It’s the middle of March and the British Automobile Racing Club is livestreaming the first round of a brand-new one-make national championship, the Praga Cup. Unlike most debut series, however, this one has attracted more than 76,000 views on YouTube, and the chat is feverishly ticking over with new posts about ‘car 87’, ‘Jimmer’ and a gold livery design. This epiphenomenon shall be henceforth known as the Jimmy Broadbent effect.
For the uninitiated, Broadbent comes from the virtual realm of sim racing. He himself is not virtual, but the PC-based platforms he predominantly uses to drive – such as iRacing, Assetto Corsa Competizione and Automobilista – are. He started a YouTube channel nearly 10 years ago by simply uploading video game footage without commentary, and this soon evolved into sharing his sim racing exploits. He’s now amassed more than 800,000 subscribers.
Two elements mark Broadbent out among the countless other simulation content creators. The first is that, yes, his audience is gargantuan, but it’s also engaged. His followers tune in, predominantly, because of his alacrity. The second is for trying to forge a motorsport career and taking his fans along with him for the ride. Combining his loyal following with the UK motorsport scene is proving to be quite the boon for national competitions.
Sharing a car with Scottish hotshot Gordie Mutch, Broadbent forms Fanatec Praga Team87 in the new-for-2022 Praga Cup. But things started out in a slightly more humble fashion away from the major circuits.
“The first racing car I actually ended up driving properly was a McLaren 570S GT4 around Dunsfold, which is a bit of a jump – but, so far, most of my career has been a bit of a jump,” he explains in his inimitable style.
This test happened at the beginning of 2019 – the related video has over 700,000 views – where he nervously exclaims before driving: “I never thought that I’d get the chance to go from being a sim racer to driving something like this!”
Fast forward 10 minutes, and his tune has changed considerably.
“I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like that before,” he says. “I think I’ve made a mistake by going out there and driving something. Now, I have to do it again.”
That, he has done. Working on a first-generation Mazda MX-5 project was all he initially set his sights upon.
“[A motorsport career] wasn’t something that I was actively pursuing to begin with,” he admits. “The thing I was more realistically chasing – but no one could have seen what happened next – was getting my little Mazda on circuit.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a driver, but I came to terms around the age of 26 that it wasn’t going to happen, because getting to a professional level traditionally requires you to have been driving since you were a child. I was just going to bolt some turbos to the MX-5 and see what happens. Outside of entering some Club100 karting rounds in 2019 to see what racing was like, there were no big plans.”
Further opportunities cropped up throughout the year, such as testing an Audi RS 3 LMS TCR, a tuition course at TT Circuit Assen and lapping a Radical around Brands Hatch – all the while continuing to sim race. This led to an incredible deal to join Praga for the Britcar Endurance series last season. After two wins at Donington Park, Broadbent has followed Praga across into the new single-make championship for 2022.
"For me, club racing is the heart of motorsport. Competitors are not there to make money, everyone is there for the passion. Things are very laid back and welcoming" Jimmy Broadbent
“I mean, it would be nice to aim for a championship,” explains the erstwhile shed-dweller, known for previously creating videos from an outbuilding in his mum’s garden. “This is primarily a Pro-Am series. I’ve got Gordie [Mutch] alongside me. He was an amazing coach last year and why I found any speed at all.
“My goal is to be somewhere near him and, if I can do that, then we’ve got a really strong pairing. But I’ve got a lot of work to do [to reach that level].”
After mixed conditions threw a spanner in the works at the opening round in March, the duo has since fought back with a podium at Oulton Park and then taking a win at Snetterton earlier this month (they were stripped of a second Norfolk victory due to boost issues) to currently sit second in the standings. Game on.
“Last year, we ended up in a spot where he was the fastest Pro and I was the fastest Am,” continues Broadbent. “If we can do that again, that’s amazing, but it’s not as easy as just jumping in the car and doing that.”
