An Interview with 2013 Ministox RDC Drivers and Mildenhall Track Champion 394 Liam Aspin
(interview published February 25 2014 in the lead up to round four of the 2014 Ministox Mildenhall Track Championship and 20th anniversary meeting)

Age: 15
Home Town: Muntford
Occupation: Studying for GCSE exams
Family: Girlfriend
Racing Career: Started Ministox aged 11

You were successful in winning the 2013 Ministox Mildenhall Track Championship, how big of an accomplishment was that for you?
It was massive, especially because I’d battled all season for it and come back from a bit of a bad run in the first half of the season. The second half of the year couldn’t have gone much better really but Cole Atkins (399) gave me a great fight and I think that made winning even more special because you had someone pushing you so hard all the way. I also think that helped me do so well because every race and every meeting I knew I had to really go for it and was taking more chances to try and get in front of him and outscore him so it was a really good battle and fantastic to finally come out on top, I was really pleased.

You also won the RDC Drivers Championship, what are your memories of that race?
The thing I remember the most was actually leading up to the race. After the last qualifying round I worked out where I would be on the grid and for two weeks, every day I was thinking about what I was going to do when the race started and I actually managed to do it. I couldn’t believe it worked and then the race got stopped and it was a complete restart. I was absolutely gutted because I knew the guys in front of me wouldn’t let me do it a second time so I needed a new plan. It was harder to get in the front the second time but I managed it after a few laps and then it was just as hard to stay in front. Leading a race like that is tough, especially because there was a good field of cars and so you were quickly in the back markers and you couldn’t worry too much about what was going on behind as you had to worry more about what was in front. It was a bit of a nightmare but I was so pleased to win it.

What was more special for you, the Mildenhall Track Championship or the RDC Drivers Championship?
Honestly they are as important as each other for me. Usually people say points titles are harder to win and I think that’s right but for the RDC Drivers Championship I’d spent all year qualifying so there was that element as well and it was a very hard race to win as well.

You’ve made an almost perfect start to the defence of your track championship, were you pleased to win the Winter Series at Mildenhall?
Definitely, especially because again I didn’t have a very good start and had to come from behind to win it so it was pretty tough and to be honest I don’t really like racing in the wet. I find it quite hard and it’s not my best racing conditions so it was really good to do so well in conditions I don’t particular like or tend to do my best in and hopefully it’ll be the start of another good year.

You raced with your silver roof for the first time on December 15 and actually won your first race with the silver roof, was that particularly special?
It was but it wasn’t until I drove off after the race that I realised exactly what I’d done. I think having the silver roof has made me think I need to work even harder because I know I’m going to be starting from the very back of the grid all season so it’s never going to be easy and so I was trying that little bit harder and on that day it paid off.

You also raced in the second heat on the January 26 meeting when the stadium was hit with a sudden storm, how difficult was it racing in the torrential rain?
Yeah, it was pretty hard. Luckily for me the rain started just before we went out and we were able to change the tyre pressures. We gambled that it would rain for the whole race which it did and the set-up we went for at the last minute worked pretty well but it was hard.

This season sees the reintroduction of official roof grade carrying championships to Ministox in 2014 with Mildenhall staging the ORCi Championship in 2014, are you pleased to see these events return to the formula and are you looking forward to the ORCi Championship at Mildenhall?
I think it’s great that the championships have come back, at the end of the day pretty much all the other junior formulas have championship races so I think it’s right that (ORCi Ministox) do as well. I’m really pleased the ORCi Championship is at Mildenhall this year. In recent years this has been the most important meeting of the season for us, it’s become kind of our World Final so it’s a big occasion and I’m looking forward to it, especially being on shale as I just haven’t quite managed to get the hang of racing on tarmac yet. But I hope to go to the other championships as well (the National at Northampton and British at Taunton) and do my best there as well.

What are your other goals and plans for 2014?
I want to try and defend the titles I won in 2013, that’s a big goal for the year and I also want to try and win the RDC Drivers Points Championship as well so that is something to go for. Other than that it’s just roughly the same as last year but there is a group of us planning to go to Loch Gelly for their weekend event in June and that’s something I’m looking forward to.

This is your final season in Ministox, have you made any plans for your future beyond this year?
Yes, I want to go into BriSCA F2 Stockcars. My cousin Jody Rutherford races them now and my other cousin Daniel Rutherford used to race them and they’ve also done Superstox and I just like the look of open wheeled stockcars and the style of racing so that’s what I’m going to go into hopefully but I want to stick to shale so I’ll continue racing at Mildenhall but I’ll also have the chance to race at other shale tracks which is something I’m looking forward too.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My dad and my uncle Gary, my cousin Daniel, Alan Gray, my family for all their support and all my sponsors as well who help so much. I’m very lucky because I don’t have a clue about cars so I’m very dependent on all these people helping me as I’m afraid to admit I’m an ‘arrive and drive’ person, I just don’t have a clue and when I try I’m very slow and just get in the way so without all these people helping I wouldn’t be able to do as well as I have and I’m very grateful.