An Interview with British and Mildenhall Track Champion 313 Craig Osborne
(interview published March 9 2016 in the lead up to the 2016 Unlimited Banger BBA Supreme Championship)

Age: 24
Home Town: Red Lodge
Occupation: Waste Operative Driver
Family: Fiancé Dannii, son Riley and second baby due in July
First race: Aged 17 in Bangers at Mildenhall

This is set to be your third appearance in as many years in the Supreme Championship, are you looking forward to it?
I am, but to be honest I’m looking forward to just racing again because I’ve started to get a little bored with having the time off now (laughs). The plan over the winter was to try and get a load of stuff done, to tidy the yard up and have a load of cars built to get ahead of myself for the coming season, especially with the baby due in July so I suspect I’ll be wanting to spend a lot of time at home after that so we had planned to get a load of stuff ready to hopefully help me out a little later in the year but typically none of that has happened (laughs) but even so, I’m itching to just get racing again. The break has been nice but I want to race now and it’s cool that one of the first meetings is the Supreme Championship as it’s usually a good meeting to get everything going again.

You’ve not had much success so far in the championship, failing to finish either race the last two years, has this been a disappointment for you?
No, not really. It’s such a hard race that you can’t really expect to do a certain thing, anything good that happens is a bonus really. Two years ago was good, I was leading to about half way and had lapped most of the field as well but then I broke a drive shaft. That was a little frustrating because it was at the time when the sliding drive shafts weren’t allowed and had they been I don’t think mine would have broken so had it not been for that rule at the time it could have been different but that can’t be changed now. I’d like to get a top 10 finish, that would be really nice but I don’t think you can think like that in a race like this with so many drivers and so many good drivers, you never know what’s round the corner, you just have to take it as it comes and hope for the best really, it’s anyone’s race?

Do you think luck will play a big part?
Absolutely but it’s the same with any banger race, especially one at Mildenhall really and that’s how it should be I think because if it wasn’t down to luck then it would be the same people winning all the time and that would be pretty boring I think. This race is so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen or what kind of race you are going to have and I think that is really exciting and what I want from racing really, again if you knew what was going to happen every time you raced, it would soon get boring.

That said, who do you think is a leading contender this year?
It’s impossible to say but I’d say Dan Lathan has a chance. I think we are quite similar in that we are pretty good at finding the gaps on the track and through the blockages, I think that comes from racing regularly at Mildenhall where the racing is almost always very lively and you need to be good at getting through the traffic and the pile-ups and he is also very quick at Mildenhall in an unlimited.

Will the shale and Mildenhall regulars have an advantage in the race?
I think so but it’s like anything, if you are doing something like racing at Mildenhall or on shale all the time, you are always going to have a bit of an edge over someone who doesn’t. I think drivers who race more regularly at Mildenhall will have a better chance because they might know more of what to expect because as long as there are plenty of cars, it’s going to be very busy on track and lively and the guys who race at Mildenhall all the time might be better at getting through it all. But everyone on the grid is good so you can’t rule anyone out really.

Have you decided what car you will be using in the race?
I’ve got a Ford Scorpio again, it’s actually my World Final car from Ipswich which I think is what I’ve used the last two years. I really like them and they handle pretty well which is an advantage, especially in a race like this where really you are going to need a car that does what you want it to when you want it to in order to get through the gaps and cracks. They are also pretty strong, it’s only the front wheels and legs which are weak but it’s like any car, they all have a weak spot and the Scorpio is no different, you just have to race with that in mind and take care of the weaker parts of your cars.

