About Sam
Born in Auckland, New Zealand Sam loves cars - he taught himself how to drive stick shift in a 1992 Mazda MX-5 with 352 thousand kilometres on the clock. Sam's love for racing only began recently; he was 17 years old when he competed in a rental karting tournament at Game Over Auckland and came third - this podium sparked a passion for racing that led to him taking the lap record there in a few short months.
In June of 2024 Sam became motorsport licensed - he went on to participate in the Hampton Downs New Zealand Racing Academy and competed in the BMW Race Driver Series Scholarship in August of the same year, making the top 10 in his first ever outing on a race track.
Sam competed for the BMW RDS Scholarship again in August 2025, once again making the top 10 but narrowly missing out on the podium. In November Sam will be competing in the New Zealand Motul Honda Cup, marking his racing series debut in the #65 Honda Accord.
In 2025 he has also competed in the Rotax Max Senior class, where he owned, operated and maintained his kart without the funds to have support from a race team. From wheel alignments to engine maintenance, running a kart independently has built upon Sam's existing mechanical skills and taken them to new heights.
Sam's dream is to race in CTFROT and win the New Zealand Grand Prix in the name of all who doubt their means to enter the sport - a difficult milestone to reach but one he believes is achievable nonetheless.
About Team17
Team17 is a personal brand created by Sam to foster passion for motorsport in young people like himself who have a love for the sport but not necessarily the financial background and/or means to get started. Motorsport has a very high financial bar for entry, and Team17 has been created to prove that the odds can be beaten (or turned slightly in your favour!)
With branding that can be freely worn by any that dream of racing, the objective is for Team17 to become an icon for those that wish to be more - to drive more.
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