An Interview with former Saloon Stockcar British and English Champion 156 Darren Goudy
(interview published May 28 in the lead up to the 2014 European Championship at Mildenhall on June 7 and 8)

Age: 35
Home Town: Bacton
Occupation: HGV Mechanic
Family: Wife Julie and children Rosie and Harvey
Racing career: Started racing Ministox in 1991 at Ipswich

The European Championship is now only a few weeks away, are you thinking about it at all?
I don’t think so (laughs). We’ve a few meetings before then, I think the European is four meetings away for me at the moment (this interview was conducted on May 22) and I’ve always taken my racing one weekend at a time rather than worrying too much about what’s down the road and with championships, you try and treat them like any other meeting, although of course they are not.

Can you give us an idea of the amount of work that goes into preparing your cars and is there any extra work when it is a championship race?
It’s still an every night thing for me, or at least it is when you can because you still have a life and work and family (it’s worth noting that we had to postpone this interview as the previous night Darren had to work late and when we did speak to him we interrupted his lawn mowing duties) and that always has to come first. Thankfully I have a lot of help, my dad especially does so much and I could never do the amount of racing I do without him. We also have a shale and tarmac car now which helps a lot. It’s not made it any less work for me I don’t think but it has allowed me to do more meetings with the same amount of work because you don’t have to keep swapping the set up on the car from tarmac to shale and back again. When I had one car, there were times when I would give a meeting a miss just because it was too much work changing from one set up to another and then changing back the following weekend. With two cars I don’t have that problem so while the work load remains the same it does allow me to do a few more meetings which is nice because I love my racing so much. There shouldn’t be any more work involved in getting ready for a championship but I think I would be lying if I said I don’t spend a little more time, I should think everyone does, you just spend a little longer because you want to give yourself the best possible chance.

On the subject of chances, how do you rate your own?
(Laughs) Not very highly at the moment because I’m not happy with my shale car and I can’t get it to go how I want it to and I’m really struggling. A couple of years ago it was going really, really well but it’s not the same. I’m hoping it’s the car and not me (laughs) but with the way it is at the moment I’m not too confident but we will keep working on the car and trying to figure it out and get it back to how I want it to be and hopefully it might come in time for the European. It’s one of those things where if you keep plugging away, one meeting it will just click, we’ve been in this situation before so we know we need to keep working at it and we’ll get better but it is frustrating because the car has gone so much better than it’s going at the moment. Hopefully we’ll get some luck as well (laughs). Luck is a big part of it and with a championship like this, it’s one race, one meeting so you never know and you have to belief you can win, otherwise there is no point in showing up, after all, no-one remembers who comes second (laughs), like when I lost the European at King’s Lynn (in 2012) by however many hundreds of a second it was! That’s when the car was going really well, I just need to get it back like that now!

You’ve had championship success before winning the English and British Championships, were these titles the ones you wanted to win or do you have other targets and also both of these titles were won on tarmac so do you have any lingering ambitions to win a title on shale?
I’m not so worried about winning a title on both surfaces. It would be nice I suppose but a championship is a championship to me, they are always incredibly hard races to win and I’ve very proud to have won the British and English, especially because they were titles my father (Ray) won. We are the first father and son to have won the same championship which is pretty special and it would be nice to win the World as well as he also won that but I would love to win any championship race, after all these are the races we race all year for and having a championship roof on your car is always special. It was also fantastic for me to win the English and British because I can still remember those trophies being at home when dad was champion. Those championships are pretty special because they have the history and the trophy has been around for so long as well to have my name on it as well now is brilliant but I would love to win any championship race.

Having spoken about your own chances, who do you think the leading contenders will be?
Well there is obviously Dave Aldous, he’s going so well right now, Willie Skoyles Jnr is going well too and is usually there or there abouts but you also have guys like Carl Waterfield whose been going a lot better this season and Simon Venni has also been having some good results. I think most of the shale regulars will fancy their chances, especially because it’s likely to be unpredictable and you never really know what’s going to happen. You could see a surprise but I’m not sure you will, I think it will be one of the fancies drivers who wins it in the end but you never know.

This year’s Mildenhall staged championship is being held over a two day format, rather than one, do you prefer it that way?
I do actually, I think it’s good having it across a weekend as it makes it more of an event as when it’s on one day it sometimes feels over a bit quick. It also give drivers a chance to adjust and prepare for the championship on the Sunday after racing on the Saturday which I think is good and the two day format encourages drivers and fans to come back for the second day so I like it that way.

Speaking of big events on shale, the World Final is a few month away at King’s Lynn in August, is this something you are looking forward to yet?
You always look forward to the World Final, it’s still the big race of the year and the one we all want to win but I’d be looking forward to it more if my (shale) car was going better (laughs). I think if we can get the car going right I might have a good chance, again I came second in the European at Lynn (in 2012) in this car so it’s more than capable but if the race was tomorrow I think I might struggle.

If we can pick your brains about some more general issues in the formula, starting with race stoppages and restarts. Saloon Stockcar racing at Mildenhall sees more red flags used than any other track in the formula, are you happy for red flags to be used in certain situations and also do you agree that races stopped and restarted with a red flag should line up differently to a yellow flag?
I do agree that red flags should be used when needed. If you have a driver in trouble, especially if someone has rolled over, the race should be stopped immediately. The bottom line is when you are racing, things go so quickly that when you see a yellow flag sometimes you are not sure if it’s being waved or (a static flag) so I doubt anyone backs off the second they see a yellow flag. With a red flag it is different. When you see red, you know to stop and sometimes that is what needed to happen. I think it would be better if all restarts lined up the same because I think having different ways for different flags can cause confusion. Having said that I’m not sure what method would be best (laughs). I do think back markers should go to the back (as used with a red flag restart) so the race restarts (with the cars lined up first to last), but that could be really unfair to someone who is a lap down and then gets sent to the back as well. Maybe we could go back to how it used to be and restart the race with everyone back on the lead lap. I think that would be good but I don’t think you could do it if a guy was several laps down and it might also create a problem of drivers who are a lap down trying to bury someone to cause a stoppage to get their lap back which used to happen in my dad’s era so I really don’t know what would be best.

Picking up on one of your points, what are your thoughts on the current racing rules of the formula and the contact which is allowed?
I think it’s ok, everyone knows it’s a hard formula and that is why the drivers like it and the fans as well so I don’t think it should be changed, as long as people don’t deliberately ram others in the driver’s door, that’s the most important thing. I don’t think the following in is such a problem now because all our tracks are Armco or walls so you normally just bounce off. The great thing about this formula right now though is the drivers involved, there is an awful lot of respect I think between the drivers and that helps police it in a way so it all works well.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My mum, dad, wife and children for all their support and my sister and her children who support me so much as well, Cuthbert, Emmo and Ashley who are my main mechanics and do a massive amount to help me and everyone else who lends a hand and my sponsors Marina Logistics and Ray Goudy Trailer Repairs.