The good times! (part 2)

After Birmingham we spent the next week in good spirits looking forward to Hednesford on the Sunday.   The results from the previous weekend had moved us from 32nd to 20th in the points and all we had to do was change the diff in the car, do the relevant checks and move all the tyres round. The car had been so good at Birmingham I didn’t want to change anything at all.   I was hoping for another good meeting to bring the racing for 2010 to a sweet end.

As much as I was looking forward to it, I was also very nervous; the last time we had raced there had been quite frankly a disaster.  We had made major changes to the car’s brakes after they had been playing up all through the National Weekend and they turned out to be horrendous.   No matter how I adjusted the bias to the front there was massive amounts of back brake and I was fighting the car everywhere.   I came into a bend .... braked .... the car went sideways, and as I caught it the car gripped and headed straight for the Armco.   I was knocked out and the car was less than healthy to say the least!

There is never a practice at Hednesford so by the time the first race came I was really nervous but the race went well with me managing to overtake a couple of cars and finish in fifth, the car was once again completely faultless.   The next race was much more of the same with another fifth place finish and some good racing.

We lined up for the final and the last race of 2010 and I just wanted to finish and bring the car home in one piece.    I remember there was oil on the track and from my grid position I had no choice but  to line up on it.   Sure enough as the flag dropped there was a great deal of wheel spinning and the car didn’t really go anywhere!    Looking back now maybe this wasn’t such as bad thing because as the front few cars went racing off ahead of me into the first bend, they tangled, firing cars all over the place!

The final was a bit hectic with all sorts of incidents happening throughout, the last meeting of the year always seems to be carnage for some reason and all I wanted was to keep clear of any incidents and keep the car straight.   I knew I was up in the top few cars but didn’t know what position exactly. I had some space in front of me and some breathing room behind so just drove my own race counting down the laps as I went!    All of a sudden I could see Chris and his yellow Tigra.   He was driving like a true world champion and was all over me before I knew it.   Try as I might I was never going to keep him behind me and he was soon past and roaring off on a mission to catch the leaders. This is how the race ended and it was only when I returned to the pits that my dad told me I had crossed the line in fourth! 

This was a brilliant end to what can only be described as a very mixed year.   The fantastic firework display really summed up how I was feeling.   After the two best meetings I have ever had I’m now sitting 18th in the points.   At the halfway point in the season I’m pleased with this position and have everything crossed for a top 20 in the points, come the end of the season in July.   A place on the grid for the World Final would be a dream come true - especially after 4 years of trying! 

This will be my last blog before Christmas so I want to wish you all the best and hope you enjoy the holidays.   I’m looking forward to a bit of time off just to relax and maybe enjoy the occasional beverage!    Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this every week, I’m really enjoying writing it and certainly have no intention of stopping in the near future.   If anyone has any comments or wants to add anything please feel free to contact me, it will be nice to hear from you!

One last thing before I wrap this up.    From myself, and I’m sure all the other people involved in our sport, a massive thank you to Neil.   The website is always faultless, always up to date and always has something new to look at.   So on behalf of everyone - thank you!    It’s the people such as you that make National Hot Rods what they are - the best oval racing formula in the UK!

Thanks again for reading this, and a merry Christmas to you all

Until next time

Mikey

The good times!

This has been a really tough season for us, not only has the racing been really hard and brilliantly close but we seem to have spent the whole season plagued with disaster after disaster.  The new car was a revelation at the start of the season and it seemed like we’d made such progress, finally having a car I enjoy driving and feel comfortable in.   The Tigra has been brilliant in every race it’s done . . . however, the same cannot always be said about the driver!

I’m going to talk about the disasters another week though; it’s Christmas, so naturally the subject needs to be a good one.

After a particularly bad meeting at the last Ipswich round - where the car was put in the trailer after the first race with untold amounts of damage to both the front and back end - my mood was terrible, and in my own words “I didn’t even want to look at the car again until after Christmas.”  As you will know from previous blogs I had a change of heart.   Dad and I spent the whole trip home from Ipswich brooding on the night’s events and my last words before I went off to bed at stupid o’clock were  “We’ll unload the car in the morning, park it in the garage and miss the last two meetings.”

