A New Beginning

The first time I watched a Hot Rod race was Spedeweekend 2000.  I was ten years old and from that moment on I knew I wanted to race one.  I had just started racing my Mini, and all through the next six years the thought of turning 16 and being able to get one sat in the back of my mind.

As my 16th grew closer I was racing at Tongham on the dirt one weekend, then at the Oval Race Club in Worthing on the fast concrete track the next, and I couldn’t decide which I enjoyed the most.   The thought of Nationals still seemed something of a far off dream.  Finally we decided that we would do both and a new 2-litre Corsa was ordered - the plan was to have it with two sets of suspension points so we could run struts to race on the dirt but be able to swap it over to wishbones at a later date if we changed plans.

As with all the best laid plans, this is not how it turned out!  My Dad happened to be talking to Robin Pickett one day and he mentioned that he was thinking of selling his car, one he’d been running in Nationals.  It was his old SHP 205 that had been rebuilt and re-panelled as a Saxo.   He only lives an hour or so away from us, and we arranged to go over and have a look one Saturday afternoon.   When we got there and saw the car I pretty much fell in love with it straight away, a National was like everything I had ever dreamed of and here we were looking at buying one!

The deal was done and several weeks later it sat surrounded by Minis in our workshop.    Even though we had the car we never considered racing it in Nationals straight away, and we obviously couldn’t race it on the dirt either, so we decided to keep on racing at Worthing.   I had just won the ‘Junior’ and the ‘Overall Points’ championships there, and at the time they had several quite quick Hot Rods blasting round in the open Hot Rod class, so that seemed the best thing to do.

The car sat in the garage through the winter and we gradually sold off the Minis that I’d spent the past six years racing.   I’d loved every second of racing them and was sad to see them go, but at the same time it felt like a new chapter was beginning, and I was excited about getting out there and driving the new car.

A  Hot Rod is a lot bigger than a Mini so the chances of it fitting into the little box trailer we’d been using were less than zero - this meant that the first few times we went out testing we had to try and load it onto the back of one of the work trucks. . . this involved scaffold planks, numerous other bits of wood and quite often a lot of swearing on Dad’s part! 

I’ll never forget the first time I drove the car.  We had arranged to go and practice at the track in Worthing.  It’s a long track on a hill with a big flowing corner at the top that you could take flat out in a Mini, and a really tight one at the bottom that you really had to brake hard to get round.  It’s relatively wide and according to most people very bumpy.  I never used to notice the bumps though, having spent so long bouncing around on the dirt!   When I set off in the car the power and speed just blew me away - it was completely different to a Mini and I couldn’t get enough of it.  I loved the rear wheel drive and was over the moon that I managed to keep it pointing the right way without spinning it all day!   We practiced several more times before the start of the season and as I got faster the spins did start to become more frequent.

As it was an open Hot Rod class, they ran it on a handicap system with the smaller engine front wheel drive cars at the front, and the space-framed rear wheel drive cars at the back.  I remember starting my first race just ahead of a National-spec Fiesta and next to a V8 powered Astra.   To say they got an assortment of cars would be an understatement.   Like I’ve said before I’m not very good at remembering what happens in races but I know I crossed the line third - just behind the Fiesta!

We spent all season racing there and learning about the car and how to make it quicker.    At the end of the season we finished second, and although there had never been more than 15 cars a meeting, I was still really pleased with the result and we decided to head back the next year and try and win it.

The next year saw a few less cars racing at each round but the ones that were coming were the quicker rear-wheel drive machines.  I was starting right at the back now, and getting though to the front was becoming more of a challenge.    However by mid-season we found ourselves at the top of the points!

We had been talking about doing something different the next season and thought we would go and try a couple of outlaw meetings at Arena Essex on Saturday nights.   Racing under the lights was a whole new thing for me and I found the atmosphere to be almost electric.  I still love racing under lights now, the darkness seems to amplify all your feelings and sharpen your senses.  I enjoyed the couple of meetings I did but didn’t want to get too involved because winning the Worthing points was still at the front of my mind.

I remember one meeting Dickie Burtenshaw - who had won the points several times previously and is a bit of a local legend down there - turned up out of the blue to race.  He literally stuck right on my bumper for every lap of every race but I managed to keep him at bay and win the final.   I still view it as one of my best races to date. There is a photo of us on the pace car in our kitchen!

