Getting some more seat time in an F3 Argo JM6 at Thruxton
“ I finally woke up and thought where am I ? I then bought a Formula Ford 2000 from Marcus Pye , an old Lola T580 and I loved that car . After a year in the Lola I thought I ’ d got it all out of my system and thought that ’ s me for motor racing . I ’ d had three years of it .”
However , the desire to race never really went away and several years later he returned to Clubmans to finish second in the B Sport Championship . Into the 1990s he had another foray into Clubmans and then raced a Rover 216 GTI before sampling historics in American V8s owned by Jeff Barley . “ I even did one race in Clive Wood ’ s Formula Ford 2000 in the early 2000s .
“ And then I became a DJ ! I used to DJ in Ibiza every summer and they really liked me . I ended up playing at the Ministry of Sound and all sorts of places . All the doors opened for me : it was amazing . I had a great time for 10 years and we ’ d spend a couple of months In Ibiza each summer . My wife Carine ’ s a bit of a hippie !
He was also keeping fit . “ I ’ ve always been into fitness stuff , Iron Man marathons and ultras and 80 and 100 mile running races and all sorts of silly things . I also got seriously into bike racing .”
However , things changed when he went to watch his old mate Clive Wood racing at Brands last July . “ I ’ ve been mates with Clive right from 1982 . He has been my motor racing guru forever . Up the long hill from Wrotham I was on my motorbike and by the time I got to Brands I ’ d decided I ’ d got to have one final throw of the dice . So I made my decision within two weeks . Formula 2 was what I wanted to do and we bought the car from Nick Fleming .”
The choice of preparer was easy as Lifetime Racing was the first choice . “ I used to race against Dan Eagling ’ s dad Glenn . When , in 1982 , my mate Phil said come racing with us , he said there ’ s a beautifully prepared car from a man called Glenn Eagling . I was always impressed with his work and , and Dan ’ s is equally good . I ’ m lucky that they took me on .
“ I ’ m over the moon that I ’ m not embarrassing myself too much . Most hours of every day I ’ m thinking about what I can do to improve me or improve the car . I bought a PlayStation4 to learn the tracks again . I crash a lot on the PS4 and it ’ s a lot cheaper .”
“ I still run the family business , which is property investment so I don ’ t work overly hard . I ’ ve been very fit for cycling . I sit at home thinking how can I improve me and my cardiovascular fitness . I have to maintain that to be going quicker than the other guys at the end of the race . That ’ s my plan .
“ I have two fantastic sons Hayden and Reece . They used to both race karts against Lewis Hamilton and we did Super One with them . Eventually they decided they wanted to be doing other things . I phoned them up and said : ‘ Look , I want to do this , but it ’ s going to cost a lot of money and it ’ s your inheritance . And they both said go for it .
“ You have to be happy . I do transcendental meditation regularly and this has taught me that happiness is the value of life , the meaning of life . It ’ s everything . We have to live in whatever way it takes for us to make ourselves happy . It ’ s not just our right . It ’ s our duty . When you think about the possibility of us actually being born , we have a gift and it ’ s our duty to try and enjoy our lives . I hope this is the first time I will have ever done a championship year on year . I want to be fairly competitive and if I can squeak in the front half of the field I ’ ll be happy !”
Fifth at Donington , first time out
55