Jam Motorsport Feature

Story: Darien Herreen Photos: Bob Taylor, JAM Motorsport

We are excited to introduce a new advertiser to our pages in Jam Motorsport. Jam provide race car maintenance on all race and rally cars worldwide and are a distributor for Wolf Racing Cars, HRX, Stilo, Aim, Kennol oil & Aeroflow. Darien met with Aaron Steer – Director & Mechanical Engineer / Drafter @ Jam Motorsport to discuss all things Jam.

A little about you?

• 33 years old • Grew up in the Adelaide Hills • Started my own business Jam Motorsport in 2016

How did you get into cars and Motorsport?

I have always been into motorbikes and cars growing up, so during school I completed a traineeship at Edwardstown Body Repairs (the only approved Porsche repairer in SA) in spray painting and body repairs, as well as an advanced composites course. After school I completed an apprenticeship at Buik Motorworks in Automotive Mechanics. After completing my apprenticeship, I completed a course in mechanical engineering and drafting.

What was the first car you drove on track?

Porsche 944 S2 at Mallala Motorsport Park in a Porsche Club SA sprint.

Where did that lead?

From my experience in the Porsche car I moved into Prototype cars.

I understand you are heavily involved in prototypes.

Yes – I have been heavily involved in prototype cars for around 14 years. During completing my apprenticeship, I would work on prototypes cars after hours and on weekends. Following the completion of my apprenticeship I headed up West Race Cars, before starting my own business in 2016.

Is that what led to starting a business?

Yes – with overwhelming client support, I started Jam Motorsport.

What is that about, what does JAM do?

Jam Motorsport is a “one stop” Motorsport shop! We offer the following on Porsche cars, Prototype cars, Open Wheel cars and rally cars: • Engine rebuild and repairs • Gearbox rebuild and repairs • Race car preparation • Race car setup • Composite repairs • Engineering solutions

Ground up race car builds and rebuilds Event support at track days and state and national race events Driver development at the track, which includes driver tuition via video and data analysis Race car leasing for track days and race event, state or national

I believe you have a Porsche or two?

Yes – after many hours of work I saved and bought a 1968 911T short wheelbase and more recently a 2004 996 GT3 CS.

While most national series are suspended due to border restrictions, what are you doing now?

We have been very lucky – we have been very busy preparing prototype and Porsche cars for extensive testing locally, as clients see national racing being on pause as a great opportunity for them to develop their skills for better results. I also completed my first Adelaide Rally last year in a 1974 911 RS and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found this was a great opportunity for me to further develop my driving my skills, so I bought a 996 GT3 CS as my rally car, as I love driving 911’s and always have. I also really like the challenge of Tarmac Rally. I recently competed in the PCSA event to test the 996 and as a result encouraged Courtney to recently enter and she loved it!

You already support a few PCSA members Porsches, and prototypes?

Yes – we are lucky enough to support PCSA life member Marty Ewer in his Wolf Racing Cars Tornado and long-time member Mark Laucke in his Wolf Racing Cars Tornado, who are very strong advocates for PCSA, amongst others. The pinnacle of Porsche Motorsport is with the LMP1 project, so it seems to Porsche enthusiasts as a natural progression in racing to jump into a Prototype Car. Porsche cars are so strong in so many disciplines, but at the top end of their engineering, development and testing is always done on their prototype cars, and in typical Porsche fashion – done extremely well. We also support a lot of other local customers as well as many interstate customers at local and national racing events.

And now you are expanding the business?

Yes – I have just recently expanded Jam into Porsche Motorsport. Since completing my apprenticeship at Porsche, I have been extensively in the Prototype scene, however, increasingly there has been more and more requests for me to embark on Porsche work. Over the years I have been more focused on furthering my expertise on Prototype cars, however as I know so much about Porsche and have always understood the Porsche product it seems only natural that eventually my business would expand into the Porsche space to support Porsche Motorsport enthusiasts. I am very excited to see this side of my business grow and feel privileged that many Porsche Motorsport enthusiasts have already started to support me in this business venture.