Bike racing over, lost at the weekends, gardening not exciting, what to do. Got it !! lets go motor racing. Some years earlier I had gone to Brands Hatch to drive a Formula 3 car at the racing school there. It was a great experience but I had not intended to take it up.
Reading the motor sport magazines I learned of a new formula which was intended to be low cost as ideal for beginner racers, Formula Ford. A few weeks searching in the ad. columns of Autosport produced a Formula 3 rolling chassis for £600 and a new Ford 1600cc GT engine for £80 from Gowerings at Reading as a special deal to help the new Formula. I was in business.
It took a few weeks to round up all the required parts like steel wheels, a gearbox and the host of bits and pieces required to build a complete car Finally it could be seen running up and down a local farm road testing that everything worked properly.
My first event was at Mallory Park on Boxing day. The weather had been bad and after a very early morning start and a hazardous journey to Mallory because of the snow and ice we arrived to find (not surprisingly in the circumstances) the circuit covered in snow. Practise followed after my being fined for not producing my racing license. Not a happy start. To my advantage as I had never been to Mallory before the organizers decided to extend practise so as to let the cars clear the surface of snow and water having salted it so the extra laps helped me familiarize myself with the circuit.
After a couple of seasons racing at places like Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Oulton Park etc. I felt I had progressed enough to need a fully competitive car. The time came when I would either have to spend a lot more money and take it seriously or quit. I wish in retrospect that I had started motor racing much earlier but I decided to stop racing.
