They say that the life of an athlete is often more about journey than the destination, and for British Porsche racer, Gustav Burton, that tired old cliché couldn’t be truer. While this dedicated driver has all the skills required to compete with the elite in his field, the challenges around funding his participation in such an expensive sport makes the process of securing each race just as difficult as the countless hours of training needed to compete at the highest level. Fortunately, Burton has found a way to disrupt the traditional sponsorship model, and so he maintains his body and mind while fighting to stay on track.
Gustav Burton must endure temperatures of more than 140°F while racing in the Porsche Supercup, but the processing of financing his sport can be just as challenging as the race itself, explains the driver who won the Renault Clio Cup UK Junior title in 2018 and the British GT Championship (GT4 Silver) in 2021.
Despite Burton’s brilliance, recently winning the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Germany, financing such an expensive sport has required a new take on gaining sponsorship. “If you’d asked me three years ago what my goal is, it would be to become a factory driver,” Burton tells M&F. “Like, where Porsche gives you a contract and you’re basically employed as a driver. You don’t have to worry about any of the sponsorship etc., but now that my social media following is going up, and I really enjoy doing it, I think my goal is to be self-employed and just grow our brand awareness and community.”
How Gustav Burton Disrupted Traditional Sponsorship Models
As Burton chats with M&F, the dynamic driver is once again struggling with funding because promises have been broken, and the money required to race at Monza on September 6 is now sadly lacking. Burton is not one to sit around and hope that things will go his way, however. Instead, he’s been gaining traction as the founder of the BackSeat Drivers podcast, and has also been using his own social media profile to take the traditional model of gaining huge corporate sponsors and break it up into tiny bits, offering “mini sponsorships” from as little as $13.50. Of course, this 6’4” racer would rather be driving than counting each penny, but life as a modern racer requires more than track time to succeed. Fortunately, the concept showed immediate promise, because followers flooded in with financial support. “I can’t believe it,” he says. “The power of social media!”
How Gustav Burton Trains for the Porsche Track
While Burton waits to find out if he can gather the funds required to take himself and his team to the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Monza, he must stay race ready either way. “Whilst undergoing G-forces, you’re holding your left foot on the brake and your right foot next to the throttle,” explains the athlete. “Imagine swerving in your car as hard as you possibly can, that’s basically what we’re doing constantly, for 30 or 40 minutes in a race. So yeah, there are a lot of muscles that get worked.”
While the single leg press can develop the power required to push the pedal when breaking under extreme conditions, it’s not just the lower body that requires strength and endurance, because Burton’s helmet weighs in at around 11 pounds (5kg), meaning that the neck and shoulders must be trained with moderately weighed exercises too, such as the reverse fly, front raise, and standing row.
Burton must also watch his own body weight, because a car’s total legal weight includes the driver. “After every session in the car, we have to go straight to the scales with our helmet,” he explains. “If you don’t, you open yourself up to be disqualified.” To that end, Burton bashes out morning runs, taking the opportunity to execute fasted cardio. “It’s very boring,” he says. Still, Burton’s commitment to counting calories allows him to make less healthy substitutes when travel gets in the way, so long as he doesn’t go above the daily allowance. And, fortunately, race days offer plenty of athletic options in terms of food, so long as he can secure the funding to be there. “The good thing with Porsche is that there’s Porsche hospitality, so you pretty much get breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the track,” he shares. “So, if you want to be healthy, you can, and it’s all really high-quality stuff.”
Will Gustav Burton Make it to Monza 2026?
It’s just as well that Burton remains committed to the journey, because we can reveal that just days out from Monza, the driver hit the required total needed to get on the track. A significant contribution from Formula Escapes, along with generous donations from his fans and peers got him over the line.
“This crowdfunding, of you guys sponsoring me, was an absolute last-ditch effort,” said Burton in an Instagram post following his M&F interview. “We f***ing succeeded. I cannot believe it… We’re going to Monza!”
To follow Gus Burton on Instagram, click here.
