An Interview with former Saloon Stockcar ORCi Champion 570 Simon Venni
(interview published August 25 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 Championship at Mildenhall on August 29)

Age: 25
Home Town: Spalding
Occupation: Commercial fitter
Family: Fiancé Melissa and three children
Racing career: Started racing Autograss aged 12

Congratulations on qualifying for your fifth World Final, is this still an event you look forward to and are you pleased to have qualified again?
Yes I am pleased. I think the thing that pleases you the most is that there are over 100 drivers racing in the formula and to finish in the top 24 in the World Rankings means you are among the best in the sport, especially in 2015 where it is getting harder and harder to get the results in the formula. Not only are there are a lot of drivers but drivers are doing more and more travelling and the lower graded drivers are also getting better and better. I think maybe having the Zetec engines has helped with the drivers a bit, because now everyone can be competitive without having to spend a large amount of money on their engine and that has made a big difference but the standards in the formula are definitely higher in 2015 and it’s getting harder to harder to stay up the top in Saloons so to be in the top 24 alone is a real achievement and something I’m really pleased about and of course it’s great to be in the World Final. It’s our biggest race of the year and it’s just something special to be a part of the race, it’s the only everyone wants to win.

Speaking of the World Rankings, you finished 20th this year, was that something you were pleased about?
It was and I think this has been one of my better years in the World Rankings. Normally I’m right around the cut off, either 24th or a little higher or lower but I’ve usually managed to get into the race so it was a little more comfortable this year which I was really pleased about. Again the standards in the formula this year are much higher I think than they were before, just with everything really, the drivers we have and the amount of them and more drivers seem to be putting more and more into their racing, especially with the travelling and that makes it tougher for everyone including myself so again finishing in the top 24 is a real achievement and to actually have a better (World Ranking) position than usual is even better. But I think the most important thing for me is that I’m really enjoying my racing again at the moment and that is the most important thing and much more important than race results and qualifying for championships. There was a time, a couple of years back when I really wasn’t enjoying my racing and did seriously think about calling it a day but we decided to build a new car and have one more real stab at it and see how it went and if I felt the same we’d know it was time to call it a day. But things got better and I’m really enjoying things again and everything is going well and that is the most important thing for me. What I also really enjoy is that is essentially just me, my old man and Kevin who do everything on the car. Now we are running a Zetec engine, we even do the engine ourselves as well and that makes having a good meeting or race all the more satisfying on a personal level because you know the result is from your own hard work, rather than just paying someone to do it for you and that is something we have really been enjoying as well.

You are set to start the race on the outside of row 9, how do you feel about your grid position, in particular about the prospect of starting on the outside?
I’m not too fussy to be honest. I guess being on the outside is a bit of a disadvantage really and at the start of the race everyone will be looking to get onto the inside of the track, that will be everyone’s first priority I think. It’s usually your first move in any race but it is especially the case at Mildenhall because if you are on the outside you are vulnerable and people can barge up the inside of you and sometimes at Mildenhall if there is a big grid of cars, which there will be in the World Final, it’s very easy to lose four or five places like that and it can happen in the blink of an eye. The advantage though at Mildenhall is that while you can lose that many places that quick you can also get them back on the next bend by doing the same thing yourself (laughs). The most important thing when you race at Mildenhall is keeping your head and not panicking when you get shuffled down the places a bit because if you keep your head you can get those spots back as soon as the next bend. That’s what I like about Mildenhall, it’s a track where you do have to use your bumper to get the places, it’s not a Hot Rod track and I’m not a Hot Rod driver so I enjoy that side of it. It’s so small and everything happens so quickly so most of the time you don’t have time to think, you just go on instinct and it makes for exciting racing. I was really unlucky in the English (Championship, in April). I made a good start and got away but a car span across the front of me and I blew a tyre and that was the end of my race. It happens that quickly there and I think that’s why the grid positions aren’t quite so important at Mildenhall as they might be somewhere else because so much of it will be down to your luck on the night. If it’s not your night, it doesn’t matter who you are, how you good you are and where you start, it’s just not going to happen for you.

There has been a fair bit of talk about the planned pre meeting practise session, despite being a regular at Mildenhall do you intend on taking advantage of it and do you think the practise session could have a positive effect on the race itself?
We are planning on getting there early to have a few laps. I don’t intend on doing a lap, just a few laps to make sure the car is ok and everything is doing what it should be doing and I imagine quite a few Mildenhall regulars will do the same thing. It’s more to put your mind at ease isn’t it, especially with the World Final being my first race, at every meeting, the first race is a little bit like stepping into the unknown if there isn’t a practise session because there could always be a problem you are unaware off so doing a few laps in the afternoon will I think help a lot of people, just with the nerves and stuff like that. But it will also help me as I missed (One Wild Weekend). We’d been flat out with work and to be honest I just needed a break and so had a weekend off from racing which I enjoyed and needed but it means I’ve now not raced at Mildenhall (since July 4) so I suspect a few laps might be helpful. I do think practise could make a difference with the race and help the visiting drivers be a bit more competitive. It’s always the way, if a driver racing on shale all the time they will then struggle if they race on tarmac and vice versa and obviously the more confident and on the pace the drivers are, the better the race will be and I would imagine a lot of the visiting drivers will be eager to make the most of practise to try and give themselves a better shot. It doesn’t bother me that they will have that opportunity at all, I think it’s better for the race and again if you have a good result and it comes from a race where everyone was competitive, that result means more than if only some of the drivers were. But I think the Mildenhall and shale drivers will still have an advantage. Again it would be the same with tarmac drivers on a tarmac track, there is just no substitute for racing at a track or on a surface all the time and it’s very hard to top that so I think the people who race at Mildenhall or at least on shale regularly will have an edge. The other thing is that shale tracks change all the time so I’ve no doubt the track will be different come the World Final compared to how it was in practise. Again that’s part of the reason why I only intend to do a few laps as there is no point setting up for how the track is in the afternoon as it will probably be different in the evening and that is something the shale drivers will be fully aware of. Having said that, at Mildenhall you never know what’s going to happen so I wouldn’t count anyone out.

