A PRESENTATION skills trainer, commentator and motorsports enthusiast has steered his career down a new path by joining the board of a racing club.

Swindon-based Chris Dawes, who runs Open Dawes Training - which provides CPD accredited training in public speaking and presentation skills – has joined the board of Castle Combe Racing Club.

Chris is a lifelong lover of the Wiltshire track, having first attended events there as a child, accompanying his father.

Now a professional sports commentator, who regularly commentates at the Castle Combe circuit, Chris brings with him his expertise in media, sales and marketing, and training.

“It’s a great honour to be part of the board at the circuit where my love of motorsport started as a five-year-old, in the company of my beloved dad,” said Chris.

“My commentating career started there six years ago when I answered an advert for a trainee commentator, and I am proud to call it my home circuit.”

Chris now commentates and presents at events held at circuits across the world, with UK venues also including Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Snetterton, and Oulton Park. He provides media training to sportsmen and women – in particular racing drivers – and trains business people in speaking and presentation skills.

He added: “I have made so many friends at Castle Combe and am absolutely thrilled that I continue to be able to talk on the microphone about some of the most entertaining racing and exciting drivers, at one of the most beautiful and exciting circuits in the country that continues to make so many of us feel right at home.”

Ken Davies, chairman of Castle Combe Racing Club – which coordinates racing events at the circuit – said Chris was a great addition to the Board.

“Chris is a professional with a great enthusiasm for motorsport and will be a great asset to the Board, so we are delighted he has agreed to take this on,” he said.

Castle Combe Racing Club holds around eight events a year, and the season kicks off on Easter Monday with the Howard’s Day event, named in honour of the late Howard Strawford, who rescued the track from oblivion in the 1970s and whose family still owns it.

For more information, visit http://www.ccracingclub.co.uk/. For information about Chris and Open Dawes Training, visit https://www.opendawestraining.co.uk/.