An Interview with Saloon Stockcar driver 670 Ross Watters
(interview published August 12 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 Championship at Mildenhall on August 29)

Age: 20
Home Town: Leven
Occupation: Apprentice mechanic
Family: Girlfriend Marnie
Racing career: Started racing in Ministox aged 10 at Barford and Saloon Stockcars in 2012 at Cowdenbeath

This will be your third World Final in as many years but your first at Mildenhall, are you looking forward to it?
Yes, I’m really pleased to have qualified again, especially as I think it is getting harder and harder every year just to qualify so again just making the top 24 for the third year was something I was very pleased to do. The World Final is a big goal for me every year, it’s our biggest race of the season and I always want to try and be a part of it so I’m always thinking about the World Final and trying to do what’s needed to qualify for it and it’s great that I’ve done it again.

You mention that you think it’s getting harder and harder to qualify for the World Final and many have spoken of the increased standard of racing in the sport recently, do you think that is the reason why?
It’s definitely a big part of it but I think also the amount of dedication some drivers are showing right now is a massive amount because so many drivers are doing so much travelling right now and that allows them to score a lot more track championship points so the travelling has become really important. The problem we have in Scotland is that there is so many meetings at Cowdenbeath that it does restrict your options for travelling a little because we race most Saturday nights and then it is a long haul to race somewhere Sunday as our closest track is Skegness and that’s not exactly local (laughs). If we weren’t racing on the Saturday and there were a couple of meetings in England then maybe you would see some more Scottish drivers travel down for the two meetings but if you have a meeting 20minutes from home you’re not going to drive seven hours to one instead. It’s difficult though because there is the argument that we need the racing at home to keep the formula healthy so I don’t know what the option is but anyway the travelling is a big part of the World Rankings and there are so many drivers doing so much at the minute that it’s really raised the standard in the formula and made it even harder to qualify for the World.

Having said that, this year is your best result in the World Rankings so you must be pleased with that?
Yes, I’m really pleased because it’s the first time I have finished in the top 20 as the last two years I’ve been a little lower so to see some improvement with my World Ranking position is brilliant and I’m very pleased to have managed that, especially because again everything is so much harder now so to see that I’m actually doing a little better is a huge result for me. I’ve also not had much luck in any of the big races over the last year so it’s not been easy to qualify so well, I’m hoping that over the next year I might get a couple of good championship results which might help me move up the chart a little more but as far as this year goes I think I’ve probably done about the best that I could have asked for, I never seem to have much luck in the championships (laughs).

Not only will this be your first World Final at Mildenhall but it will be your track debut as well, is that quite a daunting thing competing in the biggest race of the year at a track you’ve never raced at?
I’ve never even been there before (laughs)! So when we come down for the World it will be the first time I’ve ever seen the track with my own eyes! It is daunting but at the same time it’s very exciting as well and although I’m sure I will be quite nervous on the night I know I will be very excited as well. The World Final is always exciting, the buzz and atmosphere is amazing, so to do that at a track you’ve never raced at will definitely be a little special. The way I see it, as I’ve never raced there before I’ve kind of got nothing to lose, there is no expectations on me at all so I can just go for it and do my best and enjoy it and whatever happens, happens, if I get a result it will be a massive bonus.

Presumably you will be hoping to make the most of the planned practise session in the afternoon, how important will that be for your chances?
It could make a massive difference. Last year at King’s Lynn we didn’t have any practise which I understand because it’s a shale track and they don’t usually have practise so I found it pretty tough in the main race and struggled but as the weekend went on we kept changing and trying things and the car did get better as the weekend went on and by the end of the weekend we were going pretty well so you do think that if there had been practise it might have helped me out a bit because we might have got better a little quicker (laughs). That’s obviously what we are hoping for this year, to get there in time to make the most of practise and try as many different things as we can and see if we can make things better before the World Final and hopefully give ourselves a chance. I think it’s good that practise is planned. Again I can understand why it’s not always possible at a shale track but I think having it will be really good, especially for people like myself who don’t race on it very often and give us a chance to get ourselves ready for the race and hopefully if we can it will make the race even better.

As mentioned, you do have some shale experience though from visiting King’s Lynn, do you think that will help you here?
I hope so, but I guess we will have to wait and see. I’ve seen videos from Mildenhall and obviously it’s a much smaller track but I’ve managed to get the car going ok when I’ve been to Lynn so hopefully if we can take that and then make a few changes on the night to accommodate the size of the track at Mildenhall then hopefully we’ll be on the right track. I’ve really enjoyed my meetings on shale though and I came down at the start of the year for the Clive Grief Memorial when it rained all night and I really enjoyed that as well. I find the racing on shale is a bit more ‘crash and bash’ and that is definitely a bit of me and I like that kind of racing and from what I’ve seen and been told Mildenhall is even more like that, because of its size so I definitely think the track is going to be well suited for me, again it’s why I’m so excited to have qualified and be racing there for the first time. I’d like to race on shale more but again it’s hard because we have so much racing for us in Scotland that there aren’t too many free weekends off when we can come down, it also doesn’t help that most of the shale meetings are on Saturdays when we have Cowdenbeath (laughs).

