Ben’s tenacity behind the wheel has earned him a reputation for being fast and aggressive whilst his dedication to winning has been a trademark of his life. His introduction to competition came at the age of 5 when he won his first 3 heats at a state swimming competition in California. Ben went on to become a Junior Olympic standard swimmer by the age of 9 before returning to the United Kingdom and entering motor sport.

Road to F1 – Single Seaters

Ben entered the frantic Formula Vauxhall racing formulas in the mid 90’s – he scored a record number of podiums in Vauxhall Junior, narrowly missing the championship title to place 3rd overall. Into the senior ‘slicks and wings’ Formula Vauxhall category, Ben continued to impress with his speed and podium finishes.

Former F1 driver Martin Donnelly, who ran Ben in ’96, noted: “Ben is an aggressive driver with phenomenal natural speed”, said Martin Donnelly,

Into Formula 3 and Ben’s promise continued with 5 straight wins in the British national Championship, before partnering Mitsubishi in 1997 for a difficult season. Victories later resumed with Honda as well as a 2nd place in the Marlboro Masters World Series race in 2000. Glenn Waters (former F3 team manager for Damon Hill)
ran Ben in 1998 –

“In terms of sheer pace, I think Ben may well be the fastest driver I've ever run and that includes some class acts like Donnelly, Russell Spence and Damon Hill.”

Super-speed

In 1999 Ben returned to the USA and competed in the Indy Lights Championship where he led races and scored podiums alongside Scott Dixon. His experience on the high speed ovals such as Fontana and Homestead would later pay dividends when Ben took up European Stock Car Racing. Racing in a derivative car of the super successful Nascar series, Ben led every race of the European ‘Ascar’ Championship and was crowned champion in 2003. In the process he posted a record number of series points, lap records, pole positions and race wins (6 of them!).

Phil Barker was Ben’s Team manager and remarked: “Ben is a class driver, he thoroughly deserves to be champion”. Ben’s winning streak continued in a second year of Stock cars, driving for Texaco, which took him again to the USA to compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Nascar supporting event.

Sportscars & Le Mans 24

2005 marked Ben’s return to Sportscar racing with Embassy in the British and FIA GT series. Ben had formerly spent two years competing for Team Ascari in a Le Mans Prototype in 2001/2, where he won and led several races to take 3rd in the FIA World Sportscar series. As a rookie, Ben also set the pace at the 2001 Le Mans 24 hours for nearly 4 hours. Ascari’s race engineer, Brian Ireland, was moved to point out:

“Ben put in a fantastic drive at Le Mans and put in one lap, which at the time was almost 10 seconds faster than the next quickest lap. He’s absolutely first class!”

Motorsport News (industry Press 20/6/01) highlighted his achievement:

"Warren Hughes and Kevin McGarrity grabbed the headlines, but more impressive still was Ben Collins. When the track was at its wettest, the Le Mans newcomer was consistently lapping faster than anyone else - bar none. Fantastic drive in wet and as much of a star as (Mark) Blundell."

Now driving for Embassy Racing (www.embassyracing.com) in a Porsche GT3 997, Ben has taken two wins and a third in the British GT Championship as well as a 2nd place in the FIA round at Silverstone and 5th at the 24 Hours of Spa. As the season draws to a close, Ben will gunning for more victories and another successful season in 2006.