Everybody in the F1 world knows David Coulthard as “DC”. In his 247 GP races, he finished 62 times on the podium ; 13 F1 victories.
His father ran a little transport business in Twynholm, Scotland. There he was born in 1971 and had a happy childhood with an older brother and a younger sister. At the age of 11, he was karting seriously and success came quickly with three Scottish junior titles. He moved up the ladder with driving in the UK. That meant leaving in a motor home with his parents and helper on friday afternoon, hard racing on English circuits and back to home on Sunday night. In that time he quickly learned to being focussed. He maintained his own kart and kept notes on his driving performance, what went wrong and what could be better. Crucial in these days was a prominent kart-person Dave Boyce; he tuned the kart. David gradually progressed up the karting ladder and raced all over Europe.
His father then suggested he start racing in the Formula Ford. He learned again new things and enjoyed it. He came under the wings of David Leslie, based in Carlisle. .jpg)
David’s first year car year was sensational. As well as having the most highly polished car and helmet on the grid, he scored 22 wins out of 28 races. He won the Star of Tomorrow title and the P&O Ferries title and got the first McLaren/Autosport Young driver award (photo top left).
Then he got a call from Jackie Stewart and joined the Paul Stewart Racing for a year in the Formula Vauxhall Lotus next to Gil de Ferran. It was a difficult year. He clearly lacked the experience and broke a leg in an accident at Spa. However, he was P05 in the championship (photo top right)
In 1991 he did F3 in a PSR Ralt RT55-Mugen. He had five wins, but lost the championship to Rubens Barichello when in the last race he hesitated a moment to overtake Hikedi Noda, bending the front wing. David also won the F3 Masters at Zandvoort and Macau.
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