Ashurst Wood racer Lanik enjoys life in the fast lane

NIKI Lanik is a modern day action man. The 21-year-old could have carved out a career as either a stuntman, downhill skier, snowboarder or BMX racer.

Their loss is motor racing's gain. For with his sparkling personality, flowing blond locks and engaging accent, he has bucketloads of charm.

Already a double champion, he is putting together a business plan both on and off the track to support Youth For Human Rights through his racing.

Born in Vienna, he is a much travelled young man now settled in Ashurst Wood who discovered his love for speed when growing up on a farm and learning car handling skills racing across the fields.

Ambitious, he looks up to triple Formula One world champion Niki Lauda as his inspiration, and hopes to break into the international racing arena.

"I've always known I was fast. It was just a matter of being with the right team, driving well and keeping out of trouble," insisted Lanik, who has A levels in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and German.

And it is that sort of academic background which he believes helps develop a strong understanding with race engineers to move his car to the front of the grid.

He took an engineering Masters degree at university but dropped out after the first year to concentrate on marketing, PR, advertising and branding.

He now uses that knowledge to attract sponsors and companies to bring greater prestige to his racing.

One link he is nurturing is Youth For Human Rights.

A strong believer in their work, racing for a charity (YFHR is not a registered charity in Britain) can be advantageous in terms of tax reasons for sponsors who wish to support him.

"Motor racing is a business as much as a sport. It's as much about the amount of money you can bring to a team as it is about how good you are as a driver," he explained.

Lanik carries the Youth for Human Rights campaign on his Clio for free to promote the cause, and gets companies to sponsor the cause which he is keen to roll out to schools.

When Lanik started racing after completing a course at Silverstone, he supported an anti-drug campaign after seeing the effects of drugs on close friends.

"The Human Rights is a very broad issue which we promote at race meetings, handing out literature and merchandise to spread the word," he added.

On the track, Lanik is keen to secure drives in the FIA GT or American Le Mans series, but next season will again contest the Clio Cup with Colin Stancombe Engineering.

Lanik believes his engineering background provides the team with valuable feedback to push him towards the podium (he secured four last season).

"I give him the feedback on how the car feels, he gives me the numbers and it makes sense," said Lanik, keen to get behind the wheel of the big beast cars such as Aston Martins and Ferraris.

"I have no concerns about making the step up, if I got lucky enough to put a package together, get a big enough sponsor then I can take my racing to a whole new level," he insisted, having won back to back Winter Clio Cup championships.

"Racing at international level, bigger companies are more likely to be attracted to the racing.

"The bigger guys who can usually make the bigger difference."

"I have a business plan to help the YFHR team raise its profile and get people on board to promote the cause, attract other sponsors and opportunities for people to donate to the cause and the team.

"I get to help a great cause and do what I love, race cars."

Visit - www.nikilanik.com - for more information.