An Interview with Scratchy 74
Adam Hitchcock
(interview published March 12 2014 in the lead up to the 2014 Unlimited
Banger BBA Supreme Championship)
Age: 30
Home Town: Exeter
Occupation: Taxi driver
Family: Fiance Vikki and three children
Racing career: Started racing Rookie Bangers in August 2008
Congratulations on qualifying for the championship for the first time, is it safe to say that qualifying came as a little surprise for you?
Yes, you could say that. I heard I was on the grid from someone on facebook who’d read it on the RDC website. My invite said I was able to the last chance race and I hadn’t given the meeting a great amount of thought and then someone said I was in the championship and when I looked I saw they were right. Because I didn’t know too much about the event I didn’t completely know how it all worked so I was pretty confused as well as surprised. Thankfully some friends on facebook got me in touch with RDC and the whole thing was explained and it went from there. I never really expected any of this but last year went really well for me and I finished second in the points at Autospeed which is how I qualified for the World Final at Ipswich and now this. When I was going for it last year, I was trying to qualify for the World Final and was really pleased when I did, I never expected it would be enough to get me into this as well, so it’s been a great bonus. The thing is, I accept I’m fairly new at this and down in the west country there are some excellent drivers like Brett (Ellacott), Nemesis (Steve Carter) and Pikey (Steve Bailey) so you’re chances up against guys like that are never going to be the greatest but I had some luck last year, they raced away from the west country a bit and some of them had bans which gave me a head start and it just worked out well for me and I’m making the most of it because these opportunities may not come up again.
As well as being your debut in this race, it’s your first time at Mildenhall, is it also your first time racing on shale?
Yes it is (laughs) so I’ve got a few things working against me I think! It will be nice to finally have a go at shale although I probably could have picked an easier meeting to do it for the first time. I’ll be relying on some tips from other drivers I think, thankfully there are a few drivers from this part of the world going who I get on with and I’m sure they will give me some advice which will be helpful. I actually don’t mind racing in the wet on tarmac and get on quite well with a slippery car so I’m hoping that might help me a bit because I’ve no idea how that compares to racing on shale. Normally I would like to think being in a championship would help as well because these races can be a little roddier with drivers going out trying to win. I was fortunate at Ipswich in the World Final because that was a bit racier and it allowed me to find my feet but from what I’m told this race might not be the same.
At the moment there are almost 50 qualifiers saying they intend on taking their place on the grid.
Exactly and I’m reliably informed Mildenhall is pretty small so I can’t see it being roddy somehow. It might help me, I guess it will slow everyone down a bit which will definitely help, I think I just need to try and keep going the right way round and not get caught in any blockages, that would probably be disastrous for me if I did. Either way I don’t fancy my chances in the race very much, I’m just happy to have qualified and it will be a completely new experience for me and that really is enough, anything more will be a great bonus.
Have you decided what car you will be racing?
I’m building a modern shape Jaguar (XJ8). I’ve been using them quite a bit lately for unlimited meetings. The trouble I have is finding cars to race, I can’t get my hands on things like Lexus’ or Scorpios but I can get these Jaguars which I think is because a lot of people aren’t keen on them but I think they are pretty good. I’m getting better with them now because each time I race one you learn something new and can build them a bit quicker and easier and I’ve kind of got the hang of them now. They are pretty strong, more so on the back than the front which could be a good thing in this race as I’ve got a feeling I’m going to get hit a few times and they are pretty quick as well. The engines are quite powerful which is ideal for me because I don’t have any race engines or stuff like that so I just use what’s in the car and they are quick without you needing to do anything with them.
Beyond the Supreme Championship have you any plans for the rest of 2014, given you’ve already visited Wimbledon twice this year and now your Mildenhall debut it would appear you’re keen to travel a bit?
Yes, that’s the hope. The Autospeed fixtures are quite different this year as there are a lot less meetings where National Bangers are on and at most of them, they are double headers with two classes which I’m not overly keen on, I would prefer them to be more spread out myself. So if I want to race regularly I need to travel around a bit and that’s what I hope to do. My main plan is to the Banger World Series meetings (at Spedeworth and Incarace) if I can. They are pretty ideal for me, because there is one a month so that is achievable for me and if I do manage to get to them all I will tick off a few new tracks during the year which is nice, I really enjoyed Wimbledon, the atmosphere (at the BWS round) was just superb and it was a fantastic night and it was just a shame my gearbox broke so I couldn’t do the last race.
You mentioned the Autospeed fixtures, one of the reasons for the reduction in National Banger dates is the introduction of their limited contact Old School series, what’s your thoughts on the series?
I’m not completely sure really, essentially it’s another rookie banger class and I’m not sure we need another rookie banger class. But having said that I saw the entry list for one of the meetings coming up and there was around 30 cars booked in and you wouldn’t have got that if it was a National Banger meeting so I suppose from that side its working. What I don’t understand is in the Rookie class you still have people with fancy and expensive engines, tyres and suspensions and I think it’s the same in this class which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, I would have thought it would have been better to have got rid of all that which I think would be more appealing. I would also like to see more races at these meetings run to full contact rules. At the moment it’s only the Allcomers but I think it would be better if the final was as well but it’s early days at the moment, we’ll have to see how it goes as the season goes along but they have certainly got more drivers at these meetings which is a good thing.
Last October saw you make your debut in the Spedeworth World Final, did you enjoy the night?
It was pretty special but I must admit I was pretty shocked at the level of the competition. Don’t get me wrong, I knew I would struggle with the equipment I have but I couldn’t believe how much faster everyone else was. In a straight line it wasn’t too bad but on the bend I wasn’t even close and it was a real eye opener of how much I need to try and improve in order to try and compete in races like that but I still had a fantastic time.
You earned a lot of praise but being one of the few drivers to compete in the DD that night, did it surprise you how few did the DD and how few World Finalists were among them?
No, not really, I sort of knew what to expect but it was always my intention to do the DD. Again I don’t know how many chances like this I am going to get so I wanted to get every single thing I could from that night and that always included doing the DD if I could and I was glad I got back out there for it, it was just a shame it was over so quickly.
A recent talking point in the sport has been the announcement of the 2014 ORCi technical rules, have you any thoughts on these?
My main issue is with the tyre profile rule and I find not allowing the 50 profile tyres to be a little odd really. I’m not one for spending a lot of money on tyres but I do buy them and they usually come from scrapyards and eBay and you can find a lot of stuff for not a lot of money if you know where to look but most of them are the low profile tyres which are not allowed anymore. I can usually get tyres for around £5, I even got one once for 99p! But from what I’ve seen so far the 55 profile tyres tend to be more expensive so I think the new rule is actually going to wind up making drivers spend more money on tyres so I do find that a bit odd. The stuff with drive and prop shafts doesn’t affect me but personally I can’t see the issue with making a car more reliable as long as it’s not making the car stronger. I also find it a bit stranger this clamp down on things like door bolts. You don’t hit another car with your door so I can’t see why you can’t make it as strong as possible but I suppose there is the mentality that if your car is rock hard you can do a hit harder so maybe that’s why.
Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My misses for all her support, I actually have a great deal of freedom in my family for my racing and she doesn’t hold me back at all so I owe her a lot for that and Cliffs Recovery who help me with yard space and the use of their garage and equipment to help build the cars.