An Interview with National Banger driver Butty Jnr 47 Archie Butts
(interview published November 25 2015 in the lead up to the Micro Banger Best Pairs meeting)

Age: 18
Home Town: Sheford
Occupation: Apprentice panel beater
Family: Girlfriend Georgy
Racing career: In Ministox at Mildenhall on July 7 2012

You were among the first to book in for this year’s Micro Banger Best Pairs meeting, is this one you are looking forward to?
It is as the meetings with the smaller cars and the ones I am tending to do at the moment and I enjoy them. So far since moving into National Bangers from Ministox I have stuck to meetings like Micro and 1400cc meetings and I’m hoping that next year I might do some more stuff like Mondeos and maybe even an unlimited meeting but I felt it would be best for me to start with the smaller stuff and gradually work my way up and I think it’s been a good decision so far because I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done so far and the Micro meetings are always good. I also enjoy the Micro meetings for other reasons and among the biggest are the fact that you can get the cars pretty easily and cheaply, they are easier to build and also I think I have a better chance to be competitive because meetings like the Micros don’t tend to see drivers out there with special engines and equipment like you see especially in the unlimited meetings, so everyone is on a pretty level playing field and that gives me a better chance, although I usually still don’t do very well anyway (laughs).

If we can go through those points, starting with the car you intend to race, was this a particularly cheap one for you and how long will the car take to prepare?
It was because it was a free one (laughs). It actually came from my friend and it was his road car for about three or four days and he had a road accident. I was actually with him at the time and while we were ok, the car wasn’t and was declared a write off. He was going to race it himself but his mum got sick of it being on the drive and so he was going to scrap it and I wound up having it so at least some good came from it and hopefully it will be an ok banger as it’s already had one head-on (laughs). We’re about half way through building it as I’ve got to take some bits from my Almera which I raced (on November 8) for the car but the problem is I’m hoping to race the Almera again in January so I’m trying to do it in a way that it will be easy to put the Almera back together once I’m done with the Fiesta, it’s a big drawback of only having one set of kit for building cars (laughs). But Micro Bangers are really straight forward. You run it on the engine it comes with, the only thing we are changing is putting tubes in the tyres and that’s about it and I think most people are the same which is why they are so good. I guess in the end it will only take a couple of weeks to build which is good because it’s not the easiest for us to build cars right now. We build them at home, outside the garage because the garage is full of stuff for building cars (laughs). Building outside isn’t the best at the moment but you just have get cold and wet and get on with it! Also we have to be mindful of our neighbours, thankfully they are all pretty understanding but we try and keep the noise down and any noisy jobs we have to do we try and do as early as possible to not upset or bother anyone. Usually I will work on my car as soon as I get home from work and do it for an hour or two and then stop because it’s not really on making a racket at that time of night.

You also mentioned that you feel more competitive at the Micro meetings, how important is that?
It’s very important and I think it’s what most drivers want, just to feel you have a chance. I know I probably won’t do much good but you never know, you might get lucky and have a result and I think that is all most people want. When it gets to a point when you go to a meeting and no you’ve no hope then you start to wonder what the point is. Racing on shale helps keep things level anyway and it’s especially so at Mildenhall because the track is smaller as well but meetings like the Micros are even better because I think the majority of drivers are racing the cars pretty much as they found them and even if someone has made a big effort to make their car better, the chances are it won’t give them the biggest of advantages, especially if it is wet. So it’s just down to the day itself and your luck and whose been fortunate to find a decent car and I enjoy that, it’s good fun.

Speaking of the weather, December is not usually the best month for shale racing, yet this meeting is one of the most popular of the year, why do you think that is?
I think it goes back to the conditions making it such a level playing field and taking away any advantage someone might have if they’ve got a good car or engine, even a slow car is probably going to be on the pace. I actually prefer it when it’s a bit wet because I feel much more on the pace and that I can get in the mix with it and I think others feel the same. To be honest racing in the wet, can actually be a lot of fun, sometimes it’s just such a challenge trying to get round the track and finish the race itself and that can be a real laugh.

