The Madman Writes - 4th January 2009

When was the last time you seen a Reliant Robin on the road??? Chances are, some people reading this will have never seen such a vehicle except in the comedy Only Fools and Horses. Yet, a field of almost 20 were assembled at the New Year meeting at the Racewall on January 4th. Since their first meeting in Scotland in August 2008 the interest has been phenomenal with top drivers from all the regular racing formulas participating along with some wonderful machinery from the Lumsden family who had a stretch Robin complete with twin axle at the back and a car which had been joined together in the middle so it virtually looked the same in whatever direction it was being driven. There was some purlers of rollovers during the afternoon with Hot Rod star, James Jamieson being a target. His fellow non contact racer, Willie Hardie, who looks on course for a place on the National Hot Rod World final grid at Ipswich, was amongst the winners but it was one of those occasions when winning didn’t matter as it was all about having fun. People who witnessed the action have plenty time to get their hands on a car as their next scheduled run out is not until August this year for the Scottish championship.

Before the end of the 2008 season, a lot of Banger drivers were asking if the promotion would consider putting on a team meeting for small cars such as Nissan Micras and this was duly arranged. Despite the promise of a lot of cars, only three teams turned up with one having the strong looking pairing of David Frame and Barry Russell who duly went onto win the event. Top lady racer, Ruth Davison, took quite a knock in the final and limped into the ambulance for a check up. Hopefully she will be back out on the track in 2009. David Linton rounded off a good day for them by winning the demolition derby.

Due to my ever failing memory, that is about all I can recall of the formula but can relate a tale about some drivers who were out on the track. One of the advantages of being an old git, is that you can remember the parents of a lot of drivers who race today gracing the track some 20 odd years ago. Regular racer in the Prostox, and top sign writer, Craig Jones, is the offspring of 1986/87 Saloon World champion Robert, but not a lot of people would be aware of the family connection of another car on the grid, that of the 143 machine driven by Gary Carstairs. Gary’s dad, David, was one of the first drivers to race a Stock Rod in Scotland when the formula started back in 1981 and ended up finishing third in the British championship that year behind Englishman, David Storey. The Banger out on the track was a virtual replica of the car driven by him on that occasion and even had the original roof fin which adorned the Stock Rod all those years ago. At least the fin went home in one piece, which is more than can be said for the rest of the car and chances are we will see the 143 number back out some time in the near future when a new car is built.

It is always good to see the Ministox get some welcome sponsorship as they put in a lot of effort that sometimes goes unrewarded. Top Saloon driver, Gordon Alexander, once a Ministox driver himself over a quarter of a century ago(!!) put up some fine silverware for the youngsters which provided some of the closest finishes of the day. With the retirement of Cowdenbeath track champion, Siobhan Martin, it was left to Kevin Morrison, who was in her old car to take a victory in the first event. His progress in the second was somewhat marred as he clobbered the wall but some hard work behind the scenes got him back out for the final. The magnificent GA Autos trophy went the way of Ross Watters but only after a prolonged battle with English star Robert Gemmell. The battle to be the track champion in 2009 will be as closely fought as ever although any title will always be unofficial as technically points are only awarded for grading purposes. It is a shame really as there used to be some great scraps back in the 80’s when World, European, and British titles were contested. You can now count the weeks until the start of the new season with practise meetings on Sunday 22nd February and 1st March before it all kicks off in earnest on March 7th. There are some cracking meetings scheduled with my personal highlights being the Stock Rod World championship and the return of the GP Midgets to Scotland for the first time in over 25 years. A full list is available on the fixtures link on this site. Now start crossing the days of the calendar as the excitement builds to another cracking year of action courtesy of GMP.