Árón Taylor-Smith ( né Smith; Born 9 November 1989) is an Irish racing driver currently racing in the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

for

Team HARD Tony Gilham Racing (Team HARD. Racing), competing as RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport, ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. and HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD. currently, is a British motor racing team based in Dartford, Kent and founded ...

. He is the younger brother of former

VX Racing Triple Eight Racing was a motorsports team formed in 1996 as Triple Eight Race Engineering, which competed in the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship. The team's original focus was to design, build and race Vaux ...

BTCC driver Gavin Smith.

Racing career

Karting

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Taylor-Smith began his racing career in karting in 2004 at various tracks around Ireland such as

Mondello Park Mondello Park is Ireland's only international motorsport venue and is located in Caragh, County Kildare off the R409 regional road, approximately from Dublin city centre. History The Mondello Park short circuit was designed on farmland ne ...

and Athboy, he was the 2005 JICA Irish Kart Club Champion. He followed this up by becoming the Irish Open Kart Champion in 2006.

Renault Clio Cup

He made the move into cars for the 2007 season by entering the

Renault Clio Cup The Renault Clio Cup Series is a one-make racing series created and managed by Alpine Racing (until 2020 known as Renault Sport). The championship was born after merge the 4 active Renault Clio national cups at that moment plus the Clio Cup E ...

which runs on the

support package. Driving for Mardi Gras Motorsport, he finished his debut season placed 13th in the championship with a best result of 4th at Thruxton. Taylor-Smith stayed with the team for 2008 finishing 9th. He also contested the 2008 Renault Clio Winter Cup with Team Pyro where he took his first Clio Cup pole position in the first race at Croft, followed by his first win in the same race. He won the four-race championship ahead of Phil House and future BTCC and WTCC driver

Alex MacDowall Alexander "Alex" Hay MacDowall (born 22 January, 1991) is a British auto racing driver. He is currently competing in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season for Aston Martin Racing. Racing career Early career MacDowall was born in Car ...

. He raced with Team Pyro for the 2009 season. Once again he improved, finishing fourth in the championship having achieved three podiums including a win. He switched to the Clio Cup Italia for 2010, finishing the season 4th overall with two wins and two pole positions. 2011 saw Taylor-Smith return to the UK championship with Team Pyro. He finished joint second to Paul Rivett in the championship after a close title decider at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

British Touring Car Championship

Triple 8 Race Engineering (2011)

Taylor-Smith made his BTCC debut for

Triple 8 Race Engineering Triple Eight Racing was a auto racing, motorsports team formed in 1996 as Triple Eight Race Engineering, which competed in the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship. The team's original focus was to design, build an ...

at the

Knockhill Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is located in the countryside about north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA appro ...

round of the

2011 British Touring Car Championship The 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was the 54th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. Cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification were allowed to compete in the championship for the fir ...

. He picked up a single point on his debut after finishing in 10th place. This was to be a one-off appearance as the

rejoined the

TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the T ...

package at Rockingham.

Motorbase Performance (2012–2013)

In 2012 raced for Redstone Racing in one of their NGTC engined Ford Focus STs. His teammates were

Mat Jackson Mat Jackson (born 10 June 1981) is a British racing driver. Racing career Early years Born in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, Jackson started racing in karts in his teens, before finishing 4th in the 2000 Renault Clio Cup, his first attempt ...

and Liam Griffin. In the season opening race at

, the bumper of his car was memorably pulled off by a recovery vehicle as it was towed out of a gravel trap. In June 2012 he demonstrated his Ford Focus ST BTCC car on the streets of

during the Bavaria City Racing Festival in front of an estimated 110,000 fans. He came close to a podium finish at Knockhill and led at Rockingham until a safety car allowed his rivals to catch him. Taylor-Smith finally took his first podium finish at Silverstone by finishing third in the first race. He took his first win at the final event of the year at Brands Hatch, crossing the line ahead of champion

Gordon Shedden Gordon Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a Scottish auto racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for the Halfords Racing with Cataclean team. He has previously won the series on three occasions; in 2012, 201 ...

in race two. He finished the year placed eighth in the final championship standings. Taylor-Smith stayed with Motorbase for

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, now driving a full NGTC specification Ford Focus ST as raced by Jackson in the second half of the 2012 season. He led Jackson in the standings for much of the season but ended the year ninth, one place behind Jackson. Neither driver won a race, however they both achieved several podiums.

Team BMR (2014–2015)

Taylor-Smith moved to

Team BMR Team BMR was a British motor racing team based in Buntingford, Hertfordshire and founded by Warren Scott. The team raced in the British Touring Car Championship between 2013 and 2019 after previously entering the 2004 British Superbike Champ ...

for the

2014 British Touring Car Championship The 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was a multi-event motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately ...

, driving a

Volkswagen CC The Volkswagen CC, originally marketed as the Volkswagen Passat CC in its first generation, is a variant of the Volkswagen Passat that trades headroom and cargo space for a coupé-like profile and sweeping roofline. The CC debuted in January 200 ...

alongside former champion

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship tw ...

. Taylor-Smith took two wins, one at Oulton Park and the other at Snetterton, and finished ninth in the final drivers' championship standings. Taylor-Smith remained with Team BMR for 2015, where he was joined by former champions, Colin Turkington and Jason Plato. He finished the year 11th overall claiming 6 podiums.

Team BKR (2016)

Taylor-Smith moved to the newly formed Team BKR for the 2016 season. He started the year strongly with podiums at both Brands Hatch and Donington Park. A win would come his way at Rockingham and he finished the year 14th overall.

MG RCIB Triple Eight Racing (2017)

Taylor-Smith moved once again this season, this time to

Triple Eight Racing Triple Eight Racing was a auto racing, motorsports team formed in 1996 as Triple Eight Race Engineering, which competed in the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship. The team's original focus was to design, build an ...

for the 2017 British Touring Car Championship season. He was the lead driver of the two car entry paired with Daniel Lloyd and was lucky to escape without serious injury from an accident at Croft that also involved Jeff Smith and

Luke Davenport Luke Davenport (born 29 May 1993 in Cambridge) is a British racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for Motorbase Performance. Racing career Early career Davenport began his car racing career in 2011, com ...

Team HARD (2021–)

Having spent a year outside racing due to COVID-19 in 2020, Taylor-Smith returned to the BTCC in 2021 as part of the four-car Team HARD programme driving a new Cupra Leon.

Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup

Team Parker Racing (2018)

British GT Championship

Taylor-Smith drove with ex-BTCC driver Sam Smelt in a Ford Mustang GT4 in 2019. They finished 22nd in the championship with only 4 points, scored at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 201 people living in 74 h ...

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Complete British GT Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

*
British Touring Car Championship Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor-Smith, Aron 1989 births Irish racing drivers Living people Sportspeople from Dublin (city) British Touring Car Championship drivers Renault UK Clio Cup drivers