An Interview with V8 Hotstox racer 26 Hayley Williams
(interview published May 4 2016 in the lead up to the V8 Hotstox Supreme Trophy at Mildenhall on May 14)

Age: 20
Home Town: Derby
Occupation: Delivery driver
Family: Fiancé Terry
Racing career: Aged 10 in National Ministox at Buxton and wrote the car off

The V8 Hotstox are set to make their annual appearance at Mildenhall on May 14 for their Supreme Trophy, is this a meeting that you look forward too?
It is. Mildenhall is different to the other tracks we race at and because we only have one meeting there a year so it’s something different and for some reason Mildenhall is one of the shale tracks I seem to do a bit better on. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy racing on shale, it’s just I seem to usually get better results on tarmac but I’ve done pretty well at Mildenhall the last two years we have visited, in fact the third place I got in the final (in 2014) is the only podium I’ve ever had in a final on shale. I’m not quite sure why I seem to do better at Mildenhall compared to other tracks, I think being a smaller track suites me and my car a little better and also the track has been really smooth when we have been before and I think that has helped out as well, hopefully this time will be just as good (laughs).

It has been announced that you will be playing your joker at this meeting for the National Points Championship, meaning any points you score will be doubled, does this make this meeting especially important to you?
Yes and no. Obviously it would be good to have a good meeting but it’s not the end of the world. We get two jokers to run in the season, one on tarmac and another on shale and with Mildenhall being my best shale track the last couple of years it made sense to me to use it there, to be honest I don’t really have much to lose because again I don’t seem to get my best results on shale so the way I see it is any points I do score will be a welcome bonus. For me, my main objective at the moment isn’t challenging for the National Points Championship but I very much want to keep my red grade. That’s not easy at the moment because we’ve more drivers coming into the formula and there are some very good ones as well and it makes it harder and harder to stay in the red grade so I’m hoping to score enough points here to do that.

Last year saw a significant increase in the amount of V8 Hotstox who visited us compared to the previous year and the early signs are the number could increase again this year, why do you think that is?
I think a big reason is simply because the formula is getting more and more popular right now and we’ve a lot of new drivers coming into the formula and the early season meetings this year have had some good turnouts so I think that is a big part of it but also Mildenhall is a good track for us. Unfortunately it’s a long way for a lot of us as well (laughs) which I think is why we didn’t have so many the first time. But everyone seemed to enjoy and I think that is why more came last year and hopefully we will have more again this time. It’s also a track which seems to suite the venue, because it’s quite small it keeps all the cars bunched together so even the first time we came and there wasn’t too many of us, it kept the racing close and I think being quite wide it means we are still pretty quick there, it just works for the formula and also being once a year it’s something different again which helps make it popular.

What is the appeal of the formula which is making it so popular right now?
The costs are the main thing. My dad and my grandad both raced in BriSCA F1 Stockcars and that is what I grew up on and I would love to race them but the simple fact is that it’s not an option for me because of the costs involved, it’s just never going to happen and even if I had that kind of money I’m not sure I would want to spend it on a stockcar. I’ve got a wedding coming up to pay for (laughs)! For me, I guess a V8 Hotstox is the closest thing available to me to a BriSCA F1 but at a fraction of the cost. You see quite a few drivers go from (National) Ministox into the V8s which is what I did. Some drivers do it as a bit of a stepping stone towards getting ready for a BriSCA F1 Stockcar and I would say it’s a good formula to get ready for that rather than going straight into F1s but there are also a lot of people like me who go into V8s because it’s the next best thing I suppose. I’d always been around racing and when I was nearly old enough my dad asked if I’d like to race and that was when we started looking at Ministox but when I finished with them I did have a year away from racing before starting in V8s because I had my exams at school and wanted to concentrate on doing my best in them. Everything in the V8 Hotstox is just cheaper (than BriSCA F1 Stockcars) and of course all those things soon add up so when you compare the two it’s a much cheaper formula and I think that is a big appeal because there are a lot of people who would love to race F1s but simply can’t because of the costs and this is a great alternative. But also I think the racing is a really good and so once people start racing the V8s they are happy to stay in the formula because the racing is so good and the drivers are a pretty friendly bunch which made a big difference as well I think.

On that note, your fiancé Terry races in the formula alongside you, how is that racing against him?
It’s interesting but we have a great relationship and it never gets in the way of our racing. Once we are on the track we are just another driver to each other and that’s how it has to be in stockcar racing and I guess the way both of us are, it’s never been an issue off the track anything that’s happened on the track between us, again it’s why we work as a couple because I’ve certainly given him plenty of hard hits (laughs). The thing is as well is that things happen so fast on track I don’t even have time thing ‘that’s Terry’, it’s just another car and you get on with it like anyone else. But it is great having his support because it makes a big difference to my racing.

As you mentioned, the V8 Hotstox race on both tarmac and shale, is there a lot of work involved setting the car up for the different surfaces?
Not for me there isn’t (laughs). I think there are some who spend more time doing little things to try and make their cars better when they switch from tarmac to shale but for me I just change brake pads because I use better pads on the tarmac meetings where it is more important to be able to stop faster for the bends. On shale, because you are sideways you don’t need the braking power you need on tarmac so I use newer ones for tarmac and when they start to wear out I use those ones for the shale meetings. Again it’s another example of the benefits of the formula because it’s relatively straight forward to race on both surfaces and because our meetings are usually fairly spread out there is usually enough time to do the work which is needed and get the car ready for all the meetings. It also helps me not racing every weekend as it leaves a little time for other times. I used to play netball and now I really going on long walks with my dog so it’s good that there isn’t so much racing that it takes over everything, it’s good to have time for other things.

Another feature of the V8 Hotstox is the amount of lady drivers in the formula, something we are seeing an increase in across the sport, is this something you are pleased to see?
Very much, I think it’s brilliant that we are seeing more and more lady drivers in the sport, not just in the V8s but in all formulas. And they are doing well as well. Courtney Finnikin has just started in the BriSCA F2 Stockcars and she is doing really well and I think that is especially good to see because you really don’t see many lady drivers in the F2s at all for some reason. It’s nice that there is a small group of ladies racing in the V8s and I’ve always been quite proud that me and Phoebe (Wainman) have for a long time managed to stay near the top of the grades and points and do really well and I hope that helps encourage more ladies to think that they can do it as well. I’ve always tried to help out the new lady drivers when they come into the formula where I can and there is a small group of us now which is excellent. I think we are just as good as the men and I think that shows in the results and again it’s really good to see more and more women willing to have a go with the men in different formulas and not just stick to the lady only formulas.

What are your hopes for the future and would an appearance in a BriSCA F1 Stockcar feature among them?
I would love to have a go in one one day but I think that is all it would be. I don’t see any scenario where I would be able to race them all the time and to be honest I’m more than happy racing in the V8s but it would be amazing to just have a go in one of them one day because of all the years my family raced them and having watched them for so long. I’m not too sure what the future holds for me really. Me and Terry bought our first house not too long ago so that has kept us busy and I would like to have a family one do so I suspect at some point that is going to become the most important thing to me rather than racing. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, at the moment we have our dog and that is enough responsibility (laughs) but one day and we’ll have to see what happens then

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My mum, dad and sister, Terry and my sponsors Alacicham Skip Hire, TCS Exports, Rob Barber Signwriting and Ivan Pritchard MC Travel.