The next morning came and we unloaded the car with the help of some jacks, a great deal of pushing and no doubt endless swearwords on my part, and finally got it onto the ramp.   I looked at it and pondered awhile, and in the clear light of day things didn’t really look as bad as we’d first thought.   I decided to take the wings off and see how things looked underneath the broken fibreglass.   A couple of hours later all the damaged panels were off, the axle was out and a list was written of all the parts we needed to order.   But that was it - I still wasn’t racing!   The next morning I ordered the parts, the following day they arrived and Terry took them away to paint.   Whilst waiting for the painted panels to come back, Dad and I set about bolting bits back on in the garage.   By this point things had started to change - well if the car happened to be finished we’d have to race it!    A decision I’m now very glad I made.

The next meeting was at Birmingham and we arrived early so I could practice during the afternoon and make sure the car was ok after all the work we had just done on it.  After a couple of laps just warming things up the car felt really good and I just seemed to be able to push it harder and harder.  That practice was the best the car has ever been.  We hadn’t altered any settings or done anything different but the car just seemed to really work.   Birmingham has always been my favourite track and I really wish we had more meetings there every year.

After all the bad meetings and non-finishes I was running well down in ‘thirty something’ place in the points, and my average was honestly quite horrendous.   This saw me starting on the front row of the grid.   It was dry, the car was great and it was my favourite track - and I was sitting on the grid waiting for the green flag to drop.

Now I’m awful about remembering what happens in a race.   I get so engrossed in the actual racing that I never even look at the gauges – something that really annoys my dad when I come back into the pits and don’t give him any feedback at all, so please don’t expect a detailed lap by lap analysis.

I was in the lead by the first bend and actually stayed there!   The halfway flag came and I was still leading . . .   5 laps, 4 laps, 3 laps 2 laps, 1 lap, chequered flag!   I’d actually won a race.   It just felt like all my prayers had been answered and all the hard work and disappointment of the previous few months had been worth it.

The next race came and I was in the lead again but I could see a rapidly moving Russ Wilcox in my mirror getting closer by the lap.   Fair play to Russell he was absolutely flying and was soon past me and tearing off into the distance but I hung on in there for second.  I was quite enjoying this!

As we lined up for the final it was threatening to rain but as the flag dropped it was still bone dry.  I was leading into the first bend and even though all sorts of chaos seemed to be happening behind me I just kept my head down and pushing forwards.    Again the laps started to count down with no major drama but the blue Mercedes of Graham Luscombe was getting closer and closer.   As Graham got within striking distance, the rain started; it wasn’t heavy but the track was starting to get quite greasy.   Graham wasn’t going to hand me the win on a plate and stayed right there on my bumper.  I think we had an absolutely brilliant race over the remainder of the laps and there was no contact or foul play from either of us - just proper close Hot Rod racing; Graham having more speed than me on the straights and my Tigra seeming to have the legs through the bends.   The greasy conditions seemed to suit both the car and me really well, and after what seemed like an age, the chequered flag waved in front of me giving me my first final win.

I can honestly say it was the best feeling of my life and it took a few seconds before I registered what had happened.   All my dreams had come true.   As we pulled into the centre Graham was the first man over to shake my hand and congratulate me.   I think the race we had is the best race I have ever had and one I’m sure I will remember forever.   It’s certainly been a talking point between the two of us since!

Just before I sign off for another week, I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes last weekend.   I had a really brilliant weekend in London.  One with no cars involved at all!  It made a welcome change trading my life in the country for a couple of manic days in the city!

Thanks for reading.

Until next time.

Mikey

Stickers, snow and spelling mistakes!

