An Interview with Sutty 439
Danny Sutton
(interview published March 4 2014 in the lead up to the 2014 Unlimited
Banger BBA Supreme Championship)
Age: 32
Home Town: Rollesby
Occupation: Driving instructor
Family: Girlfriend Sally and daughter Madaleine
Racing career: Started Ministox in 1994, first raced bangers in 2000 and started racing bangers full time in 2002
We’ve not seen a great deal of you on track in the last year or so, yet you were very quick to accept your invitation to take part in this year’s championship, is that to say you are looking forward to the race and the meeting?
I am, it’s a meeting I usually enjoy, especially now it is an unlimited meeting. I doubt very much I would still be doing it if it was a (National) meeting, I’ve not raced a Mondeo in a good while now and I can’t see myself ever sitting in one again to be honest but I still enjoy racing unlimiteds and so with the meeting now unlimited it’s good for me. Back when I was racing week in and week out the Supreme was kind of the start of the season for me. I always used to try and give myself a break in the winter, I always felt it was important and I would like to see it go back to the sport having a proper closed season if I’m honest. Anyway I always used to race up to (Ipswich) Gala Night and with the exception of the (unlimited) Icebreaker which I always used to do, the Supreme would be my first meeting back and then I would go from there. I did very little last year because we spent a lot of time renovating our new house and we moved in at Christmas so I’m hoping to get a bit of the buzz back and do some more racing this year. The last time I raced was the all Granada meeting at Arena and honestly I feel the sport has changed so much in the last 18 months and it’s not to my taste so I hope I has a good meeting here which will get me going again.
You raced in last year’s event despite the snowstorm, how difficult was it competing in those conditions?
It was unbelievable. Probably the worst weather I have ever raced in and I really hated it. I don’t like wet shale anyway, I love dry shale and prefer it to tarmac but I cannot stand it when it’s wet and usually I get ill after racing at a wet shale meeting too. I managed about four laps I think and I could not see a thing and I was freezing and completely drenched and just could not do anymore. After the race I had to load up and go home as quickly as possible and I’ve never done that, I did feel bad for the fans who’d come out but I hope they can understand why so many did that, it really was awful and I just hope it’s more like (2012) this year when the weather was great and we had a great meeting and race.
Have you decided what car you are going to race?
I’ve got a 52-plate Mercedes E200. I’ve actually had the car since 2009 and I was all ready to be ahead of the game because when I got it I really thought the car would be a good one but I never got round to racing it and now others have and have seen what I saw so when I race mine I’ll just be jumping on the band wagon but honestly I’ve thought they would be good cars for ages (laughs). It’s been built for a while because I was planning on doing a 2litre rear wheel drive meeting with it but it never happened so it’s been sat there since. I need to change the engine because it has a Pinto and the modern engines are the way to go now, so I’ll put a Scorpio engine in so I need to make that fit and I’ll be ready to go.
Do you fancy your chances of winning?
No not really. I think the combination of not racing for a while and racing a car I’ve not raced before will be enough to rule me out of the running. I’ve not raced on shale for nearly a year now, the last time was Axe-tinction at King’s Lynn in May and this isn’t a race to be finding your feet again really. The car might be an issue too but to be fair I think luck will be the biggest factor. Anytime on shale it’s not so much about the car but about the driver and one thing I do think I’m good at is getting any car to go round so I’m hoping the car won’t be as big an issue but I think not racing for a few months might. But I am planning to race at the all Granada meeting at Stoke a couple of months before so that might help get a bit of the racing rust out of my system. Another thing with me is I don’t know how my old feuds will play in. Obviously when I was with the Condoms I had some team battles but I didn’t race much last year and I’ve not raced a lot against the people I was feuding with when I was in the team so I honestly don’t know if that will continue or not now I’m back in my old colours, we’ll have to wait and see.
You won the championship in 2008, was winning one of the highlights of your career and now the event is unlimited do you see it as a race you’ve won before or a new one you are yet to win?
For me, between about 2006 and 2008 was probably my best years in the sport and I look back at them as kind of my golden years of racing really and winning the Supreme and my year as champion was a huge part of that. For me, my year as champion was probably my best year, I had a great year at Mildenhall and Spedeworth that season and was probably the best I ever was so it was a great time and winning the race was a very special thing. I’ve never really thought much about the change in format but I think when the nerves kick in just before the race I will probably be telling myself that it’s ok and I’ll be alright because I’ve won it before (laughs) even though I suppose in a way I haven’t.
You mentioned planning some more racing this year and have mentioned a visit to Stoke, have you any other plans?
Well ideally I would like to do a couple of meetings a month, definitely nothing more but we’ll have to see how things go. I want to try some new places too, Stoke will be a first and I also want to try Coventry and Belle Vue which I’ve not done before but it will be mainly unlimited and classic car meetings. But I don’t want to commit to anything. It’s funny because the other day (girlfriend) Sally asked me for a list of my plans so she could arrange the time off work and I said I didn’t want to because I think if I did I would then have the pressure to do those meetings. In more recent times I think the pressure of racing too much was a bit of a killer for me and it took away a lot of more enjoyment and so I’m very keen not to go down that road again so it will be a matter of one meeting at a time but hopefully I will do a bit more.
The ORCi’s confirmed technical rules for 2014 have been confirmed recently, have you any thoughts on these?
I’ve honestly not looked at them too much, I’ve heard at what others have been saying. I think things like banning tubular manifolds is only upsetting the people who use them to gain an advantage and I think when you hear someone making a fuss, usually that is why because it’s their edge that’s being changed. For me, I just don’t think enough has been done to tackle the problem of overbuilding which I think is a bigger issue than the ones which have been addressed. Overbuilding and excessive welding is, in my opinion, a huge problem right now and I think more should have been done on that.
Anyone you would like to thank or mention?
Carl Smith Salvage and God for putting food on the table!