An Interview with Saloon Stockcar driver Swanny Jnr 538 Jake Swann
(interview published November 3 2015 in the lead up to the Saloon Stockcar ORCi Championship)

Age: 21
Home Town: March
Family: Single
Occupation: engine builder
Started Racing: Started in grass karts aged 10, Junior Bangers at Swaffham aged 12 and Saloon Stockcars aged 18

We are just a couple of days away now from the final saloon Stockcar meeting of the season and the ORCi Championship at Mildenhall, is this one you are looking forward to?
Well yes and no really. I am looking forward to it because I always look forward to the championship events as they are always a little bit special and usually good meetings and it’s always good to be a part of them, especially if you have a good day, it always feels a bit more special when you do well at a championship compared to doing well at just a regular meeting. But at the same time I’m kind of not looking forward to it because it marks the end of the season and to be honest I don’t really want the season to end (laughs). Don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to the break over the winter as are I’m sure most of the drivers, it’s one of the great things about the formula, that we have a proper closed season and a real chance to have a break from the racing over the winter which is important. It’s also good for me because it is getting colder and darker at night and it’s no fun trying to mixed season for me, it started really well but I struggled in the middle of the season. It wasn’t so much the car or even me really, I just wasn’t having the luck and was always in the wrong place at the wrong work on your car when it’s like that (laughs). But at the same time, things are going really well for me right now so I kind of don’t want the season to be over while I’m doing as well as I am at the moment (laughs). It’s been a bit of a time, that kind of thing. But just lately my luck seems to have got a lot better and I’ve been having better form because of it so as it’s all going so well, I don’t want it to stop just yet.

That said, do you see the ORCi Championship as a big opportunity for you?
I think it is an opportunity for me to try and least get into the championship which would be a pretty big deal for me. Any time I qualify for a championship I consider that an achievement, it’s such a hard formula that just to be a part of the big races in the year is a great thing and that will be my target on the day and I hope I would have a good shot at achieving that at least, it would be quite disappointing to not qualify for the final to be fair, especially at a track which I race at fairly regularly and go pretty well at. Anything more than that is just a bonus for me, I don’t think I’ve much of a chance of winning a race like this at the moment but you never know, it’s so unpredictable isn’t it and if you can be in the race you will have a chance, especially at Mildenhall which is one of the tracks where you really don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Over the years the ORCi Championship has been largely contested at tarmac tracks and this will be the first time you have competed in it on tarmac, do you think that gives you a better chance?
You would think that wouldn’t you but last year I did really well at Skegness and to be fair I didn’t do so bad the year before at Arena Essex. But last year was especially good and I qualified fifth or sixth for the big race which I was over the moon about. I had no idea until we went out for the race as we were lined up in the grid on track and no-one knew where we were until they called for us so I was pretty shocked when I was called so soon and lined up on the third row. I remember having (Steve) Webster and (Eddie) Darby alongside and behind me and that was a pretty cool feeling. Unfortunately the race itself didn’t go so well but it was a huge buzz for me to be that far up the grid, it would be brilliant to qualify as well this year but again I will be happy enough to just be in the championship itself.

On the subject of championships, you narrowly missed out on a place in this year’s World Final in the last chance race, was that a particular disappointment for you?
It was really. I got taken out in the last chance qualifier at the World Final last year at King’s Lynn and came back but missed out on qualifying by one place and I had a better qualifying position this year and really felt that I had a good shot at qualifying for the race for the first time and that was my target but the race didn’t go well and I missed out again. It was a disappointment but that’s racing isn’t and I’ll be back again to try next year.

How has 2015 been as a whole for you?
It’s been pretty good I think. Like I said it had a bit of a low point in the middle of the season where my luck just seemed to leave me but it’s been good that the car has been good pretty much all year and we’ve not had too many problems with that. I got up to blue grade recently which I was really pleased about and while I’m back to the yellow grade now I only missed out on staying blue by a little bit, I think my average score was one point lower than it needed to be so I didn’t miss by much and that was a good feeling. The National Championship weekend at King’s Lynn had been going well. I did well on the Saturday night in qualifying and qualified well for the big race but took a big hit in my last heat and hurt my ribs. Because I’d qualified so well I decided to give it a go on the Sunday but got it wrong at the start and hit the fence and hurt myself again so I had to retire and that was a shame.

With this season drawing to a close, are there any targets for next season?
Not especially, just to keep racing as much as I can and enjoying it but I am hoping to do a little more tarmac racing next year if I can as I’ve been doing pretty well on tarmac this year for the few meetings I have done so it would be good to try and build on that a little bit and I haven’t raced at Taunton or Cowdenbeath yet so I would like to try and visit them at some stage.