While the Praga Cup is the main focus for 2022, it’s not Broadbent’s only on-track activity. He rolled out an MX-5 again recently to take part in the Pocket Rocket class of the opening two Cadwell Park Time Attack rounds. He set the eighth quickest category time during round one and the sixth in round two, and has plans to contest further events.
He’s also recently competed with GT Radial in the Fun Cup Endurance Championship, finishing third at Oulton Park. His video has been viewed over 200 times more than the race stream.
“For me, club racing is the heart of motorsport,” he explains. “Competitors are not there to make money, everyone is there for the passion. Things are very laid back and welcoming. On the circuit, the aim is for a good time and the field will race hard. You don’t care what you’re driving when you have a good race and Fun Cup really delivers that. I would love it if more people are made aware of that, especially at these levels.”
With a Praga Cup championship challenge in the offing and solid performances in both Fun Cup and Time Attack so far this year, it may come as a surprise that someone with very little on-track experience can be so competitive.
“I think naysayers of sim racing are perhaps those who visit a trade show or event and try a set-up that’s been designed to be all crazy to draw a crowd,” suggests Broadbent. “Obviously, that’s nowhere near realistic.
“If you have a properly set up sim racing cockpit and you spend a couple of hours on it, you will immediately see the link [to the real world] and the benefit of testing in a virtual space. We even use MoTeC when we practice at home.
“Braking traces and the curvature of how we’re getting on the throttle – it’s all analysed on the sim and we do exactly the same in motorsport. That is a directly transferable skill.”
He is uniquely positioned to explain what it’s like to switch from extensive simulator use, for well over a decade, and move into a competitive motorsport championship – highlighting what is similar, and what isn’t.
“I would say that, in a competitive Esports race, your mind works even harder than it does in a Praga, for example,” Broadbent says. “In a lot of cases, Esports drivers are their own engineers, and they’re changing set-ups and strategies on the fly. That’s more mentally taxing. But, of course, that’s then offset in the real car by the fact your body is getting beaten up as well in the real world.
“I think there’s definitely a comparison, if you have a strong mind, and this is something that I think actually helped me. When I got in the car for the first time, I already knew the racecraft tricks and where to place the car. I think a sim racer can jump in at a higher level than someone who has never raced before.
“I would love for more people to get out there and show how sim racing is a really accessible entry point to motorsport.”
Aside from focusing on the transition from sim racing to motorsport, Broadbent has also launched the Team87 initiative.
“Motorsport is often not cheap or straightforward,” he explains. “Team87 will hopefully bring some more competitors across from sim racing.
“Eventually, we’d like to try and run a couple of cars in a couple of club-level series driven exclusively by sim racers and show that this talent exists. I have my own motorsport aspirations, but my real joy would be to see more people coming across from the sim space, and hopefully I can help them do that.”
"We turned up for the Miami Concours event and the person at the gate saw the Praga logo on our clothing and said ‘Jimmy Broadbent!’ It’s amazing to go somewhere on the other side of the world and see the impact that it’s having" Mark Harrison
Broadbent’s racing exploits aren’t just the pin-up of the sim racing community either. For Praga, the partnership has an unexpected benefit.
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“In America, it’s really exciting that people know who we are,” explains Praga UK managing director Mark Harrison. “We turned up for the Miami Concours event and the person at the gate saw the Praga logo on our clothing and said ‘Jimmy Broadbent!’ It’s amazing to go somewhere on the other side of the world and see the impact that it’s having.”
It’s clear that taking someone from the virtual world and placing them in motorsport can deliver both strong racing results and reach a wider audience outside of traditional motorsport media, potentially engaging with a more youthful following – and increased viewing figures are testament to that.
The sim racing and Esports fanbase is watching with bated breath as the genre’s most recognisable face makes a career by not just entertaining fans but earning silverware too. If anyone can successfully bridge the gap between racing at home and racing around the world, it’s Jimmy Broadbent.
