The Gala Performance Story

Watch the Film

The Gala Performance story, told as a short cinematic film. Ninety seconds on how a driver's comeback became a motorsport brand.

It Started with an Eight-Year-Old from Barnsley

Long before endurance racing, championship trophies and Le Mans, there was an eight-year-old boy from Silkstone, Barnsley, who simply loved going fast. Christian England discovered motor racing at Wombwell's go-karting track on Station Road — and from that very first lap, the ambition took hold.

Go-karting became motor racing. Motor racing became a serious career. The trophies got bigger, the circuits got faster, and childhood clothing was replaced by a race suit.

A Rising Star

Christian signed with Richard Dean's JLR British Formula Ford team and wasted no time proving himself. Six race wins followed, and he finished second in the championship, establishing himself as one of Britain's most promising young drivers.

Recognition came with a nomination for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, one of British motorsport's most prestigious. The plan was clear and the ladder was drawn: Formula Three next, then climb toward Formula One.

When the Money Ran Out

But motorsport demands more than speed. It demands funding. The Young Driver Award went to Jamie Green, and while the Formula Three door stayed open, talent alone was not enough to walk through it.

In 2003, with the money gone, Christian did what so many talented drivers have had to do. He took off his helmet, placed it on a shelf, and closed the garage door. For more than a decade, racing became part of his past — a framed photograph on the wall of the family hotel business.

The Call That Changed Everything

Then, in 2016 — thirteen years later — the phone rang. It was Richard Dean.

“Christian, it's Richard. How would you feel about racing again?”

Richard Dean and Zak Brown were taking United Autosports into the European Le Mans Series, and there was a seat available. It was a remarkable second chance. There was just one condition: Christian would have to secure the backing himself. Secure the sponsorship, and the seat was his.

Backing a Second Chance

Christian walked into Gala Tent with a proposal and a simple ask: someone to believe he could still do it after thirteen years away from single-seaters. Across the boardroom table, Jason Mace and Mark Thompson listened.

Thirteen years is a long time. But as Jason put it, talent doesn't disappear. He closed the proposal, extended his hand, and said the words that started everything:

“Let's get you back on the grid.”

Champions

The comeback was extraordinary. Race by race through that first European Le Mans Series season — night racing, pit stops, overtakes, rain on the windscreen — Christian's return became something far bigger than anyone expected. When the chequered flag fell, thirteen years after walking away from the sport, Christian England was an European Le Mans Series LMP3 Champion.

And it did not stop there. The following year we backed him again, this time at the Road to Le Mans on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, where — sharing the car with Alex Brundle and Mike Guasch — he finished first. Two seasons, two very different challenges, and a partnership that was only just getting started.

Why We Built a Brand for Motorsport

Gala Performance did not start from nothing. Behind it stands Gala Tent — an established British manufacturer of marquees and gazebos, built from humble beginnings into a multi-million-pound market leader supplying events, weddings, businesses and market traders across the country.

But those years spent sponsoring a race team taught us something important: motorsport is not just another events market. A race paddock is far harder on equipment than any wedding lawn — it demands heavier-duty, genuinely weatherproof kit that goes up fast, packs down small and survives a full season of circuits, travel and abuse. Teams do not want a marquee, they want a race tent. They are not dressing an event, they are building a working base in a pit lane. The needs, and the language, are different.

We could have tacked motorsport on as a side-line of the events business. Instead we chose to do it properly, and build a dedicated brand focused entirely on the paddock — so race teams deal with a company that speaks their language and understands their weekend. That brand is Gala Performance.

What Gala Performance Is Today

Gala Performance brings together the best of both worlds: the manufacturing pedigree, buying power and reliability of a market-leading British tent maker, with a singular focus on motorsport. Everything we make is designed around the race team — from pop-up race tents and heavy-duty freestanding awnings to garage flooring, pit garage walling, branded structures and the accessories that hold a paddock together.

Every product is developed from real experience and, where it counts, tested at the track by a team that races itself. We supply drivers, teams and motorsport organisations from grassroots club paddocks right up to professional championship grids. Kit built by racers, for racers.

New to the sport, or setting up for the first time? Our get into motorsport guides and paddock setup guides are a good place to start.

One More Thing…

Shortly after that championship year, Zak Brown — co-owner of United Autosports — was offered one of the biggest jobs in world motorsport: leading McLaren Racing.

As Jason likes to say, with a glint in his eye: “You could say we got him the job. But obviously, I'd never say that.”

Still Racing With Us Today

What began as a one-season sponsorship became a relationship that has lasted the better part of a decade. Christian England still races with Gala Performance today — out on the grid alongside us in the C1 Racing Club, the close-fought, equal-car series where success comes down to driver craft and pit strategy rather than budget.

It is a fitting place for the story to have led: the driver whose comeback created Gala Performance, still turning laps with the brand he helped to inspire.

Built in the Paddock. Proven on the Track.

The Gala Performance story isn't really about sponsorship. It's about what happens when experience meets opportunity, and someone is prepared to believe in a second chance.

That same belief runs through everything we make today: professional motorsport structures and paddock equipment, trusted by teams from club grids to championship paddocks. Because performance starts long before the lights go out.

This year marks a decade of Gala Performance — read the story of our first ten years.