I learnt a valuable lesson today - I’m not cut out to be a signwriter!   Jay came across to put the stickers on a couple of our work vehicles and do the Hot Rod whilst he was at it.   I was given the role of assistant . . . and a string of disasters followed.   Firstly I managed to put a sticker on the door of the van only to find it wasn’t level.  Next I cut some Demon Tweeks stickers out wrong and ended up with a sticker that said ‘Demon Demon’ and another saying ‘Tweeks Tweeks’!    Neither of these minor brain fade incidents however came close to my next ‘faux pas’.   Jay had made a fluorescent yellow sticker advertising our new website to stick on the side skirt.   He stuck it on and we were admiring it and commenting on how nice it looked when it hit us - I had managed to give Jay the wrong  web address and the nice new sticker read “.com” and not “.co.uk”  as it should have!   I’ll hold my hand up and admit that I am, as Jay’s girlfriend Sarah called me, “a plank” - and to make it all worse I was wearing a work jumper that quite clearly displayed the correct web address across the chest!   I’m sure this is another one of those moments I’m never going to be allowed to forget for as long as Jay and I are friends.   All joking aside, Jay has done a top job once again and the car looks really smart.

We’ve had quite a hectic week at work, even though 90% of the country ground to a halt because of the snow, and have been a bit lazy when it came to the garage if I’m honest.   We spent a couple of nights out there just finishing bolting the car back together, fitting bonnet pins and things like that.   The diff still hasn’t been changed although it has seen a coat of paint!   We haven’t got round to sorting wheels and tyres yet either but the new outer rims have found their way into the workshop in readiness.   Building wheels is one job I hate doing.   You have to grind all the silicon off the centre of the wheel and it goes everywhere and sticks to everything then takes forever before it comes off!   Then you have to undo what seems like an endless amount of nuts and bolts to remove the damaged section, fit the new one then do them all up again and re-seal them with silicon.   I always manage to get this wrong and usually end up with a wheel that leaks air faster than you can inflate the tyre.   I’m sure the answer to this would be stop bending wheels but what can I say!!

Excuse me for going off topic here but I think this is a pretty cool thing.  One of my dad’s friends runs a rally school, and every year they take the cars to Sweden for 2 months and run the school on the frozen lakes.   They use Evos and Imprezas and the speed the cars are carrying and the amount of grip the studded tyres give them is incredible.   I have just booked up to go and try it in February and am really looking forward to doing something completely different.   My Dad used to rally and I have always fancied driving a rally car - just hope I don’t get lost having to turn in both directions!   Check out the website and watch some of the videos, I think you will be as impressed as I was www.extreme-rally.co.uk

I said I was going to talk about the last few race meetings this time, but I’ve got so carried away with my waffling that if I include it in this instalment it will turn into a novel - I’ll save it for next time when I may have a serious hang over after celebrating my 21^st in London with some friends next weekend.

Just before I go I want to say thanks to my mum, who is both my proof reader and critic and spends quite a lot of time each week reading through this and correcting all my spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.   My spelling is horrific and without her this would barely be legible.

Thanks again for tuning into my last blog before I turn into a mature and sensible 21 year old!  (not likely…).

Until next time

Mikey

The Garage Life

After spending the last two winters doing pretty major car building projects - with the complete rebuild of the old Saxo over winter ‘08 then the building of the new Tigra last winter - we decided that this year we are going to slow down a bit and not do anything too major.   I’m racing in the Live Action Arena at the Autosport  Show so this means the car needs to be ready to roll in the middle of January rather than March.    I love the Autosport Show and have been every year for as long as I can remember.   Having the car on Haird’s stand last year when it was brand new was a bit of a dream come true, and to be given the chance to race there this year is cool and something I’m really looking forward to, although I have heard grip is limited to say the least in there!

The day after the last meeting at Hednesford we unloaded the car into the workshop and spent the next couple of evenings stripping off the wings and rear panels.    Ross has been helping as usual and I also managed to rope my friend Neil who has been staying with us (whilst building our new websites for work) to come out and clean all the tyres with the heat gun, ready to be stored somewhere warm till March.

