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Meet Charlie Lower, Race Car Driver and Filmmaker

Charlie Lower is a UK based filmmaker and motorsport driver. We caught up with Charlie to find out more about his passion for Caterham's and his partnership with Quad Lock.

Charlie Lower and Quad Lock began a partnership in 2020, when Charlie sent through a high-energy Instagram Reel of his friends Porsche driving weaving through the streets of the UK using our car mount. We instantly loved it, and asked him to be one of our external content creators.

The relationship over the past 2 years has only got stronger, with Charlie providing us with plenty of content opportunities. We've featured his video work, images across our various social channels and even asked him to travel abroad for shoots with our ambassadors; Charley Boorman and Chris Froome.

While Charlie is a gun when it comes to shooting content, his main passion is motorsports. Growing up, Charlie would watch his father, Kevin, compete in Rally Car races. By the age of 14, Charlie was competing in Auto Testing, doing handbrake turns around cones and setting time trials.

A few years later he purchased a car from a famous stunt driver, Paul Swift. Paul saw the potential in Charlie, who was already an excellent young driver. Paul mentored Charlie, and encouraged him to compete in more advanced Auto Testing competitions.

In 2021, Charlie scraped all his money together to buy his dream car, the Caterham. The Caterham racing rules means you're not allowed to make any modifications to the car, it must be the same as when it comes out from the factory, evening out in the playing field.

But purchasing the car isn't the only expense, so Charlie was looking for more help to make his dream of racing a reality. For us at Quad Lock, it was an easy decision to sponsor him. With some help of our Graphic Designer and Charlie's direction, we wrapped the car in Quad Lock colours and branding, and helped take some of the financial pressure off Charlie, so he could focus on what he does best; racing.

In his debut season, Charlie won the 2021 White Group Academy Championship. This year, he’s competing in the Caterham Roadsport Championship. Follow Charlie's 2022 season of racing here.

We can't wait to see the rest of the season and follow Charlie's journey to become a race driving pro!

Checkout the full interview with Charlie Lower below.

Transcript

"Being on the start line, with 30 other competitors, all breathing down your throat, it's pretty crazy it feels like a bit of a do or die moment, you're watching the lights count down it feels like ages and ages and ages and then suddenly as soon as the lights go out.. BOOM.

Hi my name is Charlie Lower, I'm a 22 year old filmmaker from the UK and currently racing in the Caterham Roadsport Championship.

In my childhood I dreamt of racing cars, I've always been well into motorsport, my Dad has been competing since the 80s.

I first started competing in a grass roots motorsport called AutoTesting when I was 14 years old in some grass fields at the back end of Kent.

Just doing handbreak turns 'round cones and setting time trials and stuff like that but I actually started driving when I was 6 years old in my Dad's little Mini Moke round the yard. He used to put cushions behind my back and then I'd just drive it forwards and backwards for hours and hours.

What's really good about Caterham Racing is that you buy the car straight from Caterham and you're not allowed to touch it, so it has to come how it came out the factory, so it really means that you're all on a level playing field.

A lot of them are millionaires, like you're the odd one out, not being the millionaire, so they can afford to crash their car and go home, and I couldn't, if I crashed my car it's pretty much game over.

I went into the first corner behind someone and I jumped on the brakes and I felt the pedal just went slightly further than I thought and I was like oh shit, so um, we've bled the brakes now, we checked tyre pressures, fuel it up, and then we'll go racing again.

I managed to make enough money, scrape it all together to buy myself my dream car, the Caterham, and to go do a years racing and that's all I kind of, that was all my savings, that I kind of pumped into racing.

I raced on such a tight budget, I got second hand tyres from people in the pits, I even wore my Dad's old race suit, I looked ridiculous, baggy everywhere, it was the most unappealing thing to look at but it meant that I could get my arse in a seat and go racing for a year, so I'm over the moon, yeah.

I reached out to Quad Lock, and we started doing some work together. The first video I made was of my friends Porsche and we were blating through the lanes, and they seemed to love it, so then we started doing more and more work together.

I went look guys, do you, do you guys want to get involved in this, because it's a great opportunity for both of us, and they said yeah, they would love to, so we completely covered the car in Quad Lock, we had it in their colours, so black white and blue, big Quad Lock logo down the the bonnet and down the side and the website, erm, in exchange for a bit of cash, which then meant that I could then stay in hotels overnight rather than drive up the night before and I could test more and I could do one days testing, instead of no days testing at a track, and it really contributed to, even fuel prices are ridiculous at the moment, but just getting to the track and back is, is hard enough.

The way I use Quad Lock in my racing is, I've got the suction cup with the wireless charging, so I clip it on there it charges, and I've also got this little app, my lap times, my split times, so it really helps me out when I'm racing, when I'm testing, see if I'm gonna be on pace for the weekend.

So in 2021, I won the Caterham White Group Academy Championship, and it was a struggle, it really was. It went down to the last lap, me and this boy Harry George, we had the exact same points, so it was whoever finished in front of the other person won basically.

And we were at Snetterton and we were swapping like every other lap, it was on for anyone, but I just managed to hold back, get him on the straight and nip him over the finish line.

So at the moment I've just finished round one, and somehow managed to land on poll position for both races, I got full championship points at the moment, I'm leading into round two, so there's big pressure on the back of my shoulders to erm, perform there, but yeah we'll see how it goes.

A massive thanks to Quad Lock for sponsoring me this year and making this year possible. Without them it would be a lot harder challenge to go racing this year, and just the support from people like them and some of my other sponsors really make it possible for me to get out on track and hopefully lead a good race. "

End.

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