An Interview with former BriSCA F2 Stockcar final winner at Mildenhall on May 10 259 Simon Farrington
(interview published June 4 2014 in the lead up to round four of the BriSCA F2 Stockcar Mildenhall Track Championship at Mildenhall on June 21)

Age: 49
Home Town: Coventry
Occupation: Painter and decorator
Family: Married to Jackie
Racing career: Started racing Ministox at Long Eaton aged 12 in 1974

The last Mildenhall F2 meeting was your first appearance of the season at Mildenhall, can you explain a little about the problems you’ve had at the start of the season?
I’ve had a pretty rubbish start to the year really. I blew my engine up at the first meeting of the year at King’s Lynn. It was my engine from the previous season and not a new one so it could have been worse as there were a few that night who blew brand new engines up but it was still a bit of a blow because obviously it takes time and money to fix an issue like that and at the moment a lot of mine is going into a new car I’m having built so the engine took me out of racing for a few weeks and then I hurt my hand racing at King’s Lynn a few weeks later when I got stuffed into a dead car. Thankfully I didn’t break anything but I hurt the tendons and it was pretty painful so again that meant no racing for a while and so the May (10) meeting at Mildenhall was my first one there of the year.

You had a pretty great evening with a third in the heat before winning the final, did you expected to do so well, especially as you hadn’t raced at the track since the end of September?
I’ve always been pretty good in the fact that I think I could have a year away from racing and come back and pick it up straight away. I first raced in 1974 but I’ve had time away over the years and whenever I’ve come back I’ve always been able to get back up to speed almost straight away so it’s definitely a strength I’ve got and Mildenhall is one of my favourite tracks so I was pretty confident I would be able to get round ok but the thing with Mildenhall is you can never go there and expect to have a good night. The track is such a lottery that there is never any guarantees but that’s why I like it so much and I think it’s the same with a lot of drivers. For me, it’s a proper stockcar track and I also like the fact that the (caution) flags are only used when they are needed, for me part of stockcar racing is avoiding the cars which have spun and crashed out and you get that at Mildenhall so every lap is different to the one before. Also at Mildenhall I don’t think there is a lot of difference between the speed of the white tops and the top drivers which again makes it so unpredictable. The car went really well in the heat but I was struggling to find a lot of grip. A few people I spoke to said they were having the same problem and I think that might be because of the warm weather we’d had so we made a few changes to try and make it go better in the final and I managed to win which was fantastic.

What are your memories of the final?
It was just one of those races where everything went my way and I had the luck and breaks when I needed it which is half the battle sometimes in stockcars. Even when I lost the lead, Martin Ford came past me and I honestly thought I would do well to either finish second or try and stay with him until the final lap and they try something then but he took himself out. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve no idea what happened, he came past me cleanly and maybe he thought I was going to try and take him out there and then and he went into the bend a bit hot but whatever happened he went round and I took the lead and I went from there.

You mentioned you have a new car in the pipeline, how is work going with that?
It should be on track at some point this season. I’m quite excited about it because I think it might surprise some people. The guy who is building it has never built a shale car before so I’m hoping it might raise a few eyebrows and I’m really pleased with but I want it be as good as I can before I race it and the plan is to try and do some testing with it before I actually race it so it might still be a while before it comes on track but hopefully it will be soon. In the meantime I’ve been using a car from Andrew Palmer whose been really helpful with my racing this season.

Despite your success at the last meeting do you feel the Mildenhall Track Championship might now be out of your reach and if so how do you rate your chances in the White and Yellow Grade series, especially after finishing second in last year’s final after a superb battle with Mark Clayton?
To be honest I don’t think I would ever have the greatest of chances in something like a track championship because while I do get some good results I do seem to struggle a bit with being consistent. I managed to do every Mildenhall meeting last season and finished sixth in the points which I was absolutely over the moon with. Given how well I did last time, maybe I could get something similar again this year, I don’t know, but it’s far from the most important thing to me. It would be great to qualify for the White and Yellow Grade Series Final again, especially because they were very kind to me last year. I raced in three of them and won 11 tyres which is pretty much my whole tyre budget for 2014 so that was great (laughs). The race with Mark was fantastic. He did have some luck with the yellow flags coming out when he needed them but I also had luck in that sense as well and it was a brilliant race to be a part of, but then those races usually are because everyone is at a similar ability, having started the year or spent some time in the year in the lower grades so it’s usually a good race.

The World of Shale Championship is at your home track of Coventry this season, is that something you have your eye on?
Not especially, I’m realistic to know that I’ve little chance of being able to chase or challenge for things like that now but at the same time it would be nice to qualify, I managed to squeeze in last year as third reserve I think and it was a brilliant race to be a part of but then again, it usually is. The introduction of attendance point hasn’t helped my chances really. I only race where I want to race which is largely Mildenhall, King’s Lynn and Coventry because they are fairly close and I like racing there. If I have a good meeting somewhere I might venture further afield but almost straight away I’m going to miss half the World of Shale qualifying rounds and so that puts me at a disadvantage. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they are there, to try and encourage drivers to do the meetings, but for me personally I think the drivers who score the most points should qualify rather than those with less race points but have been able to do more meetings.

The shale scene is having an excellent season in 2014, despite their being more shale fixtures, do you think having more dates is a good thing and why do you think the shale scene is so strong?
I’m all for more shale meetings, especially because I only want to race at some of the shale tracks and for me 15 or so meetings a year is fine so with the extra dates I can get more racing in where I want to race. The cost of travelling is hard for everyone now so having more meetings locally does help and I think there are enough shale drivers at the moment to support more meetings without the need for every shale driver to race at every meeting. There are a lot of reasons why I think shale is doing so well. The bottom line is that on tarmac you need ‘the’ car and a big budget for tyres and on shale you don’t need these things, look at Dave Massey, winning the World of Shale Championship in a car he built himself, that would never happen on tarmac and that is what out racing is all about. Also on shale, whenever you are on the grid you can honestly think to yourself that you have a chance and unfortunately I don’t think it’s the same on tarmac which is why more and more people are racing on shale instead.

This season saw a controversial change with the amount of prize money in the formula being reduced, what are your feelings on that?
It’s a hard one. I don’t have any idea what the promoters figures are but I believe that at a normal meeting a promoter would save around £100 from the reduction which I don’t think is too much myself but that money could really help a driver out. I don’t think it makes too much difference to the top drivers myself but I think it could make a difference to a lower graded driver whose now missing out on a few quid if they got a lower place and if nothing else that little prize money might give them a bit of encouragement which can go a long way. But, if the savings are making a difference and mean running the formula is more viable then fair enough, but for me, without knowing all the facts, I just can’t see it makes that much difference.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
All of my sponsors, I have a lot of help from a lot of people and I really appreciate all of it, Jackie for putting up with so much and being so supportive of my racing and making all the sacrifices that she does, all my friends who come and help out and especially my brother who does a lot and Andy Palmer whose been a massive help this season.