An Interview with Reliant Robin World Final debutante 03 Scott Russell
(interview published June 29 2016 ahead of the 2016 Reliant Robin World Final)

Age: 21
Home town: Enfield
Occupation: Tree Surgeon
Family: Girlfriend Charlie
Started racing: Aged 7 in Ninja Karts at Arena Essex (Rolling Thunder Show)

You are set to make your Reliant Robin World Final debut on July 2, are you looking forward to it?
I am, especially as it has been a bit of a surprise. This has been my first full season in the Robins and when I started out I never gave much thought at all to qualifying for the World Final, if I’m honest I didn’t think it was within my reach so I never considered it and then suddenly I was doing quite well in the points and thought I owed it to myself to give it a good shot, which was why we went to Dover for the qualifying round there this year. I’m really glad I made the effort because just to be in the race is good enough for me, again especially as it is my first time of trying to qualify, that makes it extra special and I’m looking forward to the night, I’m sure it will be good.

Are you pleased with your qualifying position and potential grid place on the grid and have you any targets for the race?
I’m pleased just to be in the race. When I started to think about trying to make an effort to qualify, it was to just do that, just to get on the grid so honestly I would have been happy wherever I was but to qualify pretty comfortably in the end and be around half way up the grid is really great and I’m really pleased to have done so well. Again being my first year trying, I guess my expectations were maybe a little lower but just to be in the race for the first time is really cool. As for the race itself, I don’t know. I guess I have a chance but so does everyone else (laughs). There are some really good drivers in the formula at the moment and picking one to win is almost impossible and obviously most of the top drivers are starting near the front and it wouldn’t take very much for them to all crash out, you never know what’s going to happen as this racing is so unpredictable so there could easily be a chance for me. I’ll give it my best shot, of course when the race starts I’ll be trying to get near the front and if things go well I’ll keep on going for it because to get a result in a race like this would be absolutely brilliant. But if it all goes wrong, then maybe we’ll have a change of plan (laughs), I’ll just take it as it comes, as long as I enjoy it, that’s the most important thing.

How are preparations for the race going so far?
(laughs) Well they aren’t really at the moment! I’m using the Regal Van I raced at the last qualifying round and it needs a bit of work doing to it before the World Final but nothing too serious and I guess because I know there isn’t too much to do, I’ve kept putting it off but it will be ready in good time. That is one of the things I really like about the Robins, there aren’t too many meetings each season so you can do a full year and there is plenty of time in between to enjoy other things in life. When I was racing (Rookie) Bangers, I was on the cars all the time and it can get pretty stressful so I’m finding racing the Robins a lot more relaxing (laughs). I guess I could have just done a similar number of meetings in the Bangers to what I’m doing in the Robins but I find that when you are missing meetings, you feel like you are missing out and being left behind whereas with the Robins it’s ok for me to do a full season and I really like that.

Where there other reasons for committing more to the Reliants?
Obviously my brother (Dale) had been racing them for a while and I’d had a couple of go’s and had always enjoyed it but with my other racing it was a bit much to do the Robins all the time. At the same time I was getting a little frustrated with the (Rookie) Bangers and it was becoming less and less of what I wanted to do. There were a few rules that I didn’t agree with which to be honest I thought were a little silly and were spoiling it for me and also there was the issue of people spending more and more money on tyres which I found crazy. It’s bad enough what people spend on tyres in National Bangers but (Rookie) Bangers are not meant to be about that so when it started to become just as bad that was when I decided enough was enough and it was time to try something different. I’d enjoyed the Robin meetings I had done so I decided to give that a go but take it a little more seriously and I’m really glad I have because I’m really enjoying it. The racing is always fun, which is what racing is meant to be and again the number of meetings each year helps a lot because I can do every meeting without it taking over my life (laughs).

You mentioned your Regal van you raced at the final qualifying round with your brother racing one as well, was that something you enjoyed?
Yeah it was brilliant. Dale had had his one for a while, about two and half years I think and it came from South Wales. We decided it would be cool to try and get another and race them as a pair. It took a while but eventually we got another one and then we got on with it and built them and it was cool that the meeting was the pre 70 night so it worked out well. The second one actually came from James Ellis and he needed a bit of arm twisting to part with it but it was worth the effort in the end and I was so impressed with how well they went, mine was as quick as any other car out there and any other Robin I have raced which I was really surprised with. I thought, being so old they would be very slow as well and no good at all, they would just look good and probably get wrecked in a meeting but they were far from it, hence why I’m racing mine again in the World Final. The plan originally was to race a new one because I never expected the Regal to last but it did and it was just as good as any other car I’ve had so why not. We are already looking out for more to race in the future (laughs).

As a relative newcomer to the Reliant Robins, how difficult is it to source cars to race?
They are out there, you just have to make the effort to look and sometimes you have to travel a little further than you might like to get them but they are out there. When I decided to race the Robins more, I did the usual thing, looked on eBay and Gumtree and was able to find a handful of cars pretty quickly and now between me and Dale we’ve a garden full of them (laughs) so we have to resist buying more until we’ve wrecked some of the ones we have because we don’t have room for more. They can be quite expensive to be fair but the great thing about them is usually you can get a couple of meetings at least from one car so that helps make them cheaper. My brother has been using a car for the best part of a year now so while the car was fairly expensive, spread out over a season, it’s not so bad.

Have you any future plans for your racing?
I’m hoping to try some new places with the Robin. I’m booked in to go to Lochgelly in August which I’m really looking forward to. Unfortunately Dale can’t go now which is a shame but I’m still going to go and that will be something different. I’ve never been to the track before but I have heard good things about it so that should be good and to be honest I fancy trying to go to as many different tracks as I can that race Robins in the next year or so, as long as the meetings don’t clash with RDC ones. I’ve already got Grimley and Mendips pencilled in as I believe their Robin meetings are pretty good and maybe King’s Lynn as well.

You have also enjoyed the odd National Banger outing in the past, might we see more of that in the future?
I hope so. I tend to just stick to novelty events or RWD meetings, those are the kind of meetings I enjoy, the ones where it’s much more about having fun than anything else and while I don’t think I would ever do National Bangers on a regular basis I do hope to do a few things that look like ones I’d enjoy as and when they come up.

Do you and your brother enjoy a competitive relationship on the track?
(laughs) Yeah we certainly do. I’ve not long been running a mirror in my car and recently there was an incident when Dale was behind me and he reckoned I was holding him up and wouldn’t get out of his way but I didn’t know it was him, not that I would have got out of his way anyway, he would have only held me up then (laughs). We do have a lot of banter between us, especially when one does better than the other but we always get on great and while we tend to do most of the work on our cars on own as we fit it in when we can but if we need each other, we’re always there and racing with him does make it more fun.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My mum and dad for everything they do and my brother, my misses for her support and everyone else who helps.