A theme we’ve noticed in these championship interviews is the current costs in racing with the price of Ford Scorpios being one, is this something you agree with?
Yes, they are expensive cars. I’m still buying them though and picked one up a few weeks ago which cost me £350 whereas I picked up one of the Mercs people are using now which was complete and it was almost a third of the price. The thing is I decided a couple of years back that it was time to move on from racing Mk2 Granadas at unlimited meetings. As much as I loved them I was fed up with spending all week building one, because they would need so much welding, to get it ready for the weekend and then the car basically being fodder. I didn’t like the Scorpios because I thought they were so ugly but I accepted the fact that I needed to move on and having looked at the options I felt the Scorpio was best for me so I got a couple and made everything I needed so I could race them. That’s the problem now, if I decide to start racing something else I would need to start again from scratch and make all the kit for whatever car I try next and all that work is pretty off putting (laughs) so at the moment I would prefer to spend a little more and get the Scorpios and use the stuff I’ve got but there will be a time when I have to move onto something different again. I guess I’m lucky in a race because I don’t actually do that many unlimited meetings a year, to be honest I couldn’t do that many because of the price of the cars so when you only need three or four a year it’s not so bad and the other cars we race tend to be cheaper so it evens it all out across the year. To be honest that’s why I enjoy the Mondeos meetings so much, the cars are easy to get, easy to build and you can almost always get a good night’s racing with them because they are such a good car, it doesn’t baffle me a bit why so many driver’s don’t like them, I know they are a hard car which puts a lot of people off but so are a lot of the modern unlimited cars now.

Six days later and you defend the Suffolk Open team championship on Good Friday with Team Motorbitz, an event you have been in the winning team for the last three years, what has been the secret to your success?
I think it’s been a few things really. I’ve always had some excellent team mates, both in Team MotorBitz but also in Norfolk N Good and obviously that makes a massive difference. I also think as well that the last couple of years there has been more and more teams taking part that just want to crash rather than even attempt to try and win it. We’ve obviously set out the last couple of years with the intentions of at least trying to win and I think to be honest there are much fewer teams with that mindset now which in a way makes it a little easier to do well but obviously it also makes it harder because there are more teams that just want to smash things up and that could easily be you (laughs) so I guess we’ve been fortunate to just avoid all that. The other thing which I think makes a big difference is how everyone is in the pits because the whole team will always work really hard and do whatever they can to get the cars back out for the next race and that makes all the difference.

The team is quite different this year with the Garrod brothers in the team, what do you think of the team?
Well I’m actually a little disappointed because I won the final last year and I said at the time that I was the reason we won and that the team should be called Craig’s Bitches this year but Dan (Lathan) has stuck with the Team Motorbitz name which I think is wrong (laughs)! It’s an excellent team again and it will be good racing with the Garrods because they are all very good drivers, especially on shale and in the smaller cars which they are used to racing at King’s Lynn and Ashley and Terry usually fly in Almeras. I guess the only problem will be what time they get there (laughs)! But I shouldn’t say too much because I have to work on Good Friday morning. We get increased pay that day so I have to do it, I’d be an idiot not to so I go to work and I’ll get the others to take my car to the track and I’ll go straight there from work so hopefully we’ll have enough cars for the first heat (laughs)! I think Shane (Lynn) will also be excellent in the team, he’s such an underrated driver and I honestly think he would be one of the best if he was to keep his head and not go crashing all the time, if he actually stuck to it and really went for it I think he’d be up there in championships and stuff like that but he enjoys his crashing too much (laughs).

Have you made any plans for the rest of 2016?
Not really. The plan at the moment is to try and do as much as I can until the baby arrives which is July. In fact the due date is the same night as the British Championship so that could be a bit of a headache (laughs)! After that I’m sure I will slow down a bit, certainly with building the cars, because I’ll want to spend time at home with the family so it will depend on how far ahead we manage to get with the cars prior to that. It’s been tricky lately because before Riley was born I would spend every night down the yard until around 8 or 9pm now that’s after he goes to bed so I’ve been coming home earlier to see him for an hour before he goes to bed but then I’ll be bored because I’m not the best at just being at home watching tele (laughs). Maybe I need to start going back to the yard when he’s gone to bed! I’m doing the Speedy (testimonial) meeting at King’s Lynn which I’m really looking forward to though because I love my Triumph 2000s and I’ve always wanted to race one at Lynn so I’m looking forward to that.

What are your thoughts on the new ruling across the ORCi insisting drivers don’t get out of their cars while a race is in progress?
I think like most things there are pros and cons to it all. I do see why it’s been brought in, for me it’s not so much about drivers getting out when they shouldn’t but more about when they do and they just stroll across the track or unbelt and then stand up in their cars for however long. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to swerve to avoid someone getting out or walking across the track so on that I think it’s a good rule but personally I think it would have been better to have punished the drivers that were taking stupid chances rather than insist on everyone staying in their cars.

Is there anyone you would to thank or mention?
Brett and Simon for everything they do and Dannii for all her support.