The indie precursor to F1's talent development craze
An independent talent development scheme set a generation of underfunded young British racers on the path to professional careers. The Racing Steps Foundation didn't get a driver on the F1 grid, but it has plenty to be proud of.
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He's probably the least recognisable of the most significant figures in British motorsport of the past decade. The philanthropy of Graham Sharp, a wiry, bespectacled 58-year-old Lancastrian, has taken seven talented-but-underfunded young Britons to professional racing careers (six on four wheels, one on two), and has aided countless more.
He's always stayed in the background, rarely attending races - except to watch his stepson, reigning Blancpain GT Sprint champion Stuart Leonard - yet without him the UK racing landscape would look vastly different.
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