Two of Ireland's top young drivers talk to Justin Hynes about fighting for a place on the racing and rally circuits
At the European Grand Prix a few weeks ago Michael Devaney was doing what every teenage racing driver has to learn to do in between deciding on how best to set up his junior formula race car.
He was prowling the Formula One paddock gripping and grinning with every mover and shaker he could clap eyes on. Anything to push himself ahead of the thousands of other hopefuls all clamouring for help in landing a drive not just in Formula One (still but a heady dream) but in any racing series that will propel them further along the perilous road to the sport's premier stage.
For Devaney it is becoming second nature. Though still just 18, he is heading for a third season prowling around on the F1 undercard. He's midway through his second season of racing Germany's Formula BMW series. He finished fifth in the championship last year and this year, despite some early setbacks, is fourth with eight races to go.
"European F3 is where we're looking at at the moment," he says, employing the we to include his father the former racer Bernard Devaney. "British F3 is dying off I think. Likewise Renault's. And F3000 is a no-go area, it's a graveyard. So European F3 is where I want to go next year but we'll have to see what happens.
"All the manufacturers are there. BMW with Williams, Mercedes with McLaren, Toyota go every race. Red Bull are in there with Sauber.
"If I get in with one of them it would be great because they'll fund most of the drive for you which is what we need. Because looking for a full budget for F3 is nearly impossible. It's close on £600,000, which is crazy."
And there's the rub. It's all about the budget. It's the reason Devaney went to Germany in the first place.
The risk has paid off, to a degree. He has raced on the F1 undercard several times and has used the opportunity to talk to as many people as possible. The chance is invaluable.
"It's down to contacts as well - who you know.We had a good meeting with Eddie Jordan and also with Ange Pasquale, the team manager at Toyota. We've had a bit of help from Richard Cregan, Toyota's F1 manager, and got to know Ange through him."
But to make the most of the contacts he has to win in the here and now. "I'm fourth in championship with eight races left. Top three is okay. You don't necessarily have to win the championships to move up, although that's still the aim. I've just got to get the results in."
And with that comes pressure. Pressure to justify the €200,000 of sponsors' money spent on this season's racing. "There's so much pressure on you to justify that," he says with a rueful smile. "It really got to me the first half of this season but my engineer, who worked with Heinz Harald Frentzen and Michael Schumacher saw what was going on . We have a new routine on the weekend now, where I don't talk to anybody back home or anything. I just do my own thing and race. The first time out with that I won the Norisring, so it seems to be working."
Donegal's Shaun Gallagher knows about winning. Like Devaney he's trying to negotiate the cusp of junior success and cross over into the major leagues, but in a discipline a world away from open wheel racing. Gallagher is rally driver and perhaps Ireland's brightest prospect.
The 23-year-old is the recipient of the Billy Coleman Award from Motorsport Ireland a financial boost which he claims is invaluable as he attempts to become Ireland's first WRC driver. Coleman was the last Irishman to score world championship points, but Gallagher is fixed on the goal despite the rarefied arena he's aiming for.
Breaking into a smile, he says: "to be perfectly honest if I can't be winning I can't be bothered." So far he has made a habit of winning."I'm very consistent. I've finished 33 of the past 35 rallies," he says.
"You get some guys who are quick and blast away and turn the car over at the first corner. You can't do that. Rallying is a very mental sport. You have to be prepared and consistent. That's what I do. I bring the car home."
With great success. Gallagher currently leads the Peugeot 206 Super Cup in Britain and is second in his class in the Norwegian National Championship. He's also second in both the French Peugeot 206 Gravel Championship and the French Peugeot 206 Cup.
It is the sort of form that will get you noticed and while the path to the WRC is more nebulous than the routes available to circuit racers, the French Peugeot Cup has become something of a showcase, with nascent WRC Sebastien Loeb emerging through the series in recent years before moving to the Junior WRC series and on to a drive with Citroen in WRC this year.
It is a move Gallagher wants for next year.
"David Williams, Richard Burns' manager, came to the last rally and he says that Richard was very similar in the way he adapted to each level.
"I was hoping to maybe finish in the top three in the two French series which I thought was ambitious but I've managed to get into second in both which is incredible. I'll give it all I can."