An Interview with Romeo 800
Tom Hannah
(interview published March 4 2014 in the lead up to the 2014 Unlimited
Banger BBA Supreme Championship)
Age: 25
Home Town: Cannock
Occupation: Lorry driver
Family: Girlfriend Alyssia
Racing career: Started racing Ministox aged 10, Stock Rods aged 16 and started Bangers aged 18
We might as well start here, you have a terrible habit of not making it to meetings at Mildenhall you book in for but attending the ones where you don’t like the Granada meeting last year, by you booking in and us conducting this interview are we in turn jinxing your attendance?
(laughing) Yeah you could be, this might prove to not be the best idea but in my defence this time I have the car sat here ready to go. Admittedly it’s a used one but it’s here and it’s ready so I just need to hope nothing else goes wrong. I think my problem is when I make plans, when you make plans then you set yourself up for those plans to go wrong. When you don’t plan it can’t go wrong can it! I always think the best nights out are the ones you don’t plan and for me it’s the same with racing.
That said, you are obviously eager to take part in this year’s championship?
Yes, it’s a meeting I’ve been wanting to do ever since it became an unlimited meeting. I went to watch in the end in 2012 and it was a great race and I think if the weather is ok it could be again this year.
Going by that comment is it safe to say you are happier now the event is an unlimited one?
Definitely. A couple of years ago I decided to cut back on my racing and instead do the meetings I wanted to do and it’s probably no surprise that the majority of them are unlimited ones. I still do the odd Mondeo meeting but I don’t enjoy them anywhere near as much and it’s very rare I will travel to race one, personally I would prefer to have a weekend off and get ready for an unlimited meeting the following weekend.
You said you already have your car for the championship, can you tell us what it is?
I’ll be bringing the Scorpio which I raced at Wimbledon (Banger World Series rd1) and at Birmingham (Heartbreaker). I know it’s not ideal bringing a used car to a meeting like this but I’ve been very busy lately building a new lorry which still needs a lot of work and bringing a used car will give me a much greater chance of being able to race, especially as I also want to do Hednesford the following day (Spring Classic). Being on my doorstep and the only unlimited meeting there this year I’d be a fool to miss that one. My desire to not miss the Supreme this year means I won’t be going to Warton (for Metal Mania) which I had planned to do when the car came back ok from Birmingham but I had a think about it and realised there just wasn’t going to be enough time for me to do everything so this car will go to Mildenhall. I think the car is more than good enough and I’d say the Scorpio is a sensible choice for me, they are reliable and easy to fix which helps.
How do you rate your chances in the race?
My luck at Mildenhall has never been very good but I suppose one day it might change and this is as good a day as any. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mildenhall, I think it’s a proper banger track rather than a race track with its size and being shale which means a lot of your success is down to luck. That’s not to say skill isn’t involved of course it is, but at Mildenhall if it’s not your day, it’s not going to be your day and that is that. I think this makes it less about engines and set ups and more about the driver and luck and that’s a good thing for racing, I just need to hope I have a bit more luck than usual.
Have you got any picks for title contenders?
I think you need to fancy all the usual names who win big races like this, they are doing everything they need to be getting the success they are getting but it could be anyone. This race is a real lottery, more than most races, especially if there is a big field. A pile-up is likely and that could finish anyone, no matter how good they are. Again it goes back to Mildenhall being a real banger track, you don’t need to have a fast car necessarily, luck will be much more important in this one.
One of your best moments of 2013 was winning the Coventry Masters, was that something which stands out for you and does that give you any added confidence heading into the Supreme Championship being another unlimited event on shale?
It was a highlight and especially so after all the problems we had on the day. The lorry broke down outside the stadium and we got into the car park but not in the pits. At that point I lost all interest in racing that night, my priority was just getting home and I called a friend who could help but not until later when the meeting had finished. The boys with me encouraged me to race so we unloaded the car and raced but the heat was just terrible so even more so I just wanted to load up and wait to be taken home. Again the boys got on my case and I went back out and somehow won the title which was just fantastic and it was a big confidence boost. I think any win will give you a boost, the same way a bad meeting will drag your enthusiasm down if you let it so it’s important to pay more attention to the good days than the bad ones.
For 2013 you switched to being registered with Buxton Raceway having been an Incarace driver for many years, did the switch prove enjoyable?
It did and I’ve stayed with Buxton again for this season. There were just some things at Incarace which I was getting a bit fed up with and so me and Mark Atkins decided a change of scenery might do us some good and that was what it was all about. We only went there a few times last year but we always had a good day because between us we made it more about the social side so even if the meeting wasn’t very good or we didn’t have the best of day, we still enjoyed ourselves and that made a big difference and it was a nice change.
More recently you played a big part in organising the Northern Army for this year’s Civil War at Hednesford, was that an experience you enjoyed and how did you feel about the outcome with the North scoring the most points on the day but loosing overall because of the deduction points awarded?
I did enjoy it but I’m not sure I would do it again although I might think differently nearer the time. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, a lot more and that surprised me, the amount of work involved is just incredible really and in the end I didn’t even race myself. I was meant to race in the unlimiteds but a couple of days before we had some drivers drop out. We needed two drivers and I found three guys willing to try and do it at the last minute and amazingly they all got there and I didn’t think it right that one of them not race so I stepped aside. I can’t speak highly enough of the drivers, they did a great job and I do think they did everything they could on the day for the team and I enjoyed the meeting itself. As for the result, it’s hard to say what’s right really. I think you need to have penalties because otherwise you would no control and as it’s a team meeting I think it is right the team loses points when rules are broken but it is very hard to get all the decisions completely right but I do think it’s something which needs looking into. For us what ultimately made the difference was in the Micro DD and most of the points we lost were from our cars hitting each other on the infield to finish the DD and personally I think the event should have been called when there was only Northern cars left, I don’t agree with us losing points for hitting each other, but at the same time everyone knows you don’t hit on the infield.
Another recent point of discussion was the Heartbreaker meeting at Birmingham where several fans were very critical of the unlimited races that day, you were racing at the meeting, did you enjoy it and how do you feel about the comments made?
I enjoyed it but then again it was my type of meeting. I’ve never been the biggest crasher, I like racing and trying to win and that’s what that meeting was and I enjoyed it. I don’t pay much attention of what gets said on the internet anymore, I used to look and comment a lot but I’ve decided to stop because I really think the internet is a terrible thing for racing and it’s getting worse. Fans are entitled to their opinion but I do think there are some who go to meetings expecting too much and then they are disappointed. At the end of the day we had Wimbledon the weekend before and everyone was raving but people need to understand you cannot have meetings like that every week because of the cost and work involved in building an unlimited car, it just can’t happen.
Much has been said of the 2014 ORCi technical rules since they have been announced, have you any thoughts?
To be honest I’m quite happy with them and I think there are some good things there. The people which seem to be causing the most talk are the tyres and prop and drive shaft rules but I actually like them. I think making drivers race on higher profile tyres will be good because it will slow the cars down and they won’t corner so well so I think that is a good thing myself. As for the prop and drive shaft rules, while I understand people want the cars to be reliable, every car needs to have a vulnerable point, otherwise they become indestructible and we might as well be racing stockcars so again I’ve no problem with this.
Anyone you would like to thank or mention?
Alyssia, she puts up with a lot because of the racing, Daz, my dad who will always help when I need it even though he doesn’t really enjoy it anymore and hasn’t been to a race meeting for about three years and all the lads who help at the yard.