An Interview with Saloon Stockcar rising star Shin 888 Shane Emerson
(interview published April 13 2016 in the lead up to round three of the 2016 Mildenhall Track Championship on April 30)

Age: 23
Home Town: North Walsham
Occupation: Shed and fence builder
Family: Single
Started Racing: Aged 13 in Ministox at Spedeworth

You have enjoyed a fine start to the season and in the first grading chart of the year you are not only inside the top 20 but just outside of the top 10, are you pleased with how the season has started?
Yes, I’m, very pleased if I’m honest, it’s gone really well so far and I’ve really been enjoying it but then I guess when things are going well you do tend to enjoy them more don’t you (laughs).

Do you think there is a reason behind your success at this stage of the season, are you doing anything differently?
Well I guess the only thing I am sort of doing differently is the work I put into the car and I have been making more of an effort with the car and the preparation between each meeting. But again, that comes with doing well at the meetings because when you have a good weekend of racing you are then so much more motivated to work on the car in the week before the next meeting that you would be if you’d had a bad meeting so I think doing the extra work has helped me have better meetings and having better meetings has helped me do the work that is required. Last year in my first season in the stockcars I think I was very guilty of not putting in the time and work that was needed and treated the stockcar a bit like my bangers when I raced them when I would just bodge stuff together, you can’t do that with the stockcars, you have to do things right if you want to do well and I think I have really seen that this year?

Did you put a lot of work into the car during the winter break?
Yes, we stripped the car right down, I even put a new rollcage in the car as well so we were really busy during the winter but it paid off because everything was pretty much done about a month before the season opener which was great because it meant there was no last minute rushing around and I could have a bit of a breather and also take the time to make sure everything was how I wanted it to be before the first meeting. Again I would like to think that all that effort during the winter has paid off with how things have been going so far this year, either way the results and meetings I’ve been having have really made me feel like all the work in the winter was worth it.

One change this season has been the change in your racing colours as you have returned to the purple colour of your former TPL National Banger team, was there a reason for that?
No, not really. When I had the car originally I’m not even sure why I painted it red, I just did and then when we redid everything over the winter I just decided to paint it purple again but for no particular reason but I’m pleased with how it looks and it’s been going well so I guess I better keep it that way now (laughs).

As an ex National Banger driver how does the work compare between racing bangers to stockcars?
I would say there is less work involved with the stockcars than when I was racing bangers but it does depend on how the meetings go. It also helps that at the moment I am only racing the stockcar on shale so I probably do around two, maybe three meetings a month most of the time so there is maybe not quite as many meetings each year but with the bangers there would always be work to do, whether it was repairing a car after a meeting or stripping and building a new one whereas with the stockcars you do get some weeks where there is very little to do but there might be others where you get a lot of damage and you have to spend a lot of work on the car. Having said that, I still spend most evenings in the shed after work doing something on the car because I can usually find something to do (laughs) but I would say it’s less work overall than the bangers, again the fact that the season has started so well for me, I almost want to be in the shed working on the car because everything is so enjoyable right now.

And how have you found the style of driving from bangers to stockcars and the levels of contact?
Well it took me a while to get the hang of driving the stockcar, but I love the contact in them, I might be a bit daft but I love getting smashed around in them (laughs).

On the subject of the start of the season, one aspect which has not been so enjoyable has been the weather and racing conditions with several of the early season shale dates spoiled by wet weather, including the last Mildenhall meeting on April 2, has this been an issue for you?
Not really because I quite like the wet weather (laughs). I guess it’s good for me because it seems to slow everyone down a bit and it’s been taking them longer to catch me, maybe that’s why I’ve been doing so well in the (National) Points (laughs). But I don’t mind the wet meetings when they happen, it’s just part of it isn’t it and you just have to get on with it and do the best but I admit I seem to be doing quite well when it’s wet although at the same time I guess the racing probably isn’t quite as enjoyable.

The last meeting at Mildenhall saw you in fine form with two second place finishes, were you pleased with these results or disappointed to fall a little short of the win?
I was really pleased. They were my best results to date as my only wins in the Saloons so far have been in the white and yellow grade heats and I’m not sure if they count (laughs) and the second places (on April 2) were the first time I’d done that so it was an excellent couple of results for me, I was especially pleased in the second heat because that was before the rain got really heavy so I’d like to think I wasn’t relying on it being wet to get that result (laughs). After the Allcomers race I was chatting to (730 Deane Mayes) and he didn’t realise it was me in second and he said he was surprised I didn’t try to take him out for the win but my thinking was that if I tried that, especially with it being so wet, I would have probably taken us both out so I was happier to finish second that get nothing at all. It was a good meeting for me.