It’s been quite a slow pace in the workshop if I’m honest, with just an hour here and there and none of the rush feeling that you get when working on the car during the months when racing is in full swing.   A lot of time has been spent just chatting or having a beer looking back at the highs and lows of last season.    The iPod speakers have managed to find their way out there too and Ross’s vast comedy collection is providing hours of entertainment as we work!

When the panels were removed the car was pushed outside and we set about it with a sponge, some soapy water and the pressure washer, and washed a year’s worth of grime off the chassis and running gear.   A couple of the panels needed minor repairs so I thought I’d put the composites skills I learnt at college to good use and attempt to sort them out.   This was a decision I regretted the next morning when I returned to the garage to admire my handiwork - only to find I had used some hardener that failed to harden!   Three days later when it was still tacky (tacky being a bit of an understatement) the heat gun was put into play and I spent at least half an hour before work, attempting to get the damn stuff to go hard.

Some of the panels were beyond repair and after a quick call to Mark at Boss Panels I had some new ones delivered to work the next day.   After spending two seasons really struggling to get panels for the Saxo, it’s great being able to make a call and get strong, well made panels - most of which are pre- drilled ready to fit - delivered straight to us.   The fact that Boss will repair the damaged ones is a great advantage too and I’m going to send all the damaged ones we’ve collected over the year back for refurbishing so we have some spares ready for next year.

Terry has the panels at the moment so they can be painted and I have ordered all the new stickers from Jay.    He is scheduled to come down on the 5th of Dec. to stick them on, so obviously the panels need to be painted and re-fitted by then.    I’ve said before but both Terry and Jay are brilliant at what they do and never fail to do what I think is an absolutely first class job when it comes to making the car look great.

Once the stickers are on, it’s a matter of changing the diff, after we have fitted the new pinion oil seal that Wayne Lee has sent down for us - cheers Wayne!   We need to build up some wheels to make a straight set (we seem to have had a lot of casualties in the wheel department this year) and find some old wets to use in the Live Action Arena.   Then all that’s left is a bit of elbow grease from the cleaning and polishing department!

In truth things are a little quiet at the moment.  In hindsight I should have started doing this earlier in the year when there was more than enough excitement to keep you riveted, but I’ll try and come up with something a bit more thrilling for next time, maybe a bit of a review from the last few meetings.   That’s if I ever stop itching from all the fibreglass dust!

Thanks again for reading.

Mikey

The Beginning

The racing bug first bit me in the summer of 1997 as a seven year old boy, when I went with my Dad to a meeting that his Company was sponsoring at our local track -  Standlake Arena.   After a chat with the event organiser, the meeting interval saw me sitting in with one of the racers doing my first laps of a race track.    I don’t know how fast we went - not very is my guess but that was it for me – from that day I wanted to race and my tenth birthday and a Mini couldn’t come quickly enough!

My first driving experienced followed shortly after this.    It was a Saturday afternoon and my Grandfather, my Dad and I took the mile trip between our yard and my Grandfather’s farm in our work van, a petrol Transit, that ironically caught fire and burnt out whilst doing this same trip a few years later!    I pestered my Dad constantly all the way there and begged him to let me drive the van down the farm driveway.   Reluctantly he gave in.   The seat was moved as far forward as it would go and Dad “ran through the basics” with me, and then with a lot of jerking and stalling we were off.  The driving had begun!

As my tenth birthday loomed a smashed Mini was bought and sat in the yard ready for racing prep to begin.    Meanwhile my other Grandad lent us a Mini that was driveable and we headed off to an old airfield so I could get some practice.    Dad and I spent many Saturday afternoons driving round and round at varying speeds, practising gear changes,  spinning the wheels, and generally having a blast ‘learning to drive’ !    Looking back it was more akin to rallycross than oval racing!

The Mini was built over the winter of 1999/2000 and painted in bright yellow with black arches and my name and numbers big and bold for all to see.   That was it we were ready to go racing - or so I thought!     We had the van all loaded and the trailer hitched up and the only job remaining was to load the car.   I got in, started the engine, pressed the clutch and crunch no first gear!   I thought the end of the world had come and I was never going to race.  Dad however had other ideas and the engine was quickly out of the other mini and bolted into the race car ready for the Sunday.

