Euan Bruce: A Young Driver on the Rise

4 hours ago

5 min read

From growing up around the hills to becoming a championship-winning junior and stepping into an OMS 28, Euan Bruce is one of an exciting new generation of young drivers making their mark on British hillclimbing.

At just 17, Euan Bruce has already packed an impressive amount into his young motorsport career.

For the Aberdeenshire teenager, however, hillclimbing isn't a recently discovered passion. It has been part of family life for as long as he can remember.

Euan attended his first motorsport event at Doune when he was just two weeks old, watching his father John compete. A former Scottish Road Car Hill Climb Champion, John has remained closely involved in the sport, while Euan grew up around Fintray Hillclimb and the Grampian Automobile Club, helping at work parties and events long before he was old enough to compete himself.

When regulations opened sprinting and hillclimbing to drivers from the age of 14, Euan seized his opportunity. Together with his father, he prepared an MG ZR for the junior category and began competing shortly after his 14th birthday in 2023.

His progression since then has been remarkable.

After completing the required sprint events, Euan made his hillclimb debut at Doune in April 2024. That same year he became the first junior and youngest driver to compete at a British Hillclimb Championship event in England when he took on Harewood.

By the end of his first full season, he had been named Best Newcomer in the Scottish Hill Climb and Sprint Championship.

In 2025, aged 16, Euan became the youngest person to win the SSHC Sprint Championship. Bruce Racing Team also set new class records at every event they attended, while Euan was the highest-placed road car in the Scottish Sprint Championship and won the Scottish J1 class in both sprinting and hillclimbing.

Now comes the next chapter.

Euan has made the considerable leap from the MG ZR into an OMS 28 purpose-built single-seater and on his first visit to Doune in the OMS this year, he achieved his first Fastest Time of Day (FTD).

Behind the competition is also a cause extremely close to the Bruce family's heart. Euan is a Young Ambassador for Alzheimer Scotland and has used his motorsport profile to help raise both funds and awareness following his grandmother Evelyn's diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer's.

With his sights set firmly on the future, HillClimbing.org caught up with Euan to talk about growing up in the sport, taking on Doune at just 14, the friendly rivalry with his dad and what it's really like to swap an MG ZR for an OMS single-seater.

You’ve been around hillclimbing almost since you were born, but can you remember the moment when watching your dad stopped being enough and you thought, “I want to do this myself”?

I have always wanted to be involved in the sport for as long as I can remember. As a family, we have always been involved with Fintray Hillclimb and I was always at work parties and events, helping out in whatever way I could.

I was counting down the days until I was 16, as that was originally the earliest I could start. When the opportunity came along that I could compete at age 14, I jumped at the chance and started doing my research on the best car to get based on the regulations.

Doune was your first hillclimb at just 14, which is quite a place to start. What do you remember about sitting on that start line for the first time, and were you more nervous than you let everyone know?

I was more excited than nervous, with it being the “King of the Hills” and everything that I'd heard about it. I couldn't believe I was about to drive up something so narrow.

I did feel a bit of pressure and nerves being the first junior driver up Doune and it being my first hillclimb, but as soon as I'd left the line I dismissed everything and loved every second of it!

I had a huge grin on my face when I got to the top.

You and your dad have gone from being father and son in the paddock to actually competing against each other. When did you first realise you could genuinely beat him and how competitive does it get between the two of you?

It took me until into my second year to finally beat Dad, as he is a very experienced and fast driver.

Throughout the 2025 season we were both going very close at every event and, by the end of the year, we shared equal wins throughout the year.

In 2026 there's been a bigger gap with times, as Dad took a bit of time to get used to the OMS 28.

He is finally getting to grips with it though - I still say he's my tyre warmer!

You’ve learned in the MG ZR and are now moving into an OMS 28 single-seater. What has surprised you most about that step up, and what do you think you still have to learn as a driver?

I was really surprised how precise you have to be with the OMS. With the MG you had to wrangle every last bit from it to get your time; now you have to be more controlled and keep up with the car.

It's so much quicker than I expected.

As a driver, you are always learning, as every event is different and you have to constantly adapt your driving to it. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the car's limits and finding the best times the car can give.

Your route into motorsport is quite different from young drivers who have spent years karting. If you could choose where hillclimbing takes you over the next five or ten years, where would you like to end up and do you think the sport could become a stronger pathway for other young drivers too?

Ideally, I would love to keep pursuing hillclimbing as my hobby, but would love to pursue motorsport as a career in other forms of the sport.

It is a very difficult pathway, as most teams look for a karting background and don't seem to focus on hillclimbing and sprinting, as they are relatively unknown forms of motorsport.

I would love to see more young drivers coming through the sport, as it's a great way of getting into motorsport and it's a relatively cheaper option for getting started.

More Than Motorsport

For Euan and Bruce Racing Team, there is another important element to their involvement in the sport.

Euan's grandmother, Evelyn, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's at the age of 62, when Euan was just six. She died in 2022, aged 69.

Wanting to do something positive in her memory, Euan became involved with Alzheimer Scotland and is now one of the charity's Young Ambassadors. Before his motorsport career had even begun, he completed a 300-mile running challenge, raising more than £3,500. He has since combined his racing with fundraising and awareness work for the charity, with his fundraising efforts exceeding £5,000.

Today, that cause continues alongside the racing, giving Bruce Racing Team a purpose that stretches beyond results, records and times.

And there should be plenty more of those to come.

From the 14-year-old staring up the narrow course at Doune wondering what he'd got himself into, to returning in a purpose-built OMS 28 and recording his first FTD at the same venue, Euan has travelled a considerable distance in only a few seasons.

He may joke that Dad is now his tyre warmer, but behind the family rivalry is a young driver who is still learning, still pushing and clearly very serious about seeing just how far motorsport might take him.

We'll be watching with interest.