Editing Damon Hill (section)

===Single-seaters===

His mother, who was concerned about the dangers of racing motorcycles, persuaded him to take a racing car course at the Winfield Racing School in France in 1983.{{sfnp|Hamilton|Hill|1994|p=9}} Although he showed "above-average aptitude",{{sfnp|Henry|1994|p=32}} Hill had only sporadic single-seater races until the end of 1984. He graduated through British [[Formula Ford]], winning six races driving a [[Van Diemen]] for Manadient Racing in 1985, his first full season in cars, and finishing third and fifth in the two UK national championships. He also took third place in the final of the 1985 [[Formula Ford Festival]], helping the UK to win the team prize.{{sfnp|Henry|1994|pp=29–36}}

====British F3====

For 1986, Hill planned to move up to the [[BRDC British Formula 3 Championship|British Formula Three Championship]] with title-winning team [[West Surrey Racing]]. The loss of sponsorship from Ricoh, and then the death of his proposed teammate Bertrand Fabi in a testing accident, ended Hill's proposed drive. Hill says "When Bert was killed, I took the conscious decision that I wasn't going to stop doing that sort of thing. It's not just competing, it's doing something more exciting. I'm at my fullest skiing, racing or whatever. And I'm more frightened of letting it all slip and reaching 60 and finding I've done nothing."{{sfnp|Henry|1994|pp=37–40}} Hill borrowed £100,000 to finance his racing thanks to a sponsorship deal with Cellnet, as he explained to the ''Fuelling Around'' podcast. The deal involved the sales expertise of David Hunt, brother of F1 driver [[James Hunt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2023/01/fuelling-around-podcast-damon-hill|title=Fuelling Around podcast: Damon Hill on Formula 1, sponsorship and his musical past|publisher=Adrian Flux|date=25 January 2023|access-date=25 June 2024|archive-date=25 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240625150618/https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2023/01/fuelling-around-podcast-damon-hill/|url-status=live}}</ref> He had a steady first season for Murray Taylor Racing in 1986 before taking a brace of wins in each of the following years for Intersport. He finished third in the 1988 British F3 championship.{{sfnp|Henry|1994|pp=41–46}}

====Formula 3000====

Hill made his F3000 debut with [[Gary Ayles|GA Motorsport]] in the final two rounds of the [[1988 International Formula 3000 Championship|1988 International F3000 Season]].

In Europe in the 1990s, a successful driver would usually progress from Formula Three either directly to Formula One, the pinnacle of the sport, or to the [[International Formula 3000]] championship. However, for 1989, Hill did not have enough sponsorship available to fund a drive in F3000. He says "I ended up having to reappraise my career a bit. The first thing was to realise how lucky I was to be driving anything. I made the decision that whatever I drove I would do it to the best of my ability and see where it led."<ref name=GPcom>{{cite web |last=Saward |first=Joe |url=http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft00115.html |title=Interview: Damon Hill |work=GrandPrix.com |date=1 April 1992 |access-date=27 June 2006 |publisher=Inside F1, Inc. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318021807/http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft00115.html |archive-date=18 March 2006}}</ref> He had a couple of outings with Cobra International in the lower level [[British Formula 3000|British F3000 championship]], securing a podium 3rd place at [[Oulton Park]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/drivers/damon-hill/ | title=Damon Hill • F1 career, 1996 title win & more &#124; Motorsport Database }}</ref> Midway through the season, an opportunity arose at the uncompetitive Mooncraft F3000 team. The team tested Hill and [[Perry McCarthy]]. Their performances were comparable but according to the team manager, John Wickham, the team sponsors preferred the Hill name.{{sfnp|Henry|1994|p=58}} Although his best result was a 14th place, Hill's race performances for Mooncraft led to an offer to drive a [[Lola Cars|Lola]] chassis for Middlebridge Racing in 1990. He took three pole positions and led five races in 1990, but did not win a race during his Formula 3000 career.<ref name=GPcom />