Collegiate honours tie for driver

Earl Bamber (right) with Honours Tie proposer Lyndsay Tait. PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS

Motor racing stars Earl Bamber and Chris Amon have a few things in common, including being brought up on the family farm (Chris in the Manawatu and Earl at Jerusalem on the Whanganui River) and being educated at Whanganui Collegiate School.
Now, as of last Friday, Porsche Motorsport factory driver Earl joins Chris as a recipient of the prestigious Whanganui Collegiate School Honours Tie.

In a formal ceremony in front of the entire school as well as family, invited guests and Honours Tie holders, school headmaster Wayne Brown presented 29-year-old Earl with the tie.
The Prince Edward Auditorium was packed well before the scheduled starting time of 3.15pm. Across the asphalt was parked Earl's Porsche 911 GT2 RS, adorned with a ticket penned by Senior Master Rob van Dort, advising said vehicle was parked illegally and would be towed!

Earl arrived at the auditorium, fresh from afternoon tea with the headmaster, accompanied by his proposer, Lyndsay Tait, and Mr Brown.
"It must be noted that today's recipient, arguably, is Whanganui Collegiate School's greatest sportsman," said Mr Brown. "When you weigh up some of the achievements that a number of our former Collegiate students have been able to be successful in sport, winning Le Mans twice has to be up there."

Collegiate Heads of School, Sarah Lambert and Jack Monckton, read the citation.
Lyndsay Tait has been associated with the tie recipient since Earl was 14. He spoke to a presentation of photographs and video clips of Earl's career, beginning with his foray into kart racing at the age of seven.
"Something soon clicked and he started to win races in regional and national age group championships. Earl's New Zealand karting career culminated in winning the New Zealand Sprint Kart Championship at the ripe old age of 14."
The win entitled him to enter the World Championship series of races in Spain.
"All karts are supplied by the manufacturer and are all identical, so it is a real test of driver skill."
Earl was one of more than 200 competitors from 60 countries. He came third.

It was then that he came to Lyndsay's notice, when Earl's father, Paul, approached him to be part of a group of local sponsors to get Earl into an international car racing career.
Lyndsay was already involved in international motorsport through the Red Bull factory Yamaha motorcycle Grand Prix team.
He was impressed with Earl's success.
"International Junior Karting is one of the most competitive forms of motorsport. Virtually every Formula 1 driver came up through kart racing ranks ... but none of these champions ever finished on the podium as Earl just had."

A fundraising trust was formed by local business people.
"Over the next four years, Earl progressed through the various classes of New Zealand single-seater racing, culminating in winning the New Zealand Grand Prix, one of the youngest to ever do so.
"During this time, he also competed in the BMW Championship Series in Asia." He won the series at age 16. "He did not even have his car licence."

Still a Whanganui Collegiate student throughout his early racing career, Earl also excelled in athletics and rugby.

When he left school he embarked on a full-time racing career.
"Earl's success and skill did get him noticed by team owners and international media. At 20 he started receiving calls from top European team owners inviting him to drive for them in a GP2 car, the class immediately below Formula 1."
Earl could not afford to accept any of the offers which required a large financial commitment annually as well as costs.
"Earl shifted his focus and moved to Asia as a racing driver coach." There he secured a backer and drove in the Asia Porsche Series and won it first time up.

Winning the Porsche Motorsport International Cup Scholarship entitled him to a cash grant to be applied to racing in any Porsche class he chose. He picked the Porsche Supercup class which races in conjunction with Formula 1. That was in 2014.
"First time up, as a rookie driver, Earl won the series," said Lyndsay. "In the same year he won the Asia Cup series for a second time."
On the back of these successes, Porsche offered Earl a factory drive and he became a full-time, paid driver in the World Endurance class.
"No more searching for sponsors or wondering where your next drive might come from."
Since then Earl has established himself as a top driver, taking out two Le Mans wins and lots more.

Lyndsay called on Mr Brown to present Earl with the tie. The applause was loud and sustained.
"It's a huge honour for me to come back and receive this award," said Earl. "I just do something that I absolutely love, every day of the week ... so sometimes I don't think it's a massive achievement. Basically, we just drive in circles for hours and hours, obsessing about finding one tenth of a second."

He thanked his sponsors and also the Whanganui community for getting behind him. He talked about his school days and encouraged the assembled students to aim high and pursue their goals.
He spoke about his career and how lucky he is to be able to do what he does.
Earl also answered questions from members of Harvey House before leaving the auditorium. Once outside, the school treated him to a rousing haka.

His busy schedule has him now going to Auckland, then on to America, Shanghai, Macau, Malaysia and South Africa.
The Honours Tie award was instituted in 1983 by the then headmaster, Ian McKinnon and is presented to high achieving old boys or girls and for services to the school and community.