At the end of the season we found ourselves still at the top of the points chart and started thinking about what to do the following year. We got chatting to Bill Bourne who told us about the new one-tyre rule in Nationals, and how Hoosiers were actually a bit cheaper than Avons!  Maybe at last racing Nationals was something we could consider.

A few weeks and a couple of phone calls later found me holding a provisional licence for the following year.   Eight years since the first time I had watched them I would find myself out there racing one!

My first National meeting is a story in itself, and one I will no doubt share at some point!    On a more recent note though, I have just spent the weekend out testing the Tigra and I’ll tell you all about that next week.

Thanks as ever for reading.

Mikey

The calm before the storm!

This is all too organised for us!  It’s still a month to go before the racing starts and the car is sitting in the garage under a sheet ready to go . . .  well, with the exception of a quick diff change and ten minutes on the scales!   Everything is normally a last minute ‘super rush’ the week before the first meeting, usually resulting in very little sleep, but this year it WILL be different!

The plan is to get everything sorted and go out and do some testing next week at the Haird test day, then head off to the Ipswich practice night the day after.     I am really happy with the car but we just want to make sure everything is right so we don’t get to the first meeting to find any major problems.  Testing always lets you try the things you wouldn’t try at a meeting, if it doesn’t work then you can change it back without any consequence - whereas at a meeting it could result in a last place or a non-finish.   I’m a believer in “If it’s not broken don’t fix it”, but then in the same breath I think you need to try things and develop the car.  By trying different things you build up knowledge of just what effect changing things has on the car.    It also gives you the opportunity to drive the car a bit differently or run different lines that you couldn’t in a race.   I must admit though, it’s nice being in a situation where the I know the car is good and have settings we can go back to if I’m not happy with any changes made.   There is nothing worse than going with a problem then leaving at the end of the day having not cured it.

Just because the car hasn’t needed any work we haven’t been sitting quietly watching telly!  We have started the major task of clearing out the workshop.   My dad is a bit of a ‘collector’ to say the least and whenever he sees something he thinks might be useful it finds its way into a tray or a draw in the workshop, and after 12 years, it’s fair to say everything was bursting at the seams.   After throwing away two van loads of rubbish and buying some new cupboards to hide everything that’s left, we now have a tidy workshop.    It looks twice as big and we have a pile of things to sell on eBay!   Ross has set about painting the walls on his days off and I’m going to sort all the nuts, bolts, washers etc, into their own trays so we can find them easily.   Dad has PROMISED to keep things tidy, although I find this hard to believe!

Once we have finished the workshop all attention is being turned to the lorry.   We started to build it many years ago and although it gets us to the meetings, albeit with the occasional breakdown, it has never actually been finished.   It’s just the fiddly jobs that need doing now - like lining all the walls and sorting out the heating.   Hopefully we’ll get round to giving the poor thing its yearly wash and removing all the grime that seems to accumulate everywhere over the winter.   It still has lots of spares for the Saxo in there too, so maybe it’s time we took them out!

Racing really is an obsession for us and even when we’re not racing or working on the car we find ourselves doing things that are directly related to it.    Once it’s in your blood I think it’s very hard to get rid of it.   I can’t imagine a life without going racing. . . I wouldn’t have any of the friends I do or have done half the things I’ve done.   I still love it today just as much as the first time I raced and think I get more of a buzz from it now than ever before.   It’s crazy to think that I have been racing for over half my life having started in my little mini when I was ten.    I’m very fortunate to have a family and friends who are so dedicated to it as well. . . and my mum really is  ‘Saint Helen’ for putting up with dad and me.    We live and breathe racing and never once does she moan.   So thanks mum!

I don’t have any more news to report this week because - as the title suggests - it really is the calm before the storm while we wait for it all to start again.    I will be back and tell you about the couple of seasons I spent racing open Hot Rods before making the move to Nationals.

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey

A Scandinavian Weekend.

Last weekend saw my long awaited trip to Sweden to try my hand at a winter rally school - and I can tell you that it was completely awesome.  The whole thing is run by a guy called Martin, a lifelong friend of my dad and his old co-driver from his rallying days.   It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time as I’ve always been into rallying, so this year I thought ‘why not’ and booked to fly out and try.

The flight out only took a couple of hours but the transfer from the airport back to the house took nearly five.   It would have been miles quicker had it not been for the locals all driving nearly identical Volvo estates with roof pods on at no more than 40 kilometres an hour.   They all head out skiing at the weekends and unfortunately followed the exact same route that we needed to take.

