FEATURE : JONATHAN LEWIS
In at the muddy end
In the historic racing world , Jonathan Lewis needs little introduction as a racer and team owner . But he recently ventured out of his comfort zone to try his hand in historic sporting trials . Paul Lawrence found out more .
Sam and Jonathan Lewis
The day improved
After a couple of false starts due to COVID cancellations , Jonathan finally made a belated debut at Long Compton in mid-May . “ I always wanted to do it and I always wanted to do something where my wife Sam and I could compete together ,” he said . “ I always thought of it as a winter sport . We bought the car ages ago but COVID came along and we ’ ve entered more trials than we ’ ve done .” Before the start at Long Compton , he admitted that the event was a journey into the unknown . “ This is our first one . We don ’ t know what we ’ re doing , where we ’ re going or how to do it . The Cannon will probably be on Ebay tomorrow !”
The Cannon is , as expected , immaculate . “ The Cannon was in pretty good condition when I got it . We ’ ve just tinkered with it and Micky Galter has fiddled with it . It was a complete and running car and the reason I went for it was that I wanted an A series engine , because I don ’ t understand Ford sidevalve engines .”
Jonathan wisely visited Ian Wright for some tuition . “ I went to Ian place last October and we had a day in his playground . It was an eye opener but we both came away really looking forward to the trial a few weeks later but it was cancelled . There is a lot to it .”
This wasn ’ t his first experience of competing away from asphalt and he admitted that Norfolk is not the ideal county for someone keen to climb hills . “ I was an autograsser in my early days , so I ’ m used to mud . I learnt to drive in a field as a kid . Having a car like this in Norfolk is like having a mountain bike or a sledge , it ’ s a waste of time . But I don ’ t mind travelling , I ’ m used to it .”
Five hours and 21 hills later , the smile was still there . “ We finished and were only covered in a small amount of cow
dung . It was hard to start with , really hard , when it was wet . Even though I ’ d been to Ian Wright and had some training , I ’ d forgotten everything he said .
“ It was only when I heard someone say ‘ he ’ s blipping ’ that I remembered Ian saying that I was a blipper . That ’ s probably from racing in Minis . So I stopped blipping the throttle and stopped revving and drove completely differently to how I ’ m used to driving and I started to get further up the hills . I even cleaned a couple of hills so I was pleased with that .
“ We ’ ll 100 % do it again . It was good fun and Sam was asking when the next one is .
I enjoyed it a lot . It ’ s a great sport and it ’ s nice to be doing something where you ’ re not thinking he ’ s got something better than I have . All he ’ s got is more skill . It was very demoralising watching Ian Wright get all these zeroes but we ’ ll definitely be back !”
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Getting the Cannon muddy