An Interview with Wimbledon BWS Final winner Panda 89 Joe Barratt
(interview published March 1 2016 in the lead up to the 2016 Unlimited Banger BBA Supreme Championship)

Age: 24
Home Town: Outwell, Wisbech
Occupation: Lorry fitter and mechanic
Family: Single
First race: Aged 16 in a National Banger (Primera) at Mildenhall in the Winter Series

This will be your first appearance in the Supreme Championship, is it something you are looking forward to?
Yes I am, it’s nice to be getting the chance to take part in races like these a bit more now and it’s nice to get these chances, especially as I feel I’m putting a lot more into my racing now, taking it a lot more seriously and putting so much more time into it than I did a couple of years ago. When I wasn’t taking things so seriously it didn’t really bother me, not being in the big championship races because I suppose I felt I didn’t really deserve to be in them but now it’s different and it’s great to be in the big events and also feel like I deserve to be there with the work I’m putting in.

You were a little hesitant in confirming your intention to compete in the championship, was it something you were unsure of at first?
Not really. I always wanted to do the race as soon as I found I’d qualified, especially as you can’t take it for granted that you will qualify again, especially this race which is a really hard one to get into. But at the same time I wasn’t completely what I was going to be doing this season and as I’d decided I wanted to try and qualify for the (Spedeworth) World Final again doing the meetings I need to do to do that had become the priority so I was waiting to make sure I could do the (Supreme) Championship before saying yes but then I won the wildcard race at the BWS round at Wimbledon and that has changed a lot. But I always wanted to do the Supreme, it was just a matter of making sure everything would fit in so I could do it.

Has winning a wildcard place in the Spedeworth World Final so early in the season changed your plans for the year very much?
At the moment all it has really done is taken a lot of the pressure off and knowing I’m in the race already is a brilliant feeling. The plan this year was to try and not do quite as many meetings as I did last year where I found myself doing pretty much every single meeting at Spedeworth that carried world qualifying points and there were times when I was doing meetings I didn’t particularly want to do and meetings I wasn’t enjoying but I did them because it was all about qualifying for the World. This year the plan was to try and just do the meetings that I wanted to do, mostly the unlimited ones but I was going to do all the World Qualifying rounds in the hope that I could get in on more than just attendance points with the option that if I needed to cram in some meetings at the end of the year to get the attendance points I would have done. I still intend to do the meetings I planned to do in the first place but I know now that if things don’t go well and I’m not in the top 17 (in points) I won’t have to worry about doing some extra meetings to get the attendance points at the end of the year which is a nice feeling. I think I need to do a good amount of the meetings at Spedeworth even though I have qualified because I’ve made so much progress as a driver in the last year or so on tarmac and I think if I was to stop racing (on tarmac) it would undo all the work I’ve done so far and I’d like to try and keep getting better if I can. But hopefully being locked into the World Final already might create some time to do some different things which I might not have been able to have done had I not won that race at Wimbledon.

How special was winning the final at the Wimbledon BWS round given that it was such a big meeting for the sport with a triple figure entry of unlimited bangers in front of a massive crowd?
Yeah, it was really good and it was a huge surprise to win that, especially given the drivers that were in it but to be honest I think I was just the lucky one that night. At one point I was in the blockage facing the wrong way and I swear I was like that for about five laps (laughs). At that point my intention was to just get going and find someone for a big hit but I just had this feeling that there wouldn’t be many finishers and it might be worth keeping going if I got out of the heap so that’s what I did when I escaped and luckily for me it worked in my favour. The last few laps were amazing, with Dale Hughes trying to stop me and having to try and outsmart him to dodge him each lap and get through and the atmosphere was incredible, that is what made it so special I think, you could hear the crowd cheering every time I was able to get past Dale.
Given how chaotic the BWS final was, many predict the Supreme Championship could be the same, does you winning that race at Wimbledon boost your chances here?
I don’t think so, if anything I think it means I have less chance because I used all my luck in that race at Wimbledon and I’m guessing I’m not due any luck now for quite some time (laughs). I think the race at Wimbledon was 90 per cent luck really, maybe more for me and while I think you will need a lot of luck in the Supreme, it’s not going to all be down to good luck, the last couple of years have been really hard races but it’s still top drivers who win it and I don’t think anyone could say they only won the race on luck itself.

That said, what are your personal hopes for the race?
I don’t know, I’ve honestly not given it much thought at all but then again I rarely think about things like that much before the meeting arrives! I guess I’ll give it a go, I think everyone in the race will at least start out by wanting to have a go and see how they get on but the race is probably going to be so unpredictable, most races at Mildenhall are, so who can say (laughs). If things go wrong then maybe I’ll have a crash or maybe I’ll just try to keep on going and finish. It would be nice to finish, I finished the World Final at Ipswich and that meant a lot to me so it would be nice to finish this one as well, especially as they will probably be two very different races. But you can never tell what’s going to happen until it happens.