Mentioning tarmac, you have a one-car set up, how difficult is it for you to race on both surfaces and would you like to see the same tyre used for both surfaced in the formula to perhaps make it easier to race on both surfaces?
(laughs) Well to be honest it’s quite easy for me to race on shale and tarmac but that is mostly because I don’t really know too much about setting cars up and stuff like that so when we go to race on tarmac we pretty much change the four tyres and away we go (laughs). But I won my last race at Skegness so I guess it must be pretty good. Because we are finding it so straight forward to race on both surfaces is why I’m hoping to do a bit more on tarmac next year. Also me and dad enjoy going to classic car events (they own a Mk5 Ford Cortina and Mk2 Ford Escort respectively) which sometimes means I miss shale meetings so I’m hoping that by doing more on tarmac will mean I still do a full season while still doing these shows which I really enjoy. As for the tyres, I’m quite happy with how things are. The shale tyres wouldn’t work on tarmac because they don’t have the grip and the tarmac tyres on shale would be too fast and if we switched to another tyre we’d all have to buy new stuff so I’m quite happy with how it is right now. The only thing I would like to see is us using the shale rims on tarmac as well because the larger rims we use on tarmac are harder to find right now.

You are one of the many graduates of the Ministox at RDC into Saloon Stockcars, do you think Ministox is a good place for young drivers to hone their skills?
Yes it is. If you want to go into Bangers then I think Junior Bangers is fine, Ministox is just as good but if you want to go into Saloon Stockcars then I think Ministox is a great formula to start. It’s weird because I started in Junior Bangers, then had a little time in Ministox but then I went into National Bangers before switching to Saloons and when I did I found the things I learned in the Ministox were quite helpful.

As you mention you switched from National Bangers to Saloon Stockcars, something we are seeing more and more drivers doing right now, what made you switch and are you pleased to see more doing the same?
For us, it was simply because it was hard for us to do bangers because we didn’t have the space to store cars. We could only have one car at home at a time so we were having to keep cars at a variety of places which was quite difficult, with the saloon, it’s just the one car all the time so it’s a lot easier. But also bangers were starting to change and it was becoming less and less what I wanted to do and I think it has changed more and more since I switched and I think the drivers who aren’t enjoying the formula as much anymore, the Saloons is a fantastic alternative, especially now with the Zetec engines which are helping to reduce the costs, because that is one of the biggest issues at the moment in bangers, the cost of being competitive and it’s always good to see new people coming into your formula and helping to make the racing as good as it is.

On the subject of Zetec engines, how do you feel about their introduction this year?
I think they’ve been brilliant. I’ve been using one and so far, it’s been fantastic although admittedly I bought a new one from Fords rather than one from a scrap car. Hopefully it will still be good for next year as it’s still going well, in fact I think it’s got a little better with time so all being well I should get my monies worth from it. Although buying a new (engine) from Fords was obviously dearer it was still cheaper than having a built Pinto engine and the fact that people can use scrap engines and be competitive with them means a lot of people are able to come into the formula without spending huge amounts of money and I think it’s a big reason why we are seeing more people switch over.

Another talking point this year has been more and more drivers using personal safety equipment which is not mandatory in the sport to improve their safety, do you use any such equipment?
I’ve bought a Hans device and it is honestly one of the best things I have ever done and I would recommend them to everyone as since using it, I’ve barely had a stiff neck from racing. I crashed flat out into a stationary car at the UK Speedweekend and without I’m sure I would be in a real state the next day but instead I felt absolutely fine and I put that down to the Hans device. When people started using them I never really thought about it because I thought I wouldn’t be able to afford one but when I looked into it, they weren’t as expensive as I thought, mine cost £300 and while it was a little to wear at first I soon got used to it. I think a lot of people don’t think about getting one because they assume they are more expensive that they think but they aren’t so and I think everyone should at least look into getting one.

Have you any plans for the winter break and does having a good day at the ORCi Championship make it easier to do the work over the winter?
We’ve no major plans, only to re-shell the car which we pretty much do every year but at the moment everything has gone really well and providing the ORCi Championship does then we don’t have too much work to do over the winter so it will be nice to have a break. Ending the season well does make a difference, if only because you are a bit keener to get on and do the work planned so you’ve a better chance of being done on time for the new season, if you have a bad end to the season then you might not do any work for a couple of weeks and then when you do start you are already behind and it becomes a rush to get ready!

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My dad definitely, I couldn’t do any of this without him and everything he does for me but also everyone else who helps and Ivan Street who has taken me to a couple of meetings this year when Dad has been away.