Árón Taylor-Smith (

né The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Smith; Born 9 November 1989) is an Irish

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

currently competing in the

British Touring Car Championship The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA. He is the younger brother of former VX Racing BTCC driver Gavin Smith.

Racing career

Karting

Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, 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-Design, one-make racing series created and managed by Automobiles Alpine, Alpine Racing (until 2020 known as Renault Sport). The championship was born after merging the 4 active Renault Clio national cups a ...

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. 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 hosts ...

British Touring Car Championship

Triple 8 Race Engineering (2011)

Taylor-Smith made his BTCC debut for Triple 8 Race Engineering 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 in the countryside about north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA-approved circui ...

round of the 2011 British Touring Car Championship. 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 ...

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 Mathew Jackson (born 10 June 1981) is a former British auto racing, 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 ...

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 Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

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 William Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a British racing driver currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for Speedworks Motorsport, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA. He has previously won the series on three occasion ...

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

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 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 Champi ...

for the 2014 British Touring Car Championship, driving a

Volkswagen CC The Volkswagen CC, initially sold as the Volkswagen Passat CC, is a car built by German marque Volkswagen from 2008 to 2016. It is a variant of the Volkswagen Passat that trades headroom and cargo space for a coupé-like profile and sweeping roofl ...

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 twic ...

. 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 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 Edward 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 201 ...

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 United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population ...

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) ^* Season still in progress.

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 Motorsport people from County Dublin British Touring Car Championship drivers Renault UK Clio Cup drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers