving and skid pan. Precision, speed, and good car control was needed to succeed. I think
my experience gained from both road driving and motorsport helped me tackle the different driving competitions.
I look forward to competing in Austria against the other national final winners. The facilities there look fantastic and hopefully, the UK event was a good way to prepare for it.
Bradley Cross
I wanted to showcase my driving skills and knowledge. I knew that I had it in me to put up a good fight against the other competitors and to see how far I could really push my driving ability. It was certainly challenging!
You could tell that the tasks had been specifically laid out to really test the driving skills of the finalists. You might think, ‘That doesn’t look too tricky’, but when you give it a go you realise just how hard some of the tasks were.