You’re best World Final result is a fourth, which came in your debut at Mildenhall in 2010, does this remain a career highlight for you, are you at all disappointed to have not made the top 10 since and do you have a target for this year’s race?
The fourth in 2010 is certainly one of my best results, especially because it was my first World Final and so to finish on the podium in my first one really did mean a lot and was more than I could have ever expected so it really meant a lot to me. I’ve not been so worried about the World Finals since because with the exception of last year there have all been on tarmac so I never really expected to do any good if I’m honest and I’m certainly not disappointed that I didn’t. Last year was maybe a little more disappointing because being at King’s Lynn you would hope I might have done ok but I got caught up and dumped out. Again it can happen that quickly on shale and it will be even more so at Mildenhall I think but that makes getting a result all the more meaningful. Again what’s so great for us, is that every result we get is from our work and our work alone. Andy Mews built the car but the rest of it is me, dad and Kevin and the welding which James does for us so when we do well, it’s because of our work and that is what makes it so special and what would make winning this race so special, it’s more personal I think. But you try not to think about that so much, of course I’ll be trying to win and that is the goal but you never say that do you (laughs), I try to never say stuff like that, you just try and get on with it instead.

Can you give us a little insight on how much time you spend on average working on your car and are you planning on spending any extra time on the car ahead of the World Final?
Usually what we do is we work on the car on Tuesday and Thursday nights and if there is anything left, that is done on the Saturday. With the World Final I’m having (the August 22/23) weekend off and we intend on doing some work to smarten the car up and are repanelling a section of the car as well. I think it’s good to have the car looking good again for the biggest race of the year. Again it’s a bit of a mental thing really because if the car looks good, sometimes you think it will go as well as it looks, whereas if it’s all battered you are sometimes waiting for something to break (laughs). Trouble is this car has been going better since it’s been a bit battered than it did when it was brand new. Maybe we should leave it alone (laughs).

A big talking point this season has been the introduction of Zetec engines, is this something you are in favour of?
Definitely and I’ve been running one for a while now and I think they are great. Of course the best thing is that they are so much cheaper and once you have a car the engine is the most expensive thing and now the cost of that has been reduced greatly it’s a massive help. I think it’s made a big difference to the formula because not only has it brought more people in, especially banger drivers who have been using these engines for a while, because now the formula but I think it’s also helping existing drivers as well because by reducing the cost of an engine means drivers can use the money they would have spent on an engine elsewhere, either in diesel to get to more meetings, on tyres to maybe race more on tarmac and shale whereas before they would have done one or the other, or even spending the money on the family which obviously makes a big difference because having their support is crucial and if you are spending all your money on racing it can be a problem so however they spend the money instead, it certainly helps.

Mentioning tyres, there have been a lot of calls for the sport to return to one tyre on both shale and tarmac, is that something you would like to see?
It’s really difficult to be honest and I don’t know what should be done for the best but there is definitely an advantage to having one tyre and I suppose you’d use a new one on shale until it went bald and then you’d use it on tarmac and if you still only wanted to race on one surface, there would be someone who you could sell or buy the type of tyre you needed from. That part would be great but then you would have the argument over which tyre we should use or whether a third, different tyre would be better. Again it would be ok as long as drivers had plenty of notice so we could use up what we have and not buy loads more that would then be useless. I’ve probably got about 20 sets of tyres at the moment so I can race on shale and tarmac and I reckon plenty of others have more than that so if suddenly they were no good, people wouldn’t be happy.

Another talking point this season has been the spate of injuries seen this season in the sport, is that a cause of concern for you and is there anything you would like to see changed or introduced to the formula including more safety equipment for the driver which some drivers are already using?
Unfortunately I do think it is just one of those things and everyone who races Saloons knows what a hard formula it is and we all know the risks. With the safety equipment I do think it should be the driver’s choice. I use a back brace and I’ve a shoe horn type neckbrace which I’ve had for so long that (fiancé) Mel’s nan has had to stitch it back together for me because it’s so old but I wouldn’t race without either of them and I think they are excellent and I’m quite happy racing with that stuff and I think that should be my choice because what works for one driver, might not work for another. Also you can have a crash like what happened to Jake Banwell recently, he used a lot of extra safety gear and unfortunately he was still injured which I think shows it can still happen, no matter what steps you take, it’s a dangerous sport unfortunately but thankfully we’ve been pretty fortunate all things considered with the amount of injuries we’ve had.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My dad and Kevin mainly but also my brother Rowan who does a lot to help me as well and Melissa for putting up with me and all my racing and my granddad as well who helps sponsor me.