This season has seen a noticeable lack of Scottish drivers qualify for the World Final, do you put that down to the amount of travelling needed to qualify for the World Final at the moment that you already mentioned and the difficulties some Scottish drivers have in doing this?
I think that is part of it but also I think because the World Final is on shale this year so there is a little less interest among some Scottish drivers to try and qualify and I think with the World being back on tarmac now for the next three years you will see some Scottish drivers trying harder to qualify and will probably see more get in which will make it even harder for drivers to qualify (laughs). Personally I cannot understand why a driver would be less interested in qualifying for the World just because of the track surface it is being held on. It’s the World Final and the biggest race of the year and if you are racing in the formula then surely you want to be in it so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Also for me personally, a big goal of mine is to finally crack racing on both surfaces. I don’t want to be just good on one surface, I want to be able to win races and be competitive on both because all of the best drivers can do it on both surfaces and the only way I’m going to get good enough to do that is to race on it as much as I can.

Have you any targets for this year’s World Final and how achievable do you think that goal is?
I still haven’t finished a World Final yet (laughs) so that’s my first goal. I just want to finish it really, I’d be more than happy to do that but I honestly think if you can finish you’ve a good chance at getting in the top 10 and that would be a brilliant result for me and I’d be well chuffed with that. I think I’ve got a chance, it all depends on how the first half of the race is. If you can survive it then you’re in with a chance, even if you get taken out, the great thing about shale is most drivers do get taken out in a usual race and I think this will be the same so the important thing is to just keep going and going. I can’t see me being in with a chance of winning this year but a first top 10 would almost be like winning and if I can finish the race then I see no reason why that’s not possible. I suppose I’ve a one in 34 chance (laughs).

How do you feel your season has been going?
It’s been a bit of a bad year to be completely honest because I’ve just had so much bad luck, especially at Cowdenbeath. I’ve done pretty well anywhere else, except in big races but at home I’ve really struggled and I think part of that has been down to the introduction of Zetec engines because I think they are better at Cowdenbeath than the Pintos. We’ve seen the lap record get broken a couple of times at Cowdenbeath this year and they were from drivers using Zetecs, before a good lap there was about 15.2 seconds and now it’s closer to 15 seconds and over 16 laps that adds up. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’ve done a good job at making the Zetec very comparable to the Pinto but I think the engines are slightly better at different tracks and at Cowdenbeath, especially if there aren’t many cars, the Zetec is a better one but a small track or when there is more traffic I think the Pinto has a small edge so my plan is to stick with my Pinto for Mildenhall because I think that will be best there. But introducing the Zetec is a good thing, it’s a no brainer really when you can have a competitive engine for a few hundred quid rather than a few thousand. I am about to try a Zetec engine soon, I actually ordered a new one from Fords but it’s taken longer than I had hoped to arrive so I’ve found a scrap one for £150 and am going to use that first. Some people have said the only problem with the scrap engines is their reliability, but if it’s only cost a couple of hundred quid it’s not the end of the world is it. What I’m hoping now is to have a go with the scrap one to figure it out and then use the new one when I’ve done that. I do think the cheaper engines are helping to get more drivers out there, we’ve seen numbers improve at Cowdenbeath so that’s a great thing, the only thing is I hope they don’t allow anything to change what we have. These engines need to stay standard and that needs to be policed because we don’t want to be going any faster.

That brings us to another talking point this year has been the unfortunate amount of driver injuries, is there anything you think can be done to improve things?
I’m not sure really. I think the cars are about as good as they can be, it’s just such a hard formula and unfortunately accidents can and always will happen. I use a few things to help me in the car, I’ve shoulder pads on my seat belts and a back brace which I find help me and I’ve thought about getting a Hans device but I’m terrible really because when I have some spare money I always spend it on the car (laughs). I know that’s silly, but I can’t help it but I’m still not sure a Hans device would be good for me, it’s something I need to look into but I know more and more people are using them and the ones I know think they are really good. It’s difficult with these things but I think it’s best for the drivers to have the freedom to choose what is best for them.

We often ask stockcar drivers this but as Mildenhall tends to use red flags more often to stop raced that most races are you happy for red flags to be used when needed and what do you think to the change in rules this year where on lap sheet order restarts after red flags that back markers now stay in position rather than go to the back of the grid?
I’ve no problem with red flags being used, it doesn’t bother me at all but I think the changes for the restart is important, back markers should stay where they were, I think that is fairer for everyone.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My mum and dad, Marnie, all my sponsors, my uncle Bobby and Kev, I think they are the main ones but there are plenty of others who help out and I’m very grateful to all of them.