An Interview with reigning, defending and four time Saloon Stockcar World Champion 499 Dave Aldous
(interview published July 23 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 Championship at Mildenhall on August 29)

Age: 36
Home Town: Diss
Occupation: Builder
Family: Fiancé Trish and three children
Racing career: Started racing Ministox aged 14, debuted in Saloon Stockcars aged 16

At the time of this interview the World Final is a little over a month away, at what point do you start making special preparations, if you make any, for the big night?
I don’t know really. In years gone by when the World Final or any championship was coming up then you might start to think ahead and start making some extra plans for working on the car but the thing is now the standard and the effort being made by so many drivers means it’s pretty hard to even see how you would put any more work into work you are doing. At the same time, my life is very different to how it was a few years ago, certainly when I first won the World Final. That was before I had children, dogs and everything else you get when you grow up I guess (laughs). Back when I had my first World Championship win, my entire life was racing, that was it and nothing else mattered but it isn’t anywhere near like that anymore. I’m not saying it’s not important or that I don’t take it seriously because of course I do, but it isn’t life and death like it used to be at one point. I don’t have any routines with the car now, I just do the work when it’s needed, quite often there is a bit of a rush on the morning of a meeting, usually getting sufficient spares ready is something which catches me out but it’s not like the years when I was on the car, all night, every night and ever work got squeezed around the car. But at the same time, I feel that I still take my racing very seriously, at my age there wouldn’t be much point in doing it if I didn’t and I’ve always been the kind of guy who is mainly interested and motivated in winning races. Things like grade awards and smart car awards, while I appreciate their purpose, has never been a bit of me, I’ve never wanted to just take part, I want to be up the sharp end and be competitive, even if I’m not actually winning the race. And in order to be like that in 2015 you do have to put the effort in each and every week, it’s not like it was before, the standard in the formula has been raised so high, it’s incredible really. The extra effort that you would put in for a big meeting maybe 10 years ago, we’re all doing that for every meeting now so again it’s hard to picture how you could do anything more, although I suspect we’ll manage it somehow (laughs). The other thing I find now, is that meetings like this have a habit of creeping up on you a bit so sometimes it can be a bit of a mad panic when it’s finally on top of you.

You mention the standard in the formula at the moment, is that something you enjoy?
Absolutely. It’s funny because I’ve had the conversation with someone recently and people go on about the ‘good old days’ quite often but I honestly don’t think the formula has ever been as good as it is right now. Certainly for the amount of cars we have racing, where most weeks there are good entries of cars and I think with the Saloons that as long as there are enough cars, it doesn’t matter where it is, the racing will be good. Sure, there are some weeks where the numbers are low but that’s always been the case for as long as I can remember so nothing is different there but again the biggest difference as well as the numbers and the racing that produces is just the levels of effort everyone is putting in. We’ve so many new and young drivers in the formula as well and they are all just as good as the rest of us and making just as big an effort. I can’t single anyone driver out really but when you look around the pits before a meeting now, it’s all good, all the drivers are good and all their cars are good, there is no rubbish out there and I think that is the biggest difference in recent years, everyone comes to the meeting and means business. But that pushes you, as I said I’ve always wanted to be at the sharp end in whatever I do and with the way the bar has been raised by all the other drivers it does make you up your game as well. It’s great for the formula, it’s great for the people who enjoy watching the formula but I think it’s also great for the drivers because when you have success it means that bit more because you know you’ve really achieved something. I also think that the way things have gone lately that a lot of people look at the formula in a much better way. I felt that there was once a time where people just thought Saloons were bangers with bumpers and I don’t think that is the case anymore, people see our cars as proper race cars and a proper machine and I think over the last few years the drivers in the formula have suddenly gained a lot more respect from fans and drivers in other formulas. You hear it quite often where people say we’re the best formula at the moment and I think that is a relatively new thing but it’s very good to hear people thinking so highly of the formula and everyone involved and it’s great to be a part of that.

You have finished second in the World Ranking points and are set to start the big race on the outside of the front row, are you happy with that position?
To be really honest, I’m not too worried, especially with it being at Mildenhall. To be fair, being on shale I don’t think it makes too much difference where you start, sometimes with shale you can get more drive starting on the outside and find better grip, every race on shale, the track is a little different so you never know until you get there. I started the World last year in the same position and everything went my way and I won but then you have a race like the English last year where I started on the outside near the front and I barely made the flag and bang, I was upside down and out of the race. You never know what’s going to happen do you and that is especially the case with Mildenhall. It’s probably our most unpredictable track and pound for pound I’d say it’s probably the toughest track we race at regularly. You do tend to get more damage from a meeting at Mildenhall compared to anywhere else. That’s just down to the track itself more than anything else, it’s that much smaller so you find you are always surrounded by cars, ever if the entry is a little down on other meetings, it’s very rare you’ll be racing at Mildenhall and find yourself on your own on the track, it just doesn’t happen. So there is that challenge, you always have to push hard and one mistake can end everything. Again where I have other things in my life now which are more important than racing I’ve not paid quite as much attention to the points this year as I had in the past. I knew I would be in the top 24 and I think that’s what matters the most. As long as you are in it, you have a chance.

