An Interview with 549 Phil Smith
(interview published February 25 2014 in the lead up to the 2014 Unlimited Banger BBA Supreme Championship)

Age: 24
Home Town: Colchester
Occupation: Mechanic
Family: Single
Racing career: Starting racing at Henham aged 11 and started National Bangers aged 15

Given that you are perhaps better known for your crashing exploits, are you pleased to be in this year’s Supreme Championship and are you looking forward to the night?
Yes I am, it’s always nice to qualify for races like this, I qualified last year but got a ban a few weeks before so I couldn’t do it so it’s good to be back in the race this time. While I do prefer the crashing side of things, especially when it’s a team battle, I do like racing and especially so when it’s unlimited bangers and on shale. I love throwing a rear wheel drive car around and on shale it’s even better, I just think it is a lot more fun when it’s shale.

With that in mind do you prefer the event now it is an unlimited meeting rather than a National one?
Yes and no. Personally I do because I enjoy the unlimited stuff more than the front wheel drive stuff and find it more fun and enjoyable but at the same time I don’t because one of the things I enjoy the most from racing is racing with the rest of the (Gladiators) team and a lot of the other guys don’t like unlimited racing as much as I do. It’s a shame really and I think a lot of it is down to confidence. Take Turkish (206 Phil Milner) for example. He’d probably tell you he’s no good in unlimiteds but we went to King’s Lynn at the end of last year and he took an old Volvo and had a great day and got a second or a third. I think the problem a lot of the team has when it comes to unlimited cars is they just don’t believe in themselves enough and so they tend to not do them so when those of us who enjoy them do race, there’s not as many of us and for me, it’s just not the same then, I love it when we all race together as a team. But I think it’s a little different for me, because I learned to drive in rear wheel drive cars, every weekend I would wreck a Sierra in the field before I was old enough to race so I suppose driving rear wheel drive on dirt has been something I’ve done from the very beginning.

Given your enjoyment for racing unlimiteds on shale will you go into the race with an eye on the title or will stopping your rivals be your primary objective?
With me, and the rest of the team really, it’s always about stopping our rivals first. It’s what we do and it’s the biggest buzz I get from racing, stopping someone whose an enemy and probably starts the race thinking they are going to win or have a chance of winning, for me I find that more satisfying than winning myself, it’s just the way I am although I suppose it is a bit back to front!

Having said that you are a former CAMSO World Cup champion so could this race be a chance for you to take another championship win?
I suppose it could be and it’s a good a chance as any. There aren’t too many rivals in this race for a change so you never know. If things change and you realise the enemies are no longer in the race and you’re still in contention then of course you are going to try and do well, we’ll see how it pans out because there is no point in planning for a race like this, especially on shale which just makes it even more unpredictable.

Unpredictable has been a popular word among the qualifiers we’ve spoken to when we’ve asked them how they think the race will be, what are you expecting to happen?
I’ve no idea but that’s the good thing about it. There should be plenty of cars and plenty of good drivers so you would expect it to be a good race but you’ve no idea what can happen. If you had a race with 10 cars in and had Chubby (382 Jack Foster Jnr) and Boxer (331 Jason Jackson) in it, even if they started at the back the smart money would suggest one of them would win but if you put them in a race with 40 to 50 cars in then there is no way of telling. I think the more cars in the race, the more everyone has a chance of doing well. The shale itself helps level the playing field, which I like. It’s not so much about the car and the equipment a driver has but the driver themselves and their luck on the day and the more cars you have out there the more even it becomes.

You were in the 2012 championship, the first time the race was held for unlimited bangers at Mildenhall, do you have any memories of the meeting?
All I remember is it was the first time I put a Mondeo engine in a Volvo and I did rubbish in the championship. At the time we had loads of Mondeo engines at the yard and I kept saying we should start using them in our unlimited cars and about a year after saying it that was the first time I did it and even though I did no good in the championship I had a good night with the car and I think I did three races and we kept getting it back out even though the car got pretty wrecked so that was good.

