Festive greetings

Well here we are, Christmas again.  Another year older and wiser but I’m certainly no richer or any more sensible than I was 12 months ago - although I certainly have plenty more stories to tell!

The spare panels for the car are repaired and painted in a nice shiny white and have been put back onto the car.  After seeing it blue for so long it looks strange painted a different colour.  The ‘Ghostly Hot Rod’ as my Mum called it!  The white is only the beginning though and the rest is down to Jay at TPR Signs.  It will be interesting to see what his creative genius can come up with.  I have no idea what it will be yet but I have complete faith in him and I can’t wait to see the end result.

As it was my birthday, it seemed rude to go to Ipswich and not sample the night life.  So, complete with the international traveler Lee Best, we headed off with the car to drop it off at TPR Signs and then see what the evening would bring.  It turned into quite the racer’s night out . . . current drivers being represented by Kym Weaver, Shaun Taylor, Danny Fiske, myself, ex-Hot Rod racer Jay and some circuit racing fella by the name of Gavin Murray - but I doubt anyone really remembers him?  Lots of our other friends and regular faces from racing came along to celebrate, including Mr Ipswich himself Andrew Bigmore (I hope this little mention means he’ll forgive me for uploading a very festive picture of him on to Facebook earlier this week?).

It was a good night and a great way to celebrate my birthday.  A few too many beers were drunk and a bottle of champagne was involved somewhere along the line, something to do with Mr Weaver I’m sure!  It’s always great to see everyone away from the track and the pressures of racing and to just sit back and have a laugh.  The social side will always be a big part of it for me, and the day when it gets to the point I have no-one to enjoy a pint with or a midweek chat is the day I will hang my helmet up for good and head off with my fishing rods in search of a new challenge!

Besty had never been to Wimbledon so the next day we headed off into the city to see what Plough Lane had to offer on a cold December evening.  Not being a huge fan of spectating I wasn’t expecting too much, but after seeing so many familiar faces and catching up with so many people I had a great night.  Will I be going in November for the Best in Britain?  Well, the wire scares me but I’m never one to miss out on an opportunity to do something different, so yes, you can expect to see the #27 make the trip into the capital just once!

Believe it or not, once the car is back we have very little to do for the show; the biggest job is also my least favourite - sorting out the wheels.  If all goes to plan we should have three evenings to do it when it’s back after New Year but judging by our usual standards of disorganised chaos we will be loading it five minutes before we need to leave for the show!

I’m planning on a nice chilled out Christmas at home before heading up to Scotland to celebrate New Year.  I want to extend a massive congratulations to John and Kylie on the exciting news that they are expecting a baby next year!    This might be our last chance to party for a while, and I know it won’t go to waste!

I don’t really have any sort of plan for racing next year, I’m going to keep going as I am and enjoy it.  We want to change a few things with the car and see what they do.  I plan to get up to Scotland and do as many meetings as I can, and I really fancy a trip out to Tipperary if time and budget allow.

I’d like to wish you Happy Christmas and all the best for 2015 - I’m hoping good old Santa will bring something to help me find an extra two tenths of a second a lap!   I’ll be back after the NEC to let you know how that goes for me.  If every other year has been anything to go by there will be lots of memories made and great stories to tell.

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey

One Last Road Trip

It’s a cold, dark Saturday evening and there isn’t any racing on or a beer in sight.  Another year has flown past and it seems like only a few months since we stepped off the plane in South Africa to kick off this year’s racing.  Now the season has finished and the car is looking very naked in the garage as preparations for the Autosport Show get under way.

The English season didn’t really finish the way I would have hoped, and after another meeting seemingly dominated by politics rather than racing, we left Hednesford with a straight car but not many points.  The first race started disastrously with a crash after the first lap leaving me stuck up against the inside kerb with no damage but unable to move due to being boxed in by cars.  A yellow flag eventually saw me able to get going again but by now I was right at the back of the grid.  This is where I stayed for the remainder of the race.  The second heat and final were pretty uneventful too but I finished both without incident and scraped a handful of points.  I’ve enjoyed racing at Hednesford recently and had hoped for a good meeting - but never mind, that’s racing!

A few weeks earlier during a trip to Scotland I’d said that as long as the car was in one piece I’d head up and race the last meeting of the season at Lochgelly.  Not one to go back on my word the car was loaded onto the trailer and I began the long, yet very familiar trip up the M6.  What started as a lovely Saturday morning quickly turned into a very wet and miserable Saturday afternoon, so after a quick change of tow vehicle - to John’s trusty old Sprinter (to ensure we had somewhere dry to sit) - we set off to do some racing.  Recently I have really struggled in the wet both with the car and confidence so it’s fair to say I was pretty nervous.

I decided to make several changes to the car and want to thank all my friends who worked in the rain and helped me.  I always struggle at meetings without my Dad and I really appreciated all the help!  As soon as it was ready I headed out to practice and instantly knew I’d made the right decision as the car felt better than it has in the wet for a very long time - so already the trip had proved worthwhile.

Despite the truly horrible weather it turned into one of the best night’s racing I have had for a long time.  Thirteen cars were present for the meeting and along with Tam Rutherford, and Robert McDonald who was out giving John’s car a run, I started at the back of the grid.  It didn’t start very well though with me getting a little carried away on the first warm-up lap and spinning off into the infield!

The car was good in the race though and I managed to stay on pace for the whole race.  The weather hadn’t improved for the next heat but Terry Hunn had made a couple of changes to my car which improved it again and I found myself getting round a few cars and finishing seventh.  As we lined up for the final I was really looking forward to my last race of 2014 and it didn’t disappoint.  I will actually go all out and put it up there as one of the most enjoyable races I’ve ever had.  It was pretty hectic from the off and luck just seemed to be on my side as I managed to miss all the action, even finding myself up into third place with four laps to go.  Robert, and Ian Donaldson had other ideas about me getting a trophy though and had quickly relegated me back to fifth by the time the chequered flag came out.  I am absolutely determined to beat Robert one day.   I don’t care what it’s in; I just want to beat him!

I would like to thank HRP for making me feel so welcome and putting on such a good firework display (I mean the one in the sky, not during the stoppage in the Hot Rod final, for anyone that was there!).  Also thanks to all my friends for turning out and supporting me, and to John and Kylie for the accommodation!  Scotland really is my second home and I like the Scottish Hot Rod series.  Hopefully fixtures and work will allow me to come back and do some more in 2015.

So that was it, racing for 2014 was done . . . the car was wet and dirty but such an enjoyable night made the trip back to John’s seem much quicker.  An unplanned night out after the racing was a good way to finish the season too.

Once home it was straight back to business and the car was stripped down and the chassis cleaned in readiness for the N.E.C.  We plucked up courage and ventured deep into the garage looking for spare panels, only to find a complete spare kit.  After much fibre-glassing they resemble something usable and have now been dropped off to get a fresh coat of paint.  It’s going to be something a bit different, but we have no idea what yet!

With the car to finish, Christmas rapidly approaching and a weekend in Dublin for my birthday, I think the rest of the year is going to fly by!  I know I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of the 27 machine for what is going to be the car’s sixth season.

I’ll be sure to keep you all updated…

Thanks as ever for reading.

Until next time

Mikey