An Interview with National Banger driver Lump 388 Taylor Sowter
(interview published July 9 2014 in the lead up to the National Siamese Banger meeting at Mildenhall on July 19)

Age: 20
Home Town : Surrey
Occupation: Warehouse worker
Family: Single
Racing career: Started racing in Mini Rods at Smallfield aged 10

This is the second time you are set to race at our Siamese meeting with brother (288) Carl, what attracted you to the meeting in the first place?
I think the biggest thing is it was just something different and it looked like a lot of fun. The trouble with our sport is even though it is meant to be all about having fun and enjoying yourself there are times when people take it too seriously and this meeting just looked like it was all about having a good time which is what we are all about. We’d never done a meeting like it before because Spedeworth had stopped doing their one at Wimbledon a while before we came on the scene and I do like to try new things at least one so we decided to give it a go. And it was at Mildenhall and we really like visiting the track when we can so it was a good fit.

Was the decision to do this year’s meeting made soon after last year’s event or was it something you had to think about?
I think I decided I wanted to do it again after the first race last year (laughs). It was brilliant, so much fun like we had hoped it would be and straight away I said we had to do it again.

Can you describe racing a Siamese banger?
It’s pretty hard to describe it but it is very strange, I’ll say that, especially if you are like me and in the top car, that is really weird. I found it quite scary last year and I admit I was very nervous before the start. That last about three laps or until our heat got stopped for the first time which didn’t take long (laughs). During the stoppage I was absolutely buzzing and shouting to Carl in the car below how good it was and he was agreeing. But it does hurt! I think it probably hurts a bit more than a normal meeting because you have the added weight of the car on top so when you do a hit or have a crash it’s like four cars crashing at once and you really feel the impact. Thankfully you are buzzing so much that you don’t really notice at the time (laughs). Having said that I didn’t help myself because we had some trouble with the seat in my car last year. It kept coming loose and in the wrecking train in the heat I hit the steering wheel pretty hard and I felt that. Then in the last race we rolled over and, well let’s just say I squashed two of my small friend (laughs). I felt that as well!

Having spent much of last year’s meeting crashing have you any intentions for this year’s meeting?
Well to be honest I think we will try and get a good race out of the meeting first. Last year we got a little over exited and went for the hits straight away even though the idea was for everyone to take it easy in the heats and save the crashing for later (laughs), I guess we couldn’t wait. I think Carl was a little upset that I went for a big hit so soon in the meeting, although he could have stopped I suppose! The damage we did in the heat kind of ruined our night really as we struggled for the rest of the meeting and never really got a full race so I think this year we will probably try and get a whole race first and then go from there.

Was you surprised by the speed of the racing last year and how hard the hits were?
(laughs) Well to be honest we were pretty slow so I never noticed it in ourselves but certainly with the other cars, I was surprised at how quick some of them were and of course from that there were some big hits. I don’t think it helped that we had a Capri as our top car which was probably a bit heavy and that might have slowed us down but we’ve a Micra this year so hopefully it might go a little bit better, we’ll see.

This year sees a bigger presence from the Team Sowter ranks with Tom and Jack Filmer also taking part, are you looking forward to having those guys out with you this year?
Yes, I am, it’ll be good to have the team there a bit more. We’re having a great time in the team at the moment and all really enjoy racing together and so it will be good to have them up with us this time, they are both looking forward to it a lot as well, especially because they’ve never done it before.

Your most recent visit to Mildenhall was for the pre 70, did you enjoy your first visit for this meeting despite the bad weather?
The weather is just part of the fun for me. When it rains you get wet, it’s just part of it and I loved the meeting, I thought it was absolutely brilliant and we definitely want to do it again. Even with the rain, everyone in the pits seemed to be enjoying it and making the best of it and fixing their cars so they could continue racing and it was also great that so many fans still came out and stayed there even when the weather was bad. They made the atmosphere and that’s one of the things we like the most about Mildenhall. When we had the wrecking train with the Boogiemen I could hear the crowd over the engine noise and that’s always such a huge buzz. I heard them cheer when I did my hit and when I got done and I could hear them shouting again after so I figured it must have been Carl on his way and the cheer when he did his hit was superb. And it was pouring down with rain at this point so that was pretty cool.

Have you any other plans to visit Mildenhall in the second half of 2014?
(laughs) Yeah, a few too many really! The Siamese meeting starts a bit of a mad week for us as we are planning to do four meetings in a week. We’re at Mildenhall for the Siamese meeting on the Saturday, then Swaffham the next day for the (Cortina, Capri and Sierra meeting), then there is an unlimited at Eastbourne on the Wednesday and then we are back at Mildenhall for the (2litre) rear wheel drive meeting on the Saturday so it’s pretty hectic at the moment getting cars ready. After that we are planning on doing the Steamer meeting (unlimited Suffolk Open). We’ve been on about doing that one for a while because we still want to do an unlimited meeting at Mildenhall but something has always come up and got in the way so this year we made a point that we would do one and this is the one, I’m looking forward to it because unlimited racing is my thing and this seems more a crashy meeting so it should be good. And then we are doing the Granada meeting again. We had a great time at that meeting last year, it was probably one of my favourites of the season so it was on the to do list again for this year. We’ve got some unusual cars for this year so hopefully it will make for a cool line up, I was hoping my dad would do it but he’s saying no still.

This year’s Granada meeting sees Mk3 and Mk4 models allowed, do you agree with that decision?
I think you need to do it really. There aren’t many Mk1 and Mk2s around anymore and so if you want to keep the numbers up you need to open it to more types of cars, at the end of the day you can always try things and if they don’t work you don’t do it again, personally I think it’s a good move.

We were due to see Team Sowter earlier in the year at the 1400cc Suffolk Open team championship but the team withdrew from the event days before, can you explain the reasons behind this?
It was over the new rules that you stopped us from running dizzy guards on an Almera. The problem for us is one hit and you risk breaking it and we only had a couple of spares between us so the likelihood was we wouldn’t got much from our day and it’s a quite a journey for us. Carl was adamant he didn’t want to do it if the guards weren’t allowed, I wasn’t as bothered but we are a team and we just felt if we all weren’t going then none of us should. It was a real shame because we’d been looking forward to it for a while and it was a shame we didn’t go. I personally can’t see the problem with anything which stops a car from breaking down, yes they should stop people strengthening the cars so they don’t bend at all, but stopping them from breaking down is something which should be encouraged I believe.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
Carl mainly for everything he does for me and also the rest of the boys in the team and my dad for all his help.