For you what makes a good meeting?
For me, if I could do all my races and get out in the DD and smash the car up at the end, that’s a great day but as long as I go home smiling, that’s the most important thing and you don’t have to do all the races and the DD to enjoy yourself but it is always nice to make the car last all meeting, get out for all the races you are in and then have a good crash at the end of it. I would love to get a win, that would be brilliant and when the meeting starts I guess I’ll be trying to win my (heat) because at first I always go out to see how the car is and then go from there. At a meeting as popular as this one I would be really pleased just to qualify for the final but we’ll see how it goes, I’m sure it will be fun.

You are set to team up with Jimmy Butts for the meeting, can you tell us a little about your team mate?
He’s my cousin, his dad and my dad are brothers and this will be his first National Banger meeting having finished with the Junior Bangers. He did pretty well in the Juniors, he won the points at Stansted and I think he got to blue grade at King’s Lynn so he’s really looking forward to moving into the Nationals and hopefully he’ll be fairly used to it as he’s raced small cars like this and he’s raced on dirt and shale so he should be ok. It’s cool that being his first meeting we can do it together as a team so it will be a bit of a family thing as I should think most of the family will be coming down for the day so that will be good. I don’t think we’ve much of a chance of winning the (Best Pairs) or even being up there at the end but hopefully we can have a good day, as long as we enjoy it that’s what matters the most.

After the Micro meeting are you planning to do the rest of the Winter Series dates and how do you feel about the 1600cc round now being non Mondeo, Focus and Vectra for this year?
I am hoping to do them. Again I really enjoy the meetings with the smaller cars as they are the cars I tend to be able to get and I feel a bit more at home at them at the moment and again I enjoy the Winter Series meetings because if they are a little wet it helps me even more. I’ve got my Almera from the His and Her meeting which I can use again and hopefully I will be able to find something for both the January meetings, maybe if the Fiesta or Almera are fortunate enough to go again I might be able to use them but I can’t see it happening myself (laughs). I think the changes to the final round are a good idea, by not having Focus’ and Vectras you might see more people race cars which have survived the previous rounds, like myself I would be happy to race a Fiesta or Almera now (on January 31) whereas if there were things like Focus’ and Vectras I probably wouldn’t.

Beyond the Winter Series have you made any plans for 2016?
I hope to race as much as I can. Again I do find it hard to find cars for racing so I tend to race what I can get and that is usually the smaller cars but also I intended to start (my National Banger career) with the smaller cars and try and work my way up and I’m hoping to some of that (in 2016) so it would be good to maybe do a Mondeo meeting and maybe even an unlimited but it all depends on what cars I can get.

We’ve seen you compete in the last two caravan DDs at Mildenhall, is that a race you enjoy?
It’s brilliant and I absolutely love that one, it’s great fun. Unfortunately I’ve not had the greatest amount of luck in either of them but I’ve still really enjoyed it, it’s just causing as much carnage as possible so what is not to like (laughs). It’s funny because one of the reasons I really like the meeting is I’m not able to take two cars to a meeting so the only race I do is the caravans which means I actually get to watch the whole meeting and I think it’s a great meeting and when you watch a meeting like that it really gets you fired up and in the mood for your race so by the time the caravan race comes up you are absolutely buzzing for it.

As a driver who transports his cars to and from meetings by trailer, do you ever find yourself restricted in what you can and can’t do?
Not really, but I’m quite lucky that you can usually find someone with a lorry who will help you if need help at a meeting, Wayne Linsdell has been a huge help for me since I started racing bangers. Don’t get me wrong, if a car gets trashed it can make it a little harder back at home, especially when the car is so wrecked you can’t get it on and off the trailer at home. Sometimes you have to strip the car on the trailer and that has to become the priority which can interfere with your plans and building the next car but it’s not something you worry about, I never let any potential grief back at home get in the way of wrecking a car (laughs).

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My mum and dad for everything they do to support me and my racing and Georgy for her support as well.