Rather than stay in the hotel on my own, Martin invited me and another of his friends to go and stay at the house with him and the guys he had out there working with him.   The house had belonged to an elderly couple and when the husband died the old lady just walked out and left the house and all her belongings behind, so everywhere you looked you could see reminders of the house’s past - even down to food in the cupboards and clothes in the bedrooms.    It was a great atmosphere in the house with everyone just sitting down that evening for a few beers and a chat before heading off to bed for an early night.

When I woke up the next morning it gave me my first glimpse of Sweden in the daylight and all I can say is lots of snow . . . . measured in feet rather than inches.   It’s funny how when we get an inch of snow the country grinds to a halt yet here they had two foot plus and just carry on like nothing has happened.   The sun was rising just as I got up and it’s fair to say the scenery was pretty spectacular.

 The lake was about a kilometre away from the house and we headed down there quite early so they could get everything sorted out.   The lake itself is about 2 miles long and is frozen with 80cm of ice from Christmas until the beginning of April.  Through the snow on the top they have carved two small practice stages and a larger 2 kilometre stage around the edge.    Out of seven cars they had with them they took four to the lake that day, two Mitsubishi Evos and two Subaru Imprezas.   They are all proper rally cars and were running studded tyres for grip on the lake.

There were only four people going out on the ice that day and two instructors so it meant we had more runs than you would normally get.   My instructor was a guy called Wattie from Berwick on Tweed, and we headed out for our first run on one of the practice stages in one of the Evos whilst another guy headed off to the other stage with the Subaru.

When you first get onto the ice you are blown away by how much grip you have – it’s completely different from driving on snow at home.    Added to the fact we were driving on a lake and that I had never driven a four wheel drive car - or anything like the Evo at all - I spent the first session being very erratic, throwing the car from one awkward sideways to another with far too much speed and far too much lock with my arms spending most of the time crossed completely.   Somehow I survived and didn’t get stuck in the snow bank.

As each session went by I started to get more confidence in the car and holding the slides and using the power to pull you round the bends.  Wattie was great and told you just when to brake, when to put the power down and when to set the car up into a slide.  He was genuinely pleased when you got it right and I was really trying my best as I didn’t want to disappoint him.   There was a lot to think about and it was genuinely really hard.   I loved it though, and the feeling of holding the slide is brilliant.

At midday we stopped for a bit of lunch before returning to the lake to do some ice karting.   Like the cars the karts have studs in the tyres, and you race them round a really tight triangle shape track with a nasty chicane on one of the straights.   It was more like stock cars than go karts with someone ending up spun or in the snow bank on every bend.   You could really get the karts sideways and carry  some speed – it was a really good laugh!

Once we’d finished trying to kill each other it was back in the cars to take to the big stage.   At over two kilometres with several hairpins and some 90 degree bends it really gave you a feel of proper rallying.   Wattie was telling me to brake with my left foot so I could set the car up into a slide and keep the power down at the same time, this was like starting everything again after 12 years of racing and braking with my right foot to suddenly start using the left was really difficult!   You could see the advantages instantly though with the car literally dancing and flowing from bend to bend.

We did five runs in the afternoon followed by a passenger ride.   To sit next to Wattie was a real experience; he did everything so much quicker than me, and had the car sliding through the entire stage barely pointing in a straight line once!

After what I can safely say was one of the best days of my life it was back to the house for a few more beers and some serious games of cards.    I drove one of the cars back from the lake.  It was nearly dark and with all the spot lights reflecting off the snow and trees lining the road on each side it was a great experience.

It was up early again the next morning to go out snowmobiling before the long drive back to the airport.    We covered approx. 60 kilometres on a snowmobile in about an hour.   Flat out they did 103 kph, and with the wind and snow blowing in your face it was absolutely freezing!   They were some serious machines though and a great way to admire the scenery.    Once back at the minibus and changed ready to go home I managed to walk through a snowdrift that almost came up to my waist, leaving me freezing cold for the next five hours!

I know this blog hasn’t been about Hot Rods, but as we’re on a winter break not much is happening anyway, and as you obviously have an interest in cars and racing I thought you might find this worthy of a read.  I really can’t recommend it enough.   I learnt so much in the short time I was there and enjoyed every minute of it.   Can’t wait to go back next year!

