An Interview with former BriSCA F2 Stockcar White and Yellow Grade Series Finalist 449 Mark Dorrill
(interview published September 16 2015 ahead of the 2015 White and Yellow Grade Series Final)

Age: 42
Home Town: Milton Keynes
Occupation: Mechanic
Family: Wife Lucy and daughter
Racing career: Started racing aged 18 in National Bangers at Northampton

It’s almost time for this year’s BriSCA F2 Stockcar White and Yellow Grade Series Final at Mildenhall, a race which you have again qualified for, is this one you look forward to during a season?
It is really, being a lower graded drivers the white and yellow grade series finals are usually good races and it’s always great to be a part of them. This race also acts as a bit of a motivator during the course of the season, especially at Mildenhall where you score attendance points towards the final so it kind of helps encourage you to do the meetings as well because you know you are scoring at least some points towards the final. This year has been particularly good for me and this is the best I’ve ever qualified for the race and when you see yourself doing well in a points chart that also encourages you to keep working hard and trying to score the points and stay or improve your position.

Would it be particularly disappointing for you if you hadn’t qualified for this race?
I guess so, but again with the way this one works with the attendance points I’d be pretty gutted if I didn’t qualify as I think that would have meant I wouldn’t have done any meetings at Mildenhall all year (laughs). I think if you do all the meetings you are going to be in the race and I think that’s good because there are some drivers out there who maybe don’t have the best cars or best equipment or maybe just aren’t as fast or whatever but they still put the same amount of effort into their racing as everyone else does and it’s good that they have a race they can work towards qualifying for and it’s good that they have a chance in a special race every season, I think that is why so many people really look forward to this race each season.

You mention that this year sees you qualify better than ever before, are you pleased to have finished the qualifying series in third place?
I am, usually I’ve been in the middle of the pack for this race so it’s nice to have qualified so well and be starting near the front. It’s been a pretty good season for me at Mildenhall and as I said the white and yellow grade series has been quite a motivator for me because when you see yourself doing well in the points it makes you want to keep doing well and try and do even better.

That said, how do you feel about your chances in the series final?
(laughs) Well knowing my luck, not too good probably! I seem to have the pace at the moment but just not the luck. I honestly think I am as fast as all the other drivers around me on the grid and believe I will be able to match them in the race but I just never seem to have the luck when I need it at Mildenhall which is I guess why I’ve still yet to win at Mildenhall. I’ve had some great races and been up there fighting for positions and in contention for wins and it usually all goes wrong at the end for me (laughs).

Does this frustrate you or does it give you added belief that eventually the wins will come?
I suppose it is a bit of both really but most frustration (laughs). At the time, it’s all frustration really but that’s in the heat of the moment and when things calm down a little you do start to realise that in fact you’ve done pretty well and the car was going really well and I always try and think that maybe one day it will all come together and the next meeting could be that day. I do believe that one day it will all come together and I feel like I’m getting closer and improving all the time so hopefully it will be sooner (laughs)!

What do you think the issues have been for you?
I always seem to have a bit of bad luck when it comes to tangling up with other cars. I think part of that came from all the years I raced National Bangers and you drive F2s so differently to bangers, it’s really quite incredible the difference really and the slightest mistake in an F2 and you clash wheels and that can be the end of the race so you have to really be ‘on it’ the whole way through. I think I’m getting a lot better at that, I’ve been (racing F2s) for about five years now so you would think I would finally have the hang of it by now (laughs). The other thing I’ve been trying to improve on is looking ahead in a race and trying to always plan the next bend before you get to it and that also makes a massive difference.

What about the car itself, are you making changes to that?
You are always trying new things with the car, usually it’s just small things to see if it makes an improvement. The biggest change I have made recently was switching the diff I use and that’s made a massive difference, I was really surprised at how big of a difference it made, it was quite incredible really and I wish I’d done it before now (laughs). Beyond that I’m always trying different things but it can be hard because I don’t race every weekend and sometimes it can take a little while to try a new idea and then you only need the weather to be bad or something and you don’t get a fair shot at seeing if it works so sometimes these things take a lot of time.

As you mentioned you switched from National Bangers to BriSCA F2 Stockcars about five years ago after a long career in bangers, can you explain why you did this?
Well I’d finished with Bangers and basically I’d got bored at the weekends and was looking for some racing to do. Don’t ask me why but I never really thought of Saloon Stockcars which seems to be the thing a lot of banger drivers are switching to now so I felt a F2 was really my best of the few options available to me. To be honest I went into them a little blind and really didn’t look into them as much as I should have done and bought a car without really knowing what I was buying or doing (laughs). Like a lot of banger drivers I think, I had the wrong idea that with a stockcar you simply raced at the weekend, put it away and it was ready for the next weekend when of course it is nothing like that, well not if you want half a chance (laughs), to be honest it’s not that much less work than when we were racing bangers. But I do enjoy it. Especially the shale racing. I’ve started doing a little more on tarmac. I had an old car which we did a bit of work on and dropped a Zetec engine in it and Northampton is only down the road for me but I enjoy the shale a lot more but it is good to get some more racing in but at the moment the car really isn’t that competitive and that takes a lot of the fun out really, with shale you can still compete without the best stuff and even if you can’t compete it’s still a lot of fun just because of the shale.

Mentioning Zetec engines, do you think this is a good move for BriSCA F2 Stockcars?
Absolutely. They are so much cheaper and who is going to spend a couple of thousand pounds on a Pinto when a couple of hundred will get you a Zetec? I’ve (a Zetec engine) in my tarmac car and when I have an issue with the Pinto in my shale car, that will have one as well. I think they are just as good, Rob Mitchell is proving that I think and I think it won’t be long before more and more drivers make the switch.

This season has seen car numbers at Mildenhall drop noticeably, an issue seen at the majority of shale tracks, do you have any opinions as to why this has been and do you think the racing has suffered?
I’m honestly not sure why because nothing has changed this year to the last few, if anything things are a little better because the cost of fuel has dropped a little which makes travelling a little less expensive. But it could be that the last couple of years were just especially good and we are now coming down from that peak, you know. I don’t think the racing has suffered at all, I think it’s been just as good because usually the formats are changed so there is just as many cars on the track, there are just fewer in the pits and sometimes now we get more races at a given meeting but the racing is still good, it’s just there isn’t quite as many of us this year and I don’t really know why.

2016 is set to be a big one for shale racing with the World Final at Mildenhall and the World Semi Finals at King’s Lynn, is trying to be a part of this a target for you?
It’s not a target really because I certainly won’t be travelling round all the tarmac meetings trying to get into a semi-final but I will certainly try and do the qualifying rounds I would have normally done and see if that is enough. It would of course be brilliant to get into a semi-final which would mean at least being in the consolation semi-final at the World Final meeting but I would like to think I would get a World Final meeting booking anyway and just to be a part of the biggest meeting of the year at one of my local tracks would be a fantastic so I’m looking forward to that although I’m not expecting to be a major part of the night (laughs).

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My mechanics Alan, Steve and my dad and my wife Lucy for her support.