Track Star

Photographs: Greg Williams

You’ll know the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Nicholas Hoult from any number of movies and TV shows: 2002’s ‘About a Boy’, the ‘X-Men’ franchise, the Oscar-winning ‘The Favourite’, or ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, in which his character Nux, the tattooed and maniacal gearhead, can be seen riding dirt bikes through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. And though virtually nothing about Nux resembles the actor who portrays him, it turns out they share one thing in common: a serious predilection for racing.

Above: Hoult and his Ferrari 296 Challenge racing car

Hoult has spent the last several years earning his racing stripes with Team Ferrari, having enrolled in and graduated from the carmaker’s Corso Pilota driving school. The culmination of his racing education came this past July, when Hoult took part in – and won – the timed lap segment of the Ferrari Club Challenge program in Watkins Glen, New York, a town whose road racing history stretches back to 1948, when it hosted the first-ever Watkins Glen Grand Prix.

“It was my first time going to Watkins,” says Hoult. “I guess there’s a rich history of racing there. Obviously, I got to go to the track as well, which was a lot of fun. So, it was a good weekend.”

That may be something of an understatement, for Hoult possibly had more than just a good weekend. In fact, he took a first-place podium position, having completed a most impressive 1:49.2 lap of the circuit.

Above, from left: Hoult with the 296 Challenge racing car, and taking his place behind the wheel; dealing with pre-track nerves; in the cockpit of the legendary number 12 Ferrari 512 M endurance racer from 1971

Hoult has been driving with Ferrari for a couple of years now, originally starting with the Corso Pilota program, and now taking part in the Ferrari Challenge Series in a race car that’s based on the road-going 296 GTB, but with the hybrid powertrain removed from its V6 twin turbo engine – resulting in a mighty power output of 700cv. It’s serious machine, for those who are serious about track driving.

And Hoult is just such an individual. He is quick to explain how Ferrari’s instructors have gradually helped to build up his pace, and his skill set as well, ensuring that he has gotten faster and faster. “Now, in the Challenge car,” he explains, “it’s feeling like my skills are developing nicely, but also my confidence in understanding what the car needs input-wise to get the best out of it around the track.”

When asked how racing cars compares to filming with cars – the actor was fully involved in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’s spectacular desert chase sequences – Hoult’s answer is brief. “The main difference is, with ‘Mad Max’, a lot of the time you’d have a stunt driver who was doing the stuff for you hidden from camera, and you’d be pretending and focusing on your dialogue. Whereas, when I’m doing this with Ferrari, there’s nowhere to hide because it’s you at the controls. If things go wrong, it’s your fault,” he smiles.

Above: Hoult with the 1971 512 M that Paul Newman raced in salt-flat tests in the 1970s

Staying relaxed in such a high stress, and uncomfortable, environment can’t be easy. Hoult nods in agreement. “It’s something I struggle with, because obviously your body, in those situations, its natural reaction is to kind of tense up. And that’s the worst thing you can do, because it slows down your reaction time and your input. But the thing that I really love about racing is how, when it’s going well, it puts you in this meditative state where you have input, output, and you obviously have to be very present because of the situation you’re in. I think the top speed we were hitting at Watkins was 170 miles-per-hour. Occasionally I’m thinking: ‘Should I be out here? Should I be doing this?’ You really don’t want to have any intrusive thoughts, but that one’s obviously not ideal.”

Happily, it looks like any intrusive thoughts were notably absent on that weekend race day back in July. That first victory must have tasted great. “Yes,” smiles Hoult. “It was the first time I got to go on a podium and spray champagne, but I did a terrible job of it. I saw the photo and I was like, ‘I haven’t got my thumb over the bottleneck properly. I’m not spraying it.’ It was an embarrassing attempt at a champagne celebration. But maybe I can get on some more podiums and get better at it.”