MX-5 Silverstone 2021

So much for the glorious sunshine of early June. As we approached the Silverstone meeting in the BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship, things were not looking too promising. Thunderstorms and heavy rain were threatening. After a solid start to the season at Croft, I was looking for some top five finishes.  Testing and qualifying The test day on the Friday proved to be a truly testing one. With four sessions planned through the day, the weather gradually got worse during the three morning sessions. Visibility was close to zero. I and several members of the AB Motorsport team decided it wasn’t worth the risk of wreckingRead More →

2021 BRSCC Croft MX5 Championship

After the frustrations of the COVID-19 affected 2020 season, it was great to get back on track at Croft Circuit for 2021. Sadly, the March and April Silverstone and Snetterton meetings were cancelled, but some reworking of the schedule means that we have a seven meeting season with 21 races. And, there’s a new format for the 2021 BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship with the introduction of BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Clubman Championship for the less experienced (i.e. slower than yours truly). The new format means bigger grids for most of the races. 40 cars provides plenty of action and no doubt the occasional challenges of passingRead More →

BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship - Silverstone 2020

In 2020, Covid-19 changed everything, and for those of us who are passionate about racing, it meant a great deal of frustration. A racing season in the BRSCC MX-5 Championship that was meant to consist of eight race meetings and 24 races ended up being just four race meetings and 8 shorter races. So, I’m keeping my race summaries short for these final races. Let’s hope we can get back to a “nearly normal” for 2021. Silverstone in September My performance in qualifying continued to impress – a 5th fastest time, just 0.33 secs off the best time put me in a good position forRead More →

Donington Park Mx-5 Championship Start

More Covid-19 enforced rules came into play at Donington Park – separate enclosures for drivers, pit crew and spectators and no mixing between the two. Once again, in qualifying, I put in an excellent performance, finishing in fourth fastest, and putting me on the second row of the grid for the first race. Could I convert this into a race finish on the track? I must start better! And once again, my race start wasn’t the greatest! Off the grid, I lost six places and dropped down to tenth on the first lap. I pulled back a couple of places, fairly quickly and was makingRead More →

BRSCC MX-5 at Cadwell Park

The Mazda MX-5 Championship finally got off to a start on 1st and 2nd of August at one of my favourite circuits, Cadwell Park. Due to Covid-19, four of the season’s race weekends have been cancelled, meaning that I won’t get to race at Anglesey, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Croft. And the shortened season means that many of the championships are being crammed into the available tracks. So, fewer races and shorter races for the rest of the season. A bright start to Cadwell The packed timetable meant only 15 minutes for qualifying and only two 15 minute races. On a bright, sunny day, qualifyingRead More →

Racing Simulator

So, every aspect of what we do has been impacted by COVID-19. And for an aspiring race driver with a need for speed that’s very frustrating when you’ve been looking forward to your third season in the BRSCC MX-5 Championship. Faced with no chance of hitting the track for some months, what was I to do. Furloughed from my role at JZM Porsche, sitting at home watching some classic races on YouTube, how could I fill my time? Well, the plus side of cancelled race meetings is that the racing budget looks pretty healthy. And the savings on all those cancelled meetings got me thinking….Read More →

Maxda MX-5 race preparation

The BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship 2020 will get underway on 21st March 2020. The first race weekend takes place at Silverstone, Northamptonshire and it will be the start of my third season in the Mazda MX-5 Mk1. But, before the racing can begin there is some work that needs to be done on the car… bodywork and in the workshop. You don’t compete in a year of competitive racing without picking up some wear and tear. Car Magic work their magic Having a car body repair specialist such as Car Magic, based in Chesham, as a sponsor is a real bonus for me. They’re alwaysRead More →

BRSCC Clubsport Donington 2019

With the BRSCC MX-5 Championship over for the season, it was time to pitch my skills in a mixed class race. The BRSCC Clubsport Trophy race, held on the Donington Park National circuit in Derby on October 19th 2019 provided the ideal opportunity. The BRSCC ClubSport Trophy is a new multi-class format of production car racing which allows drivers to share race cars, involving a compulsory pit stop and an optional change of driver. Wanting to test myself in a longer race, I opted to drive the whole race without a driver change. It’s a 45 minute race with a grid consisting of cars fromRead More →

