JPC Specialist Motorsports

Success Story 13 September 2024

Region/Nation North East
Sector Wholesale and Retail Trade
Programme Start Up Loans

Paul Connaughton, founder of JPC Specialist Motorsports, a motorsports business set up to raise vital funds for JPC Community Farm.

Paul secured a total of £20k through the Start Up Loans programme via the Business Enterprise Fund (BEF). 

Paul Connaughton, founder of JPC Specialist Motorsports at his community farm with children and pets

JPC Specialist Motorsports was created to help raise vital funds for JPC Community Farm by offering passenger ride experiences, world-class car events and unforgettable automotive experiences.

Paul used his loan to support the growth of the business, ensuring the team could raise even more money for JPC Community Farm. Between himself and his wife Julie, they have three businesses, all of which have received Start Up Loan funding.

JPC Specialist Motorsports and JPC Community Farm are named after Paul and Julie’s son, James Paul Connaughton. James was born in 2000 severely disabled and is non-verbal. He became socially aware by about 2012 and when Paul was watching Formula One on television, they noticed it was the first time James had paid attention to anything.

The couple would take James to motorsport events where he would love the roar and reverberation of the engines created by the cars on the track, and so JPC Specialist Motorsports is a perfect way to raise money for an important North East-based charity.

After receiving Start Up Loans for all three of our businesses, it is a real honour to have been chosen to be the North East Ambassador for the British Business Bank. JPC Specialist Motorsports raises vital funds to ensure we can continue to offer the support we provide to disabled adults through JPC Community Farm.

My business wouldn’t be where it is today without the support from the Start Up Loans programme, and I want other budding entrepreneurs to know they can turn to the British Business Bank for support right from the very beginning. I really look forward to working closely with the Bank over the next 12 months to raise more awareness of how Start Up Loans can provide crucial support to smaller businesses.

Paul Connaughton Founder, JPC Specialist Motorsports