Is a race win in a points scoring race your next objective?
I guess so but I think in a formula like this that is something that isn’t going to come very easily but I also think that if I keep sticking at it, it will come eventually. Well hopefully it will (laughs). I’d like to get my first win now but then everyone wants that don’t they so I’m trying not to put any pressure on myself about it, again hopefully if I keep doing what I’m doing it will come.

Have you got any thoughts about the championships coming up this season, especially with three of them on shale?
I just try and look at them like any other meeting at the moment, I don’t really think I’m in a position to see them as anything else just yet (laughs). But I’ve not had too much experience with championships yet. The English last year was actually my first meeting and then I did the World Final where I was just happy to be at the meeting and I did the UK at Skegness but being on tarmac I never expected anything much from that. Now things are going better I guess when the big meetings come up I will try and do a little better, for me it would great just to qualify for one of these races, that would be awesome, I’ll let you know how it goes after (the English Championship at King’s Lynn on April 23)!

Your early season form surely means a move up the grades is on the cards, if that something you looking forward to?
I am, I think it is probably about time that I get out of the white grade (laughs). The way I look at it, the further back up the grid you get the better the racing probably will be because I suspect the further back you are the more you get bashed around so I’m looking forward to that (laughs).

You moved into Saloon Stockcars from National Bangers last Spring, what were the reasons behind the change?
I’ve always been into the formula. When I was a kid, me and dad used to follow Philo (John Englestone) around when he raced in them so I’ve always loved the formula but I never considered racing them would be an option for me because of the costs involved. That was until the Zetec engines came into the formula which have reduced the costs so much and that suddenly made racing one a viable option for me so that was when we looked into and got a car.

How big of a difference do you think the Zetec engines have made to the formula?
It’s hard for me to say because I wasn’t racing in the formula before they came in but for me personally it’s made all the difference and if we were still having to use Pinto engines I wouldn’t be racing Stockcars, it’s as simple as that. A good Pinto engine would cost thousands but for me, like a lot of drivers I am using Zetec engines out of scrap cars, so we get a Mondeo which can sometimes cost as little as £60, and you can usually get all that back with alloy wheels, the cat and scrapping the car, so you have an engine for free or as close to free as possible and you just fit on the conversation kit, which admittedly does cost a few quid but it’s still a lot cheaper than a Pinto engine, and not only can you race but the car is as quick as anyone else. It’s incredible really.

You have stuck largely to racing on shale so far in the stockcars, can you explain why and are you hoping to do more in the future?
The reason why is mostly because I’m fortunate enough that Mildenhall and King’s Lynn are my closest tracks so I have pretty much to them so far, especially for my first year while I found my feet but I am hoping to start racing on tarmac soon. I have just bought Jamie Clayton’s old tarmac car. It was a really good deal which is why I bought it but now things are going well I’m really itching to race more so it’s all worked out well and as soon as I get a conversion kit for the engine I’ll be racing it, to be honest I had hoped to be racing it already but there is a waiting list on them at the moment. I’ll stick to Skegness and maybe Taunton for the time being, Skegness is the best part of three to three and a half hours for me so the tarmac tracks are quite a haul but hopefully soon with a tarmac car I’ll do a few meetings there when I can.

On the subject of tarmac racing, what are your thoughts on the current tyre rules in the formula?
I like the shale tyres a lot but I think we could do with a cheaper tyre for tarmac really because they are a fair bit dearer than the shale one and they don’t last anywhere near as long so the cost soon mounts up. My shale tyres last forever and seem to do the job really well so I don’t think we should change them and I’m not saying we should have one tyre for both surfaces, although that would be good, but it would be better I think if the tarmac tyre was a cheaper one.

There has been a lot of talk over the past year or so about driver injuries and a lot of drivers have started using personal safety equipment which is not mandatory in the rules. Is this something you do?
I don’t have any equipment but I have thought about it but the thing is that for whatever reason I have rarely had problems with my neck so I’m not sure if a Hans device would actually help me too much but I have thought about. But I have made changes to my car. I had a big crash at the UK Spedeweekend last year and that one hurt a lot, it was so bad I had to pretty much stand up in the lorry the whole way home because I couldn’t sit down. After that I made some changes to my seat so it is more upright and I think that has made a big difference and I know a lot of drivers have done things with their seats and I think that is very important.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
All the boys who help and my dad.