BRSCC Mx-5 Donington 2019

So, here they are… the boring (but not to me) details of my performance in the 2019 BRSCC MX-5 Championship. Not a bad performance for a second year in competitive racing. Rookie of the Year in 2018, and 8th in the 2019 Championship, competing in A races throughout the season.  Target – a podium finish in an A race in 2020? BRANDS HATCH Grid Position Fastest lap Pts Qualifying   12 58.25   Race 1A 23 21 58.38 60 Race 2A 21 20 58.14 62 Race 3A 20 13 57.92 76 PEMBREY Grid Position Fastest lap   Qualifying   7 01:16.0   Race 1A 14Read More →

BRSCC MX-5 Championship Oulton Park 2019

Heading into the Oulton Park weekend, I felt quietly confident that I could find some good pace. A test day there, earlier in the year, gave me an idea of the pace I could achieve. But what was playing on my mind, was a feeling almost of regret. I realised that I hadn’t put enough effort and attention into some previous weekends, and that had definitely impacted my results. So, this weekend I aimed to change that. Testing… building confidence and qualifying in third The Friday test day was a good one. I focused on putting some good laps down and looking at the VboxRead More →

Having done a test day at Snetterton earlier on in the year, I felt good going into the race weekend – a weekend which last year, saw my worst finishes. Snetterton, at the time was a track I never felt wholly confident on, which was really down to one sector of the track, sector 3. The awkward braking zones for Nelson and Murrays always seemed to throw me off, as it requires you to brake and turn at the same time, which is never a recommended thing to do. But after the first session in the morning on the Friday test day, I felt thatRead More →

BRSCC Mazda MX-5 CHampionship Anglesey 2019

Anglesey Trac Mon, overlooking the Irish Sea and the Snowdonia, was the venue for Round 4 of the BRSCC MX-5 Championship 2019. The weekend started with a test day that didn’t necessarily go to plan. In the first three sessions of the day, I suffered four brake failures coming up to Rocket, at over 100mph. Now I like to think that I don’t often get scared when driving, but on those four occasions, it was a different story. On the last failure I ended pretty much on the straight between Rocket and Peel. I drove the car back before the 3rd session finished so theRead More →

Cadwell Park MX-5 Championship

I was looking forward to the Cadwell Park race weekend, as in the previous season I managed my first podium there. Also, the circuit is a brilliant one, rewarding you for pushing the envelope but biting hard as soon as you overdo it the smallest amount. Testing in the wet The Friday test day went well for me, enjoying my second visit to the circuit. Times came down throughout the day and I felt confident going into qualifying on the Saturday. On Saturday morning I’d booked the 30 minute practice session as Cadwell is a track where I feel seat time is of the upmostRead More →

Pembrey BRSCC MX-5 Championship

In the months leading up to the BRSCC MX-5 Championship Pembrey weekend, I knew that many of the drivers in the grid hadn’t been there before, and even if they had it wouldn’t have been for a long, long time. The last time fellow AB Motorsport driver, Ollie Allwood visited Pembrey was 20 years ago! So, knowing this, I saw the weekend as potential for a solid points haul. To give myself every chance at succeeding at this, I booked two test days before the weekend began. I tested on the Thursday and the Friday. Thursday was purely a day of learning the circuit andRead More →

Total MX-5 article cost of racing

Brett Fraser, Editor of Total MX-5 magazine, spent a day with me at pre-season testing at Brands Hatch, and I featured in the April 2019 edition in an article entitled “The real cost of racing”. Below you can see what Brett wrote. You can also find out about what it costs to compete in the BRSCC MX-5 Championship in my Getting Started section. And make sure you sign up for a subscription for Total MX-5 to read about “Everything MX-5 and much more!” Even a budget motorsport series can be bigger drain on your pocket than you might imagine, as the BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship’sRead More →