An Interview with 151 Colin Alyward
(interview published February 25 2014 in the lead up to the first round of the 2014 Mildenhall Track Championship)

Age: 36
Home Town: Peterborough
Occupation: Managing Director at HCD
Family: Wife Trudy and children Jordan, Tommy and Sydney
Racing career: First started in 1988 racing Ministox, aged 10

You ended 2013 at Mildenhall in fantastic fashion with three wins from the last two meetings making you one of the winningest drivers of the season in the formula at Mildenhall, how pleasing was it for you to end the year in that manner?
It turned out really, really good in the end. We knew the first season in the F2s wouldn’t be easy, the initial idea was to get the car out there and be seen on shale in the hope that it would be beneficially for our business and we were doing ok for a good while and then towards the end of the season we made some changes and the car went from ok to excellent and that was when the wins started coming. The form I had at Mildenhall (in September) carried on to the very end of the year and I won the last final of the year at Sheffield so the success at Mildenhall definitely had a knock on effect to my racing elsewhere and it was a great way to end the season. The only disappointment was that it came after all the big championships on shale had been and gone. I just missed out on qualifying for the World of Shale in both the qualifying rounds and in the last chance race and due to a bit of a mix up I couldn’t get a booking for the English Open (at Coventry) which was a shame.

With the was the season ended where you disappointed when the season did end and what effect has that had on your winter break, has it gone by quick and have you been itching to get racing again?
I suppose it was a little frustrating that the season ended just as the results started to come my way but that’s no-one’s fault and nothing to get worried about but now the season is ready to start again I am getting excited again and I do think that is partly down to the way (2013) ended and I just hope we can start this year the same way we finished last year which won’t be easy to do. It’s been a busy winter with work, we’ve had plenty to keep us busy and a lot of that is because of being more involved with F2s now and me racing in the formula, has done the desired job of helping us promote our business and attracting more customers.

It’s no secret that your switch to the formula from the Superstox class at Spedeworth was motivated greatly by your business needs, can you explain a little more?
It’s one of those things that sometimes when you a car builder, the best way to make your business successful is for people to see your cars out there and hopefully doing well, everyone wants the best car they can and if there is a particular car doing well then it’s likely that’s the one people will go for. HCD used to be a big part of (BriSCA F2 Stockcars) in the 1990s but more recently we’ve faded away and perhaps become more associated with Superstox and we decided we needed to try and build ourselves back up in F2s for the good of our business and felt the best way to do that was to get an HCD car back out there and hopefully doing well and felt the best way to do that was if I raced it. It’s been a successful move so far, we knew it wouldn’t happen overnight. We’ve built a car for (798) Mark Sargent for the this year and it’s the first HCD car he’s had in a while and we’ve a growing following in Holland with the Schut family racing our cars and we’re hoping to attract some more customers this year, especially if I can keep going as well as I did at the end of last year. The business was a big reason for my switch but I had a great year of racing, I really enjoyed racing in the F2s and I’m looking forward to doing that again in 2014. I was asked quite often if F2s are better or worse than Superstox but I don’t see either as better or worse, I see them as completely different formulas and I’ve enjoyed them both a great deal. One of the things I like about the F2s though is the variety of drivers, you can race against 40 to 50 drivers at Mildenhall or King’s Lynn and then go to Stoke, Belle Vue or Sheffield and be racing against a completely different group of drivers and that is something I have really enjoyed.

Another big difference of course was the shale racing, how much shale experience did you have prior to the 2013 season and did you enjoy a year of mainly racing on shale tracks?
For all the years I’ve raced I really hadn’t done much on shale prior to last year. I had a dabble with a Saloon Stockcar in 1994 and did a few shale meetings which included a couple at Mildenhall which was the last time I’d raced there, although I did have a couple of wins during the time and aside from the annual Superstox meeting at Coventry in February we’d had the last few years that was it. I’ve really taken a liking to the shale, the thing which makes it so great for me is that you don’t need the best engine, the best car, the best tyres to do well, it’s more about the driver which is why on shale you still get home built cars as well as custom made ones and I think that is fantastic. A lot of people say tarmac racing has become predictable and honestly I don’t enjoy it anywhere near as much, I like the fact that on shale a race is not necessarily won by the best car, it’s much more exciting that way. At the World of Shale Championship meeting at Mildenhall I was leading the final into the last lap and there was a big pile-up on the final bend. I did a 360 degree spin and (145) Graham Mole nipped past and won and I managed to recover for second. Afterwards people expected me to be disappointed but I loved it, it was a fantastic race and that’s what it is all about and Mildenhall is very unique with its size which produces a unique type of racing which is often exciting.

Looking forward to 2014, have you any plans or goals?
I would like to qualify for the World of Shale Championship this year, that would be great to be in that race and have a shot at it but any time there is a championship on shale I will be there trying to qualify and having a go, I would also like to try and challenge for a track championship, that would be very special to win and be able to say I’ve been there and done that.

Before we talk track championships, the World Champion Semi Finals are at Mildenhall this year, is that something you have your eye on?
Yes it is. I think we are going to try and make a point of doing the (world) qualifying rounds on shale this year and it would be very good to get into a semi-final and even better if I could get a decent grid position. It would be even better still if I could qualify for the World Final but I’m not thinking about that very much at all, if I was able to qualify for the World Final, I’ll worry about it then.

Going back to track championships, having finished fifth in 2013, is the Mildenhall Track Championship something you have an eye on, especially as you finished fifth despite only racing at five of the nine F2 meetings at Mildenhall last year?
It is, I would love to win a track championship in the formula and that would be a great thing to say I’ve won. I really enjoy racing at Mildenhall and King’s Lynn and I’ve taking a bit of a liking to Sheffield as well, I think I finished second in the points there last year. Track championships are another thing which are quite different in F2s compared to Superstox, depending on the promotion there is quite a bit of appeal to a track championship in F2s which is something they don’t have in Superstox, it’s all about the one (National) points chart but I think that is simply because there are many promoters involved in F2s.

As well as your racing business, you are a very racing orientated family (all three of Colin’s children race, Jordan in a Superstox, Tommy in a Ministox and Sydney in a Nina Kart), will the rest of the families racing schedule prohibit your ability to challenge for a track title where commitment is a key factor?
I’m lucky that as it stands because of what we are trying to achieve with the business that racing the F2 is our priority at the moment and then we try to fit the kids in as best as we can. At the start of the year when all the fixtures are announced my wife sits down and plans the calendar and believe me it’s very, very busy but we try to keep all the kids happy but they understand the business has to come first and racing the F2 is a big part of that right now, so if I don’t win a track championship unfortunately I won’t be able to blame the kids and their racing!

Tommy is starting to creep towards the retirement age in Ministox, has he given any thoughts to the next stage of his racing career?
He’s got until August next year and at the moment he is stockcar mad and I mean Saloons or 1300s so as it stands it looks like being one of them, probably a 1300. He had a go in Lee Pearce’s car at Loch Gelly last year and drove really, really well in it, which gave him a big boost.

Anyone you would like to thank or mention?
The list is endless, the wife and the kids especially for all their understanding, especially with the travelling and the late nights and all the sponsors, again the list is endless but I must mention Lyndale Engines because they’ve been with me for so long, 1999 I think and built me a World Championship winning engine in the Superstox and they have been a huge part of helping me get to where I am now.

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