This time we really were ready and off we went racing.   I’ll add now that a mini at Standlake might as well have been F1 at Monaco to a ten year old!   The novices all had to have passengers sitting with them at first while they got used to racing so my Dad got strapped in besides me and the first race got underway.   Dad always says he loved sitting in the car with me and I wonder if he would say the same after sitting in the passenger side though a hard fought National Hot Rod final at Ipswich or the likes.    It’s a long time ago now and I don’t clearly remember what happened in the race but I wasn’t the bravest of ten year olds and it can’t have been too awful or I would have loaded up and never wanted to race again.

From this point on racing became my life and I had six fantastic years racing minis around the south of the country.   I made some brilliant friends, a lot of who I’m still in contact with now and I won several championships.   I’m sure to talk and reminisce a lot more about my Mini racing days over the coming weeks - I could literally spend hours talking about them.

So there we go - that’s how it all started for me.   I’ll be back soon with another instalment where I’ll bring you right up to date with what’s happening in the workshop at the moment.

Thanks for reading

Mikey

Intro...

I’ve been thinking about writing a blog for ages, just as a way of putting my thoughts and opinions into words.   Seeing as my life revolves around my hobby (if you could call it a hobby at all - I think addiction is a much better term) it seemed only right that the focus of these writings be about racing, National Hot Rods to be precise.

To begin with I’m a scrap man not an academic so please excuse any bad grammar, incorrect spellings and what will no doubt be a lot of pointless ramblings as I explain things from my point of view.    I’m sure this won’t be of any interest to most of you after all I’m not a world champion or a multi race winner - I’m just a young guy out there doing what I love and having an absolute blast doing it!  

I have and always will see the whole point of racing to be enjoyment.   It’s only a hobby and win or lose you have to enjoy being out there.   I enjoy the social side as much as the racing itself and have made the best friends from all walks of life and all corners of our country.   Take my best friend John for example.   He lives well over 400 miles and a six hour car journey away up near Edinburgh.  We have had some brilliant laughs and really great times that I wouldn’t change for the world.   Had it not been for our love of racing we wouldn’t know each other - and my liver would probably be a great deal healthier!   One thing I have learnt about racing folk whether they are English, Irish, Scottish or from any other country is that we all seem to enjoy the odd beer or two!   Yes I have shared hangovers with lots of the other drivers out there although some of them will never admit that they actually felt that rough!

My racing revolves around my dad, my friend Ross and myself working most nights until stupid o’clock  out in our workshop at home.   I always pride myself on having a nice car and we spend many hours checking it over and doing all the necessary repairs and changes from meeting to meeting.   Some of these repairs are often quite extensive. . . . . . . . especially after run-ins with the Hednesford  Armco!

I’m going to try and use this blog to share all my pains, joys, highs and lows, keep you informed about what I’m doing in the present and also delve into my past racing exploits with stories from behind the wheel, behind the safety fence and as I mentioned before quite often behind the pint glass!

Before I get in too deep I just want to take a paragraph and thank a few people who make my racing possible.    Firstly my parents - my dad for the countless hours he puts into the car both at home and at the track and my mum for putting up with ‘being a garage widow’, the unsociable hours we keep and for all her loyal support!   Secondly thanks to the rest of my family for  their support too;  my friend Ross for his garage hours and the laughs we have along the way;  Terry for always making sure the paint is perfect and always being willing to help at short notice and to Jay for his sign work and technical advice!    Also a very big thank you to David and Lesley Haird who listened when I arrived at their house saying I was going to buy a new car then putting up with and supporting me all the way through!   David is a truly great man and Hot Rod racing would definitely suffer without his involvement.  Thanks to a great many other people (too many to mention individually) who have encouraged and helped me and restored my faith when I have been ready to quit.   Finally thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this whether you like what I’m saying or not!
I hope some of you at least will keep reading what I have to say - please feel free to ‘pass comment’ and tell me what you think!

Mikey