An Interview with former two time Reliant Robin World Champion Screamer 143 Sam Begley
(interview published June 11 2014 in the lead up to the 2014 Reliant Robin Robin World Final

Age: 33
Home Town: Lancashire
Occupation: Grave digger
Family: Single
Racing career: Started racing at Autograss in 1996, first raced Reliant Robins in 1998/9

This season has seen you return to the Reliant Robin World Championship series with more commitment than the last few seasons, was there a special reason behind that?
A lot of it is because I would really like to be the first driver to win the World three times. There is now me and (Steve) Willis going for the hat trick and having been the first driver to win the championship twice it would mean a lot to be the first to win it three times so when Steve won it for the second time I thought maybe it was time to pull my finger out and have a go at winning it again. Winning the Championship for the second time was a really special thing for me, especially because I was the first driver to do it, that’s something that can never be taken away from you when you are the first so that was really cool, especially because it took so many years for it to have (the first World Final was in 1995 and Sam’s second win came in 2005) but it was made a bit more special because it then took a good few more years before Steve became the second driver to win it twice. That it’s such a rare thing for a driver to win it twice and that so few drivers have I think shows how hard it is to win this race and how unpredictable it is but now the challenge is to try and do the hat trick and I would love nothing more than to be the first driver to do that as well.

You started the qualifying series very strongly but then we didn’t see much of you in 2014 until the final round on May 24, was that by design or did you have problems?
I had hoped to do as many Mildenhall rounds as I could and was all set to do the January 1 round but honestly the weather was so bad at home that it really put me off. It’s 230 miles for us to get to Mildenhall and while I don’t dislike racing in the rain, it was just so bad at New Year that we decided it wouldn’t be the best idea and gave it a miss. Again I was all set to do the round in April but when we got a bit behind and then there was too much to do on the car to get it ready and so it wasn’t done in time so it hasn’t got quite to plan at all but I managed to do enough to qualify which was the important thing.

While you qualified fairly comfortably, you are in the second half of the grid, are you pleased with your starting position or would you have preferred to have been further up the grid?
I’m quite happy where I am. I’ve never won the World from the front, it’s always been a little way down the grid so I’m more than happy to go from there again. I don’t think there is such a thing as a good starting place, it all comes down to luck on the night. There is going to be some kind of carnage, especially at the start and it could happen anywhere. With so many top drivers at the front the smart money would suggest it will be there but then there are plenty of good drivers towards the back who need to make a good start and so it could happen there. You never know, which is always the case in the Reliants, I think as long as you are on the grid and can get through the first lap you are going to have a chance.

Is there anyone you think stands out as a leading contender this year?
I think James Ellis could be a hard one to beat this year. He’s going very well and he clearly wants to win the race very badly and if he gets away from the front I think he will be very difficult to catch but there are a lot of good drivers in the race, that’s why so few people have won it more than once and no one has successfully defended it yet because every year there are such good drivers out there so I think it will be a hard race and a very competitive one.

Your travelling mate Lee Waddington has qualified as well, is he pleased to be in the race?
Very much. He’s not been doing it quite as long as me but with all the miles we’ve put in, he’s chuffed to have got in and hoping to get somewhere from near the back.

We’ve mentioned the distance involved for you to race at Mildenhall, what is it about the raceway that attracts you and after all these years what is it about the formula that keeps your interest?
I love the track, I’ve raced at most tracks which run Robins and I honestly believe Mildenhall is the best suited track for the formula, being shale and a fairly small size, it’s just ideal for the Reliants and I think that helps make for good racing so it’s well worth the effort. There are many reasons I’ve enjoyed the formula for so many years, it’s such a fun formula, you always enjoy yourself and that is the most important thing but it is also a fairly cheap formula when compared to other formulas and also you can get lucky and get a few meetings from a car which helps a lot as well.

Having mentioned the weather conditions on January 1, coupled with the conditions on May 24, do you have a preference for the conditions at the World Final?
Usually I would say I would like a dry track but to be honest I was going really well at the last qualifying round when the track was wet. I know the results don’t really show it but I think that was more down to the lack of luck I had because the car was actually really fast and I was getting round well so if it was wet I don’t think it would be the end of the world for me, it might even give me a better chance starting towards the back.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My dad mainly, I would have never done all this without him and wouldn’t be able to do it now without him, he’s been a massive help, support and motivator in my racing and I him a massive amount and my misses and little boy for all their support as well.