At Mildenhall, the tradition remains that the driver on pole controls the start, dictating the pace and when to accelerate, would that position have given you an advantage and do you agree that the driver on pole should control the start?
I don’t know how much of an advantage it gives you, I think it’s all down to what happens in the race, sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn’t but I’m not too worried about not being on pole because as I said I don’t think it’s the be all and end all, just being in the race is the most important thing. I’m not too worried about how the races start either but I do think it should be the same everywhere. We are a national formula so I think there should be more consistency. We had the green tyre at King’s Lynn and Cowdenbeath where the field accelerated when the first row reached the tyre but that seems to not be used quite as much anymore, again it doesn’t bother me too much how we start races but I think it should be the same everywhere. I find the inconsistencies a little frustrating and I felt that I lost the race in 2011 when I was defending at Skegness. I’d been at the front and controlling the starts and there’d been a restart and on the next one I was basically threatened by the steward that if I did it again I’d be docked and I got followed in by the pack. For all I know Eddie Darby would have caught me anyway but that did bother me at the time, mainly because it wasn’t clear about how the races would start. If everyone knows the guy at the front is in control and that is stuck to then fair enough, we all know where we stand.

You have already broke so many records, the only driver to win more than three World titles with four championship victories and you are still the only driver to win the race on tarmac and shale, what would a fifth World title mean to you?
Pass (laughs)! I don’t know, it would mean a lot but at the same time at this stage in my life it’s not the most important thing to me anymore. I’m already so happy with what I’ve achieved. I wouldn’t say it’s more than what I dreamed off because you always dream big but it is more than I ever though I would achieve, it’s been incredible and another World Championship would just be, I’m not sure there are words really because it’s very difficult to describe what winning four means. But even though I admit it’s not the number one priority in my life anymore that’s not to say I don’t mean business, I’ll be putting everything I can into the race, both before the meeting and on the night, it’s pretty relentless as well but that’s what I enjoy, being competitive and being at the sharp end of the race and in the mix with all the other great drivers out there, and there are so many in the formula right now.

It’s been a common conversation theme this season about your lack of race wins, is that any cause for concern heading into the championship and how do you rate your chances?
It’s not really been a concern. There is a few reasons for that, the first has been how my life has changed now and the racing not being quite as life and death to me and having other things which are more important but there have been other things. At the start of the season the car almost became something of a sideshow because work was so busy and it was hard to spend the time we needed to be spending on the car and again if you are not doing that with the current standard in the sport you do get left behind and I really saw that at the start of the season but there wasn’t too much I could do about it. But I think the car was always good enough and as the season has gone on it’s got better and better with the work we’ve done. While I might have had as many wins as other years, I feel that it’s still in me and in the car to get those wins. I felt pretty unlucky a couple of times at King’s Lynn at the start of the year where some decisions didn’t go my way and cost me wins and the last time at Mildenhall, I didn’t get a win but the car was going brilliantly and I was getting good results and was really happy with how it went. It was the same at the English, the car went brilliantly well in the heats but then look at how the final ended (laughs) so you just don’t know do you but I do think that it’s in me and in the car to do well again in the World Final but it’s all down to how things go on the night, it only takes one person to decide you’re not winning and it doesn’t matter how good you or the car is, you’re not going to be winning.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
There are so many now, but all the people who’ve helped in some way over the years. I get so much support now and I really couldn’t do it without them so I am so grateful to them all. There is Wayne and my stepson Justin who are my biggest helpers in the shed along with Luke, Sid and Bruiser who also give a lot of time to helping me and you’ve then got John Owen from DK Salvage, Steve Eaton from Eaton Commercials, Roy Allen, Roydon Service Station, David Nudd, Jay at Lindale Engines, Roundwheel Racewear, Allens Haulage, Owens Horseboxes, Blastpower Services, Chris Signs, Kev Wickham and Granville Supplies. There are others, some prefer to not be known but they all know who they are and I’m grateful to them all.

The rest of this detailed interview with Dave Aldous will appear in the official race programme at the 2015 Saloon Stockcar World Final at Mildenhall on August 29

Click here to go to Interviews page