British driver Lake is the driving force behind the new Mahiki Racing team, which is impressing during its first GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club season.
The squad brought two new Lotus Emira GT4s to the field, with Lake sharing one with co-owner of the team Jordan Kerridge in the Am category, and promising duo Max Bird and Dexter Patterson racing the second in the Silver class. We caught up with Lake to learn how hard it is to set up a brand-new team from scratch, the differences between racing in the UK and Europe, and what makes the new Lotus tick.
Steve, this has been a big year for you already, with seasons in both GT4 Europe and British GT. But where did the racing lifestyle start for you?
“When I was eight years old, my dad refused to let me have a motorbike so I went racing quad bikes instead, then we quickly realised quad racing was as dangerous as bikes, so instead I saved up and bought my first go-kart for about £180 and started racing that at Cannock and Birmingham Wheels. I don’t come from a rich family so had to work for basically everything. I had my one and only job interview when I was 14 and joined a rally team. I was actually at Hockenheim 30 years ago working in Formula Opel! I’ve been in the sport working ever since in Formula Ford, Vauxhall, rallying… then I did a bit of aerospace technology and then built my own businesses up. I set up a kart team for a bit of fun years ago to help drivers go racing and that’s how I first met Dexter [Patterson] and Max [Bird]. All of that has led us to set up Mahiki Racing.”
Mahiki Racing is a new team for this year, how did it start?
“I just decided I wanted to go GT racing. I got bored of paying people to do stuff that I felt I could do better, so setting up my own team was the way to prove that. One of my companies, Aim Technologies, does a lot of work with Lotus and they had the GT4 project about to start, so things came together that way and we decided to go racing together. It’s been hard work, but it’s really rewarding. We’ve done a lot more testing in the UK, so the British GT side of things has been a bit smoother, then you come here where the temperatures are a bit different, tracks are different, the grid’s huge and we’ve got a brand-new car, so it’s been a little up and down. But it’s all a learning curve, and we’re enjoying learning as we go.”
Was it a huge challenge setting up a team from scratch?
“Definitely! You can end up throwing money at things far too easily, but I’m not new at this. I’ve set up karting teams before and built businesses, so I know how these things work and it was also about getting a team of people around me that I trust and know I work well with. They all knew it was going to be hard work, 20-hour shifts on race weekends, but we have a really good fun atmosphere here. Jordan and I own the team between us, and we’ve got genuine ambition to go GT4, GT3, maybe Le Mans in the future and we’re in it for the long haul. We’ve got five cars, two setups so we can go testing independently and we want to do it right. But at the heart of it we’re just mates having a bit of fun.”
Where did the Mahiki Racing name come from?
“That’s a relationship with one of my other businesses. Mahiki is a very famous nightclub brand in London and we wanted to build a bit of a Red Bull-esque team where we can have a bit of fun. It can also help us build a hospitality side to what we do with the racing, but the focus at the moment is the performance of the team and the cars.”
What’s it like being part of Mahiki Racing?
“Jordan and I have a bit of a rule that we only want good people around us. It’s our hobby at the end of the day and we want to enjoy it. People like Dexter I’ve known since he was eight and we’ve won in karting together so now we want to do it in GT4. It’s more than just a race team created to make money, we want to have fun and do a whole lot more.”
Have you seen a big difference between competing in the UK and Europe?
“Yes, mostly as the level in GT4 Europe is so high with a lot of professional drivers. The biggest difference for us between the UK and Europe is the European teams get to test in the heat and at the tracks all the time, whereas we’re quite limited to UK tracks and UK weather and only get to run in Europe for a few days per month. We’re also starting from scratch with new cars, but everything we learn this year will help make next year easier. In the UK we’ve had a class win, two fastest laps, a lap record and been on the podium, so that’s going really well. To do that here is very tough with 50+ cars and being up against such experienced teams, but we’re closing the gap with every race weekend.”
Four races left this year, what’s the ambition for the final two race weekends?
“We’re realistic that we want to move forward and keep making progress. We’re still working things out like setup, and currently we’re struggling to get the most out of the tyres in qualifying in Europe for some reason, but our race pace is generally very strong. It’s all an experience thing. We need to be in the points and fighting in the pack, plus Jordan hasn’t been racing long – he’s done a few MINI races and then straight into GT4 Europe, which is a huge jump and some people don’t realise quite how well he’s doing. I’m racing in both British GT and GT4 Europe to add some consistency, maximising time in the cars and getting to know them on both the UK and European circuits. We’re pushing on with both cars, and it would be great to finish the year on a high.”