Have you decided what car you will race this year?
I’ve got a Lexus ready to go but I think I will build a Volvo. I think they go well at Mildenhall and on shale in general, especially with a locked diff. The problem with the Lexus’ for me is they are a bit more vulnerable, you can clip a car and rip a leg out quite easily while a Volvo is more indestructible if you ask me and they are easier to fix. If you get wrecked, you can get it on the lorry, pull it straight and be back in the next race whereas when I wreck a Lexus it’ll take me all night to fix it and get back out.

If we can now talk about some of the issues more specific to you and the Gladiators, much was said about the team being excluded from racing at Arena Essex in the final months of 2013, you recently commented that you would probably go back if you were allowed and it has now been confirmed that the team is indeed welcome back in 2014 which begs the question will we see you and the team back at Arena soon?
Honestly, at the moment the answer is both confidential and unknown (laughs). Honestly, I don’t know, we have talked about it and the truth is there are some that do want to go back and others who either aren’t bothered or just don’t want to because of what happened (last year). For me, I’m not bothered but it looks like it might be the only chance we have to race against the Cream Team and if that turns out to be the case then I think you might well see us there because we are eager to keep on feuding with them.

Speaking of the Cream Team, having not been seen as a team for several weeks they were out in numbers at the Winter Open at Taunton in January where the two teams again battled. However more recently they have cancelled their bookings at meetings at Ringwood and the Heartbreaker where the feud was expected to continue. Has this frustrated you at all or do you consider this getting the upper hand?
I don’t consider us racing and them not us getting the upper hand at all, we want to get the upper hand when we are both racing together. To be honest (the feud) is all me and Turkish talk about lately and it has been frustrating with (the Cream Team) booking in and out of meetings and us not racing together. What frustrates me is that for a good while we were on the receiving end and now it feels that we are getting the upper hand but we’re not getting the same chance to dish it out. But as frustrating as it has been at times I think it is important that we honour the bookings for the meetings we’ve said we will do and not just cancel because others have done the same.

With that in mind, have you any plans for the rest of 2014 or does it depend on the moves of your rivals?
It does to a degree. The team very much wants to continue the feud with the Creams and if they were to book in somewhere or if we thought there was a meeting they were doing there is a good chance we will be there but beyond that we’ve not planned too much because we don’t really know what we are going to be doing. Craig (Oliver) has decided he wants to try and qualify for the Spedeworth World Final again this year so he’ll be doing a lot of their meetings and I will probably try and do most of them with him, again because I enjoy the unlimited meetings, so I think by the time I’ve done them and the meetings I’ll do with the team I’ll be pretty busy.

Speaking of the Banger World Series, you were one of the contracted drivers in 2013, this year there are not contracted drivers and instead there is greater prize money for all and some of the rounds are for 2litre bangers, are you happy with the changes?
Yes I am. I think the contracted driver thing last year did upset a few people, I heard it, people saying why’s he being paid to race and I’m not and I can understand why they would be upset so I think the set up this year is better and I think having the 2Litre rounds is an excellent move. The problem with unlimited racing, as much as I enjoy it, is it is incredibly competitive and a lot of people struggle to compete, including a lot of my team mates. It’s not as bad in 2litre bangers so I think these rounds will give others a chance to qualify (for the World Final).

The new technical rules for 2014 at ORCi meetings has been a big talking point recently, have you any thoughts?
I’ve not really read them that much, I think tyres is the big issue. While I can see why they’ve done what they’ve done, the problem is it won’t solve it because soon enough people will have found the next best thing and so people will just spend money again. It won’t actually stop the problem it just means people will spend money again and at least with something like the Goodyear Eagle it was available everywhere. I bought a set for the (Spedeworth) World Final and was going to keep them for next year, now I’m going to have to buy something else (laughs)!

Is there anyone you would like to mention or thank?
My dad, my granddad and all the team.

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