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