Thanks as ever for reading.  I’ll try and bring you right up to date with what’s been happening in my racing world next week.

Until then…

Mikey

Twenty Ten (part 2)

After Skegness we were sitting just outside of the top 18, and qualifying would have been very hard - but possible.   We went into the last meeting at Northampton and I drove awfully!   The car was good, everything else was fine, but for some reason my head wasn’t in it.   Don’t ask me why - I have no idea - but my driving was dreadful.    I think I managed to annoy everyone that day.  Dad and I fell out, and I got more and more frustrated with myself as the day went on.   With the dropped scores taken into account, I left the day in about the same position as I started it.   Another year that we wouldn’t be doing the world final!

The evening before we leave for Spedeweekend it’s our local Motor Show, and every year we take some advertising boards, leaflets, a few vehicles from work - as well as the Hot Rod - and put them on display.   It works quite well really as it means we only have to polish the car once!   Because I was flat out at work, my friends Ross and Neil spent two days cleaning and polishing both my Hot Rod and my Dad’s Sierra Cosworth, making them both look like new.   The Cosworth hadn’t seen the light of day for ten years so you can imagine the polishing needed there.    We had a great night and all went back to my house for pizza and a few beers.   Whilst the rest of us were away enjoying Spedeweekend, Ross was stuck at home with food poisoning he got from the pizza . . . not a home-made one I should just add, so my Mum’s off the hook.

About a week before Spedeweekend I had a phone call from Graham Brown telling me that the two guys in front of me in the points wouldn’t be racing at the weekend and if there were any ‘no shows’ or drop-outs from the world final grid before signing on closed on the Saturday, then I would be called upon as first reserve.   It wouldn’t have been the same as qualifying in our own right, but it still filled us with a bit of hope for a place in the big race.   We fitted four new slicks just in case, and had everything ready should the opportunity arise.   Sadly it didn’t.

We spent the weekend enjoying the support races and the car was going well.    I managed to qualify for the Best In Britain on Sunday which I was really pleased about as it was the first time I had qualified for anything.   The grid positions were pulled out of a hat and I think I managed to pull something like row 14 outside.    Basically this meant I was starting at the back!   I finished somewhere near the back too but I was happy as it was the first Spedeweekend we’ve been to where the car didn’t end up going home held together with tape and suspicious looking bits of aluminium!

The first round of the year was at Birmingham and because I’d scored quite a few points at the last couple of rounds, we found ourselves with the highest average and starting stone dead last!   If I’m honest, I really enjoyed this.   I love Birmingham anyway and found myself under so much less pressure starting at the back.   I picked my way through some cars in the heats to score a few points but just missed out on qualifying for the final.

From this point things went downhill very quickly!   National Weekend was brilliant on the social front but the racing was a complete disaster.   We had brake problems all weekend and I was really off the pace every race.   Added to this our lorry has a nasty habit of breaking down on the hill into the track every year.   As soon as my dad turns the truck off and leaves us to head back to work it always refuses to start!  This year was no exception and the next hour was spent spraying ‘Easy Start’ into the air intake as the queue of people behind got ever more frustrated.   Andy Holtby came to the rescue and removed the stop control to get us running but it meant you had to stall it to turn it off.    We still haven’t changed it to this day...

The next few meetings following National Weekend are probably the worst and most expensive meetings I’ve ever had.   We picked up serious damage for three meetings in a row, and after the last Ipswich meeting I was ready to quit!   Something I’m very glad I didn’t do.   I think with the exception of the roof and one door we replaced every panel over 2 months.   The car was back on the jig and we bent two axles and numerous other parts including several steering wheels! 

After deciding to repair the car and keep racing we went and had the almost perfect end to 2010, which I’ve spoken about in previous weeks, a heat and final double along with a second at Birmingham and two 5ths and a 4th at Hednesford the following week.   This sees us currently sitting 18th in what can only be described as a seriously close points chart - and I’m sure the hard work of qualifying for my first world final is only just beginning.

So that brings us to the end of 2010’s racing.  With the 2011 season just around the corner I think Nationals are at the best they’ve been in years; massive grids of cars and everything being so equal, and I’m proud to say that I’m part of it.  I really would love to qualify for the world final this year, but - as so many are so quick to forget - it’s only a hobby, a very expensive time consuming one at that! And I’m not going to let one race take over my life for the next 6 months.

I’ll be back next week with my adventures from Sweden.

Thanks for reading

Mikey