An Interview with National Banger driver 103 Paul Foreman
(interview published August 20 2014 in the lead up to the P&G Autos and Nobodies team race at Dover on August 25)

Age: 40
Home Town: Sitingbourne
Occupation: Builder
Family: Wife Marina and two daughters
Racing career: Started racing at Iwade, aged 17 in Production Stox

August 25 at Dover Raceway will see a unique 15 on 15 team race between your team, P&G Autos and the Nobodies, can you explain how this team race came about as there isn’t exactly a history between the teams?
No, not at all, in fact I’m not even sure we are a real team (laughs) but we’ve found enough people to get a team together! It isn’t a grudge match or anything like that, it’s very much to help raise money for the charity (Lola’s Journey). I’ve done some things for the charity before and had been thinking about trying to do some more and the idea of doing a team race come about. Head to head (team races) are always pretty exciting to be a part of and something people like seeing but it’s not something you get to see very often now so we thought if we could get a team together and find someone to take on then maybe we could make something out of it that way. Somewhere along the way Mark (Anderson) got involved and he said his guys in the Nobodies would be interested and it went from there.

There seems to be a large element of fun in this event, is that correct?
Absolutely, at the end of the day this is all about trying to raise money for a really great cause. The idea to start with is that all the drivers taking part will make a donation to the charity for being in the team. Again, head to heads are a pretty cool thing to be in so we thought that would help raise money and all the drivers seem to be really up for it and happy to make a small donation in return for being in the race. It was important to have two teams and two captains who get on and a good bunch of drivers who would make sure the race was done in the right spirit and have fun and hopefully put on a show for the people who come to watch it and hopefully if we have a good race it will encourage the people who come to watch to support the charity a bit more.

Both teams have now been announced and both have a real mixture of the leading banger races at Dover, former racers and drivers who don’t normally race bangers, are you pleased with your team?
Yeah, I’m not sure what the idea was exactly at the start regarding having the regulars in the bangers but again the draw of being in a head to head team race is something a lot of them wanted to do and so we both had drivers want to be in the teams and I think it’s worked out really well because both teams have got a bit of everything. Like you said there are some top banger drivers in both, some occasional banger drivers and some who don’t really do bangers and I think that is again important for the fun element of the event but I think it will also help make it a good team race and hopefully encourage a few more people to come and give it a look because I think it has the potential to be a really good team race. I’m pleased with my team. It’s been a lot of work but these things usually are, you get people who are one minute really up for it and then they can’t do it which is a little frustrating but we are nearly there now and I think it’s a good team, we’re all up for it and just want to enjoy it and try and raise some money for the charity which is the most important thing.

How did you first become involved with Lola’s Journey?
It was a few years back and her family were on the internet asking if anyone racing at the Firecracker (at Arena Essex) could have the charity on their car to try and raise some awareness and that was my first contact with them and I did that with my Reliant Robin and we raised a bit of money to help them towards their target. It’s just one of those terrible stories which could happen to any family and when I heard her story I just wanted to try and help, having daughters myself makes you realise how lucky you are that you aren’t going through what they are.

How can people at Dover on August help raise money?
Well as well as the drivers taking part making a donation we will be having a raffle and we really hope everyone at the track will at least buy a ticket because all the money will be going to the charity. As well as the usual raffle type prizes we’ve some cool racing related prizes including the crash helmet (Suicide Squad legend and former three time PRI World Champion) Steve Taylor used at the all Granada meeting at Arena last year. Peter Garrat won it in the raffle at that meeting and he’s donated it to our raffle but hopefully we are going to have it all painted up a bit special so that would be an awesome prize to win but we hope everyone will just buy a ticket anyway because again it’s a great cause.

Tell us about your racing at the moment and your plans?
Well I had a go in the Bangerstox this year but I don’t think it’s really for me because I kept getting into trouble over the contact (laughs). I think after all the years of contact racing maybe limited and non contact racing isn’t for me so I’ve decided that the Bangerstox aren’t the way to go so I think I’m just going to stick to doing a few Banger meetings each year that suite me, like the Micro meeting at Mildenhall which was brilliant last year, I really enjoyed that and am already looking forward to doing that again. I did think about going back into the Reliant Robins but the fact is when I was racing them all the time I had all the best equipment and when I decided to stop racing them I sold it all and it would cost a fortune to replace and I don’t think it would enjoy racing them again unless I could compete at the same level as before so I think it’s just going to the odd banger meeting now and then until my body decides it’s enough. I do ache a fair bit now after meetings, I’ve always had back problems and so I think it’s time to start winding down but hopefully I’ll get a few more meetings yet, I’m sure I will ache a bit after the team race (laughs).

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
Peter Garratt for letting me use his yard to build the car with a lot of the team, Marc Anderson for everything he has done with his team to help put all this together and my wife for putting up with me.