An Interview with defending Ministox British Champion 392 Charlie Morphey
(interview published June 22 2016 in the lead up to the 2016 Ministox British Championship at Mildenhall on July 2)

Age: 14
Home Town: Peasenhall
Occupation: Studying for GCSE exams
Family: Girlfriend Kiera
Racing career: Started Ministox aged 11 at Yarmouth

You are set to defend your British Championship at Mildenhall on July 2, are you looking forward to the night?
I am, it should be a good night and a good meeting. The meetings at Mildenhall are usually good ones but being a championship I’d think it will be a bit extra special, especially with a good few visiting drivers coming and a good field of drivers expected, I’d imagine it’s going to be a good one.

You’ve not had the best of seasons so far, have you been disappointed with your on track form and how do you rate your chances in the British Championship?
It’s been a hard year really. I’ve not been especially disappointed because I understand that things haven’t been going well and it’s more been about trying to overcome the problems. We had my car completely refurbished for the NEC show in January and it just hasn’t been right since and ever since then we’ve been trying to catch up. I then had engine problems which resulted in me using the old car I used on shale at all the meetings so the ORCi Championship at Hednesford was a real struggle and I wasn’t really in contention and that was a disappointment having won it before. But things seem to be going better now. Obviously you still want to do better but the car was a lot better (on June 18) at Mildenhall and that was really encouraging, we’ve got more work to do now between now and the British and hopefully if that keeps me going in the right direction it will be a massive help. It was a huge boost for me at the last meeting to see how much of an improvement we had made and I think that will help a lot in the British Championship because it’s given my confidence a big boost as well, as long as it’s just as good this time, I know that it’s down to me now, I can’t blame the car anymore (laughs). I’d like to think I will have a chance if the car is performing well again. It’s going to be tough though. When I won the ORCi Championship at Mildenhall (in 2014) I think I might have been starting the heat races in the yellow grade which obviously made things a lot easier. Sure, I still had to win the championship but starting at the front as the top scorer in the heats helped a lot, so this will be a lot harder but I’m looking forward to it, I think everyone out there will have a chance.

As a winner of the British and ORCi Championship, does one stand out more for you than the other?
When the championships where brought back into the formula I did say to myself that the British was the won I would like to win more than anything else, mainly because it has such a history and was the first championship the formula had so I always thought it would be cool to win that one. Not that winning the ORCi wasn’t special, that was my biggest win at the time and will always be really special for me.

The ORCi Championship in 2014 saw you followed home by older brother Will, did that make the result more special?
It did and in another way it didn’t. Of course, finishing 1-2 with my brother, especially at the end of his Ministox career was brilliant but at the same time I’m pretty sure that had he wanted to win that race he could have done, he did spin me out after we’d taken the chequered flag which I guess was his way of saying that (laughs). He’s never really said why he didn’t (take me out), I remember seeing him on my bumper on the last bend and having no idea what he was going to do, whether it was because he was retiring (from Ministox) or didn’t want to do something which could have taken us both out. So while it was cool for us to be 1-2, winning the British was a little extra special for me because I know that I didn’t only win it because the guy behind me was happy to settle for second. It’d funny because me and Will have a lot of banter where we talk about the other only winning because of something the other one did but last year we both had big wins, I had the British and he won the 1300cc Stockcar World and neither of us were in each other’s race so we definitely did them all by ourselves and no one can take that away from us and that’s special.

How tough was the British Championship race at Cowdenbeath?
No race is easy to win, especially at Cowdenbeath but that one was hard. Like the ORCi (in 2014) I managed to qualify on pole position and led the race at the start but honestly it was only when Dan Santry passed for me for the lead that I really switched on. It was like a switch was flipped and I realised I had to step my game up if I wanted to win it. What made the race so hard was the amount of stoppages. I don’t know many there were but in the end I was in the lead for each of them and they were tough because you knew one mistake could have been the end of the race for me. I was about ¾ of a lap from the win when the yellow flags came out again and they restarted the race with one lap left. My heart absolutely sunk when I saw the yellows come out but I was able to get myself together before the restart and got away again to win it. While it was hard, the fact that it was so hard also made winning the race more special.

Having won your previous titles from pole position, how important will the qualifying heats and a good starting place be in the British Championship?
I think it will certainly help. Ideally I think you want to be in the first three or four rows but for someone like me it’s going to be very important to just score some points to ensure you are starting in the front group, rather than from the very back of the grid because if you are at the back and there are other top drivers in the front group, it’s going to be very difficult to do well, unless a big crash takes everyone out. But that could happen, especially at Mildenhall and with so many cars expected in the race, you never know what is going to happen and so the winner could come from anywhere (on the grid) but I think the only way someone starting at the back will win is with a lot of crashes and some stoppages as well so everyone is going to want to be at least towards the front. It will be one of those nights where I think you need to use your head a bit more in the qualifying heats. Typically we are a family who always goes for the win regardless but on this night making sure you finish the race and score some points is going to be the priority and then just go for it in the final (laughs).

Does the prospect of 30 car races at Mildenhall benefit you?
I think it does and it doesn’t. Sometimes having a lot of cars can work in your favour and I like to think I’m pretty good at getting through traffic and stuff like that so usually I would say yes but of course the more cars there are, the more cars there are to pass to get to the front and that is never easy (laughs).

You are very ‘hands on’ with your race car, is that something you enjoy?
I do and since Will has started racing his 1300cc Stockcar I think I have got even more involved with the work on the car. When we both raced Ministox, Will did a lot of the work and while sometimes I felt he enjoyed telling me what to do, the truth was I was grateful for all his help because he does know what he’s talking about and most of the time he was right (laughs). But now he has his Stockcar he is having to spend more of his time on that because there is more work involved and while he does still help me when he can it is now more me and my dad. While dad does help he does try to let me do things myself and learn how to do things I don’t know and will usually set me straight when I’m not doing it properly. It’s cool being able to do that and I find that it makes having any success you have more meaningful. Doing well, especially winning a race, is always a great feeling but I have found that when it happens and you know part of that was down to your work off the track it just makes it all the more special.

Given the amount of junior formulas in the sport, why do you continue to race in Ministox?
I just think it is the best (junior) formula at the moment. I wouldn’t be interested in non-contact racing, the contact is a big attraction to me in the racing, I love being able to get stuck in and using your bumper to try and win a race and knowing someone else’s bumper could cause you to lose a race. We have done some Junior Banger meetings but to be honest that was very much just for fun, when we had time to build a car. I think the Junior Micra Stockcars have potential but they just haven’t taken off and with Ministox still going strong with good entries at most places I just think they are the best (junior) formula right now.

That sad, have you any plans for when you finish Ministox in just over a year’s time?
I definitely want to continue racing, that is for certain but we’ve not made any concrete plans although I imagine I will move into 1300cc Stockcars to start with. With my brother, dad and uncle all racing them it would make a lot of sense and I think in a lot of ways it’s a natural next step from Ministox and that is why you see so many Ministox drivers do well when they go into the formula, like my brother, because in many ways a 1300cc Stockcar is like a larger Ministox. But ultimately I would like to wind up in Saloon Stockcars. I think they are a fantastic formula to watch and the drivers are clearly nuts (laughs) and that is what I would like to do eventually but I don’t think it will happen straight after Ministox.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My dad for everything he does and financing my racing, Will for all his help especially with any steelwork he does, my mum for putting up with it all and our neighbours Lynn and Ray who are very understanding of the noise we make when we are in the shed, my sponsors and everyone else who helps.