An Interview with Metal Mania and Great Northern Champion 862 Dave Kingston
(interview published March 11 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 Unlimited Banger BBA Supreme Championship)

Age: 33
Home Town: Barrow
Family: Wife Steph and three children
Occupation: HGV driver
Started Racing: At Hednesford in 1998 in a Micro Banger meeting

You are set to make your debut in the Supreme Championship this year but that wasn’t meant to be the case originally a you initially booked in for the last chance race until it was more recently confirmed there was a place for you on the grid as the seeded entry from Barford Raceway via their 2014 points championship, were you pleased to learn you were in the big race?
Definitely. I’d already made my mind up that I was doing the meeting as it was one of the meetings I’d not done yet and this will be my first time racing at Mildenhall and it’s a track I’ve wanted to visit for a while now. It’s just one of those places where the Levellers don’t get to go to very often, I guess because the bigger meetings there just don’t fit us very well. You have the 1400cc team meeting and we rarely find those kind of cars, we don’t tend to do pre 70 meetings which only leaves unlimited meetings for us I guess and they just never fit in with what we do I suppose. The last time the team raced at Mildenhall was for the first Mk1 and Mk2 Granada meeting and I didn’t have a car for that so Mildenhall has remained a track for me to do. When I sat down at the start of the year and had a look at the fixtures and got my invite for the last chance race I realised that the meeting was at a time where I could go so I decided to get on with it and add it to my plans. Getting the call that I would be in the championship instead of the last chance was just a great bonus really. It’s always brilliant to be in big races like this, especially because chances like this don’t come my way too often so it’s always good to make the most of them.

As you mentioned you have never raced at Mildenhall, does that make the prospect of your first race being the Supreme Championship something of a daunting one?
No, not really, I think if anything it helps a bit because I have an excuse now (laughs). If I do rubbish I can just say it was because I’d never raced at the track before and if I do well then people will be impressed because it’s my first time (laughs). To be honest one of things I like about the sport the most is racing at new tracks, I get a real buzz from it so I’m looking forward to trying out something new and it just so happens to be in one of the bigger races but that in itself is a buzz so I’m looking forward to it.

Has being moved from the last chance race to the championship changed your plans at all?
No that hasn’t but my plans have changed a little bit. My intention was to build a Volvo (740) for the Metal Mania meeting at Warton and then race a Nissan I have at Mildenhall. The Nissan has been raced before and is a pretty decent car and I thought would do ok at Mildenhall but I’ve been so busy at work that the Volvo won’t be ready for Warton so instead I’m taking that to Warton and I’ll finish the Volvo for Mildenhall instead. I’m not bothered about what car I race, to be honest I can’t seeing it making too much of a difference (laughs). From what I’ve seen the Supreme is a pretty rough race and if that is the case this year then I don’t think what car you have will matter as much as it might in some other races, I think it will be more a matter of luck, which is good I think, especially for a guy like myself as races like that means everyone has a chance of doing well because anyone can get through a blockage if it’s their lucky day. What I find is if you get through the first blockage then you can usually get through the next one, it’s the first one which is hard. I quite like the Volvo 740s, I know a lot of people don’t like them and say they are rubbish compared to a (Volvo) 240 but personally I don’t think there is that much of a difference myself. It also helps that I’ve raced so many of them now that I know a bit about what to do with them and I also think they are a good car to fix and race again. I’m hoping racing the Volvo might help me later in the weekend as well as I’m hoping I might be able to race at Hednesford on the Sunday on the way home. Don’t get me wrong I’ve no intention of doing the championship and then loading up so I can race again Sunday, I want to do the whole meeting at Mildenhall but if I can race again on Sunday on the way home that will be a nice bonus and I think I might be more likely to do that with the Volvo.

You mention this will be your first visit to Mildenhall but you have raced on shale before, do you think that will help you here?
(laughs) No, I don’t think so because I’ve never done very well on shale. I can’t explain it, admittedly I haven’t done the greatest amount of meetings over the years on shale and I have enjoyed the times that I have but I guess you could just say I’ve not had any success from them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go racing for success, if that was the case I would have probably retired years ago (laughs). I think shale is an increasingly difficult thing to master and it’s a little strange really because while I can see why many drivers find it easier to compete on shale without having to spend quite as much as what is needed at a lot of tarmac tracks these days, on the other hand you get these shale experts who are just so good that it is very difficult to compete with them, just because they are so good at what they do. I think most people can get round a tarmac track, they might not be as fast as they would like to be but they can probably get round while a shale track is a different story and maybe that is where I have come a little unstuck because I’ve yet to really crack it. But I’m looking forward to having another go on shale, especially as it’s a new track and a new race for me.

You are no stranger to competing in big races having starred in the Spedeworth World Final and Champion of Champions at the end of 2014, is it particularly special to add this race to that list?
It is, I think this is one of the bigger ones now. In the sport we have so many championships or races with special names now but a lot of them are just a name but this isn’t one of them, this race really does mean something, you can see that from the people that are doing it and that’s great and it makes it an exciting thing to be a part of. It’s always good to be involved in races like this and this will be no different and being the first time is always that little extra special as well.

The event switched from a National Banger format to Unlimited a few years ago, does that make it more appealing to you as a driver?
For me personally it does because I’m not so keen on racing Mondeos now and much prefer to race unlimited bangers when I can and I think there are a lot of drivers and fans who think like that and prefer the unlimited bangers. I also think that an unlimited car really does separate the men from the boys. Again like driving on tarmac, I would imagine most people can get a front wheel drive car round a track and could probably do it quite quick, even I’m not too bad in one (laughs). FWD cars are a lot easier to drive and race than a rear wheel drive one, they are a much bigger challenge and I think a lot of people, like myself enjoy that challenge. I find it a lot more satisfying when I have a good race in an unlimited because you feel that more responsible for it, rather than thinking the car did half the work.

It’s been a few years since the Levellers have been represented in the championship, will it be personally pleasing to bring the team colours back to the grid?
I suppose it will. I never really thought it much. To be completely honest at meetings like this you don’t think that much about the team because I’ll be the only one racing so you don’t really think of it that way because you are more racing for yourself but it will be nice to have the colours on the grid again, a bit like it was to do the (Spedeworth) World Final in the colours, that was a nice feeling. We all love being in the team and it’s almost like a badge of honour and while a lot of us don’t race that often anymore and we don’t get to race as a team that much there is still an amount of pride of being in the team and to have us represented in a race like this is a nice feeling. It’s also nice because I suspect there might be a few people at Mildenhall who have never heard of me or the team before or have heard of us but not seen us so it’s nice to think some people might see the colours who don’t usually.

Have you any plans laid out for 2015?
Not really, I’m just taking it as it comes. We are hoping to do a couple of meetings as a team and go as a group and I hope that comes off. Emmen has been talked about but it’s such a long way so we’ll have to see if that comes off. I’m also keen to try and do all the meetings at Barford. Between us and a few other groups we seem to have got something going there now and with a few of us supporting the track there were some really good meetings last year and I really like the track so I hope to support it as much as I can this year.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
Most of all I need to thank Rob, not only for all his help but all his motivation as well, without him I would not do anywhere near the amount of racing that I do and Steph for all her support as well.

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