Made for Trade on track

Made for Trade’s managing director, Bradley Gaunt and engineering director, Ashley Gaunt, competed in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK for the first time in 2023.

Racing against fellow novices and experienced championship winners – the MfT duo are said to have applied their ‘sharp vision and technical backgrounds’ to the new venture as well as raising awareness of the company in front of huge crowds and on national television.

The pair were behind the wheel of Radical SR1 racing cars; which like all Made for Trade products are manufactured in the UK.

The Gaunts’ racing season kicked off at Donington Park in the East Midlands, where the brothers soon realised some of the challenges that would lie ahead during their rookie racing year. Like an off-balance builder struggling to install lesser fenestration products, there were a few accidental trips backwards into gravel traps along the way, but it wasn’t long before the pair started to get to grips with their 185bhp, 490kg racing machines.

Next up, the championship headed to Brands Hatch in Kent, before visits to Snetterton in Norfolk, and Oulton Park in Cheshire – supporting the British Touring Car Championship.

Come mid-season, not only did the racing pair go on to compete at the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, but they also made progress up the order both within their novice category but also overall in their class.

The Gaunts were also coached along the way by North East-based racer Simon Walker-Hansell, and all the hard work paid off. Come the end of the season and after a return to Donington Park, the Made for Trade office mantelpiece duly featured a selection of new silverware to sit alongside the awards for fenestration and Korniche innovation.

Ashley Gaunt said: “At the beginning of the season, we were literally at the back by laps and several times I think we both felt way out of our depth. Racing with so many top drivers however, has allowed us to level up to the podium in a short space of time and advance enough to be amongst the main action. Plus, getting on the big stage in front of a full touring car crowd is something I will never forget.”

The Gaunt brothers are set to return to their second season of Radical competition, aiming to build on the successes of 2023.