Have you decided what car you are going to race?
I’m going to use one of the modern Jaguars. I’ve used them a bit on shale and they have been pretty decent so far. I tend to keep my Scorpios to use on tarmac because they are a good car to use on tarmac and the Jaguars aren’t the best for tarmac but are plenty good enough on shale. The hearse I had at the Peewee meeting was really good, it really surprised me for a hearse but the one I had at the Icebreaker didn’t last long but some of the guys I’m friends with have done well with them so I’m sure they will be a good car especially now we’ve figured out the diff problem we were having. Munch (779 Luke Allen) has been using them as well so we decided he would use the V6 ones and I’d have the V8s instead of fighting over the same car but we’ve found the diffs in the V8s aren’t any good so you need to change them for the V6 one and then they are fine.

That is a good example of the work drivers are putting into their cars in 2016, as an increasingly regular racer on tarmac are the problems of what drivers are spending, both time and money, on their cars as serious as some claim them to be?
I don’t think the money is as bad as some say it is. Yes, there are some who go to pretty extreme measures with engines and set ups and stuff like that but I don’t think it is anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be and it’s only a small number doing that kind of stuff and to be honest I don’t see the point as it only has to rain or the track get slippery and there is little advantage to be gained. I think I’m a good example of what putting the time into your cars can make. For years, I was just happy if the car ran and that was fine for what I was doing but now I try and make sure everything is right and the difference that can make is incredible. It’s like the diffs on the Jaguars, that doesn’t cost any money because you already have the bits from other cars you have raced, it’s just taking the time to swap them over. I admit I spend a lot of time on my cars now, I’ve spent a whole evening before just getting the brakes right. That is something I would have never done years ago but now it can make all the difference, especially when you are racing on tarmac. But it’s worth it because I’m really enjoying my tarmac racing now and there is a real buzz from being on the pace with some of the fastest drivers out there. Another thing which helps a lot is the modern cars. The engines are so much faster. Ten years ago and pretty much everyone racing in unlimited would have had to have a built 2.8 engine in order to be competitive but now a standard Duratec is just as fast and a lot of the modern cars handle really well on their own. I like the Scorpios because they just go well without having to do any extra work on them and it’s the same with the Mercedes, I’ve not had many but the ones I’ve had really handle well, it’s just how they are built and a lot of modern cars are like that and it’s helping a lot more people get into unlimited because you don’t need to spend lots of money to compete.

Have you any thoughts on who will be the leading contenders for this year’s Supreme Championship?
I’ve honestly not paid that much attention to (the entry), it’s not something I do that much of to be honest but again it’s hard to say. Everyone in the race is good, you have to be to get into it and the majority will be trying to win it, at least at the start anyway so it’s very unpredictable, I think it’s just whoever’s night it is, it could be anyone but I do think Dan Lathan is a good bet, he’s very good in unlimited bangers at Mildenhall now and he seems to have a good habit of getting through the gaps which you are going to need to be able to do.

Having mentioned winning the wildcard place in the Spedeworth World Final changing your plans for the year, have you any firm plans set yet?
Not really, again I want to and keep improving on tarmac in unlimited bangers so I will do all the BWS rounds and probably the world qualifiers at Spedeworth still even though I’m already in the World Final. I would love to go to Emmen and there are a few of us talking about maybe going, but I don’t think it would be until the end of the year. I’d like to do a couple of new tracks this year if I can, Emmen is one and I also want to go to Stansted as I’ve not been there yet which is a bit daft seeing as it’s so local.

The Wimbledon BWS round saw you not in your familiar Predator colours, will that be a trend this year?
Yes, it is, I’ve decided to go in my own colours this year. I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while because there were so many times when I was racing on my own. It’s not the teams fault, they have all done their years of travelling and I’ve started doing it after them and I understand that they want to race mostly locally now and not hundreds of miles from home every weekend. This year Munch and Twelly (79 Ricky Twell) told me they probably won’t even do that much locally this year so that kind of made my mind up for me and I just felt it was time to do my own thing. There hasn’t been any falling out or anything and if they decide to race together again or do a team meeting I’d like to do it with them if they need someone.

A big talking point this season has been the new ruling from the ORCi outlawing drivers from exiting their cars while races are in progress, what are your thoughts on this?
I think it’s a good rule and it definitely needed bringing in because there were so many close calls and people were being pretty daft at times when they were getting out so I think this is better. It would be good if there could be more marshals to see if we need to get out of the cars but if promotions could have more, I’m sure they would, it’s a shame more people aren’t willing to do it really. My only concern is if you are stuck across the track, driver’s door up. I think in those cases the officials would need to think about stopping the race anyway but even in that situation I think you are still safer in your car.

Is there anyone you would to thank or mention?
Goldstar, Anglian Electrical, Brat for all the cheap signwriting and everyone else who helps me.