James Alan Broadbent (born 13 June 1991) is an English social media personality, commentator, and racing driver. He has over 900,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, with content related to gaming, sim racing, and real life racing. Broadbent most recently competed in the 2022 Praga Cup, in which he won the team's and driver's championships in with his entry Team87 and teammate Gordie Mutch.[4] He also commentates for the Gran Turismo World Series esports tournament.[5]
Broadbent's popularity has been partially attributed to his modest background, having lived in a shed in his mother's garden for a long period of time, and his honesty with personal struggles, both traits in stark contrast with the trend of internet celebrities portraying an artificial idyllic life.[6]
YouTube career
Broadbent began uploading content for YouTube in 2012, his first video being published in May of that year.[7] His early videos consisted of raw video game footage with no commentary from sim racing games such as rFactor. This would later develop into sim racing content with commentary throughout the years.[8] He reached 10,000 subscribers in 2017;[1] by 2018, he had around 86,000 subscribers.
In 14 April 2018, Broadbent was temporarily banned by YouTube while viewing Michael Dunlop's then-lap record from 2016 on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course on his stream. His stream was also terminated for use of copyrighted content, as entertainment distributor Duke Video held the rights to all Isle of Man TT content. Broadbent's ban was lifted the following day after Duke Video had lifted the claim on his livestream.[9]
On 4 June 2018, Broadbent reached 100,000 subscribers on YouTube.[10]
In November 2020, Jimmy raised over £71,000 for Mind in memory of his father, Alan Broadbent.[11] By the end of 2020, he had over 600,000 subscribers.[12]
In 2019, Broadbent took part in the annual iRacing 24 Hours of Le Mans in the iRacing video game, with teammates Adam David Hodgkinson and Nate Lupson with the 2016 Audi R18LMP1 prototype sports car, and won their race overall.[13]On May 16th 2020, Broadbent Won the annual iRacingIndy 500.
Broadbent returned to the event in 2022, racing a Porsche 911 RSR GTE for Team Project 1 x BPM, alongside René Buttler, Bram Beelen and Tim Neuendorf.[17] In the end, the team finished in 33rd place overall and 14th place in their class. The following event in 2023 saw him race a BMW M8 GTE for Mahle Racing, driving alongside FIA World Endurance Championship and W Series driver Beitske Visser and sim racers Muhammed Patel and Michele D’Alessandro.[18] The team qualified in 7th place setting a time of 3:46.894 and then in the race, finished in 9th place and 32nd place overall scoring 4 points.
In real-life motorsport
Broadbent competing in the Club Time Attack Championship in the Pocket Rocket Class.
In 2021, it was announced that Broadbent would take part in the 2021 Britcar Endurance Championship with Team J2 Praga, driving the Praga R1 alongside Jem Hepworth in the Praga class.[19] At the season opening round in Silverstone Circuit, Broadbent and Hepworth would finish 6th and 8th in Race 1 and Race 2 respectively. In the following round in Snetterton Circuit, the duo would retire in Race 1, but would come back to finish 10th in Race 2. The third round at Oulton Park saw the team struggle, as the two drivers would gather 23rd place and 12th place finishes in both races. At the second Silverstone round in Round 4, they would score a 6th place finish. Due to a support race fatality, the next round in Brands Hatch was cancelled. For the final race of the season, it was announced that Gordie Mutch would be replacing Hepworth as Broadbent's teammate to compete in Donington Park. Donington would prove to be the team's most successful race of the year, as both Broadbent and Mutch would sweep the round and win both races, allowing the team to finish 5th overall in the championship standings.[20]
In March 2022, Broadbent founded his racing team, Team87.[2][21] Team87 signed a multi-year partnership deal with German sim racing peripheral manufacturer Fanatec in August of that year.[22] The next month, Bell Sports became the team's official helmet manufacturer.[23]
Broadbent and Mutch would race again as teammates in 2022 for Team87, this time participating in the inaugural 2022 Praga Cup season.[24] The team experienced a solid start in the first three rounds of the season, scoring two podiums and a 9th place finish. At the fourth round, Broadbent and Mutch would take the chequered flag in the lead, however, they were disqualified post-race during scrutineering after a turbocharger issue was discovered on the team's Praga R1.[25] They would win the next Snetterton race, however, as well as four additional wins in the next six races afterwards in Silverstone and Donington, allowing the team to clinch the drivers' and teams' championships at the end of the season.[4] The championship victory gave Broadbent his first motorsport title as both a driver and team owner.
In December 2022, it was announced that Broadbent would be taking part in testing of the 2023 BMW M4 GT4 in the Circuito de Almería in Spain with BMW Motorsport.[26]
As of 02 June 2023,[citation needed] Broadbent competes with a FIA Bronze racing licence.[27] On 03 June, Broadbent released a video on YouTube announcing that he would be participating in the Nürburgring Endurance Series for 2024 alongside sim racing YouTubers Misha Charoudin and Steve Alvarez Brown (Super GT). The trio will be part of a Bilstein-organized VT2 class entry, driving a heavily modified BMW 330i by Black Falcon.[28]
Personal life
Broadbent's father, Alan, died by suicide when Jimmy was only 13 years old after struggling from alcoholism and depression.[29]
In an interview with DriveTribe in 2020, Broadbent told that around 2014, he "lost everything" due to depression and other mental health issues, especially regarding sociability. He lost his job, his house and his fiancée broke up with him. He stated that he had struggled and still struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts.
British
