Grass Roots Motorsport

Photographs by Paul O’Connor

The Mental Breakdown

How do you squeeze as much fun out of a quarter of a mile of motoring? It’s obvious to someone like 42 year old Wayne Allman. Stick a custom made, Supercharged hemi in a fully certified frame he made himself. Rack up the cavali count to 1700 and slip a beauti­fully finished, metal flaked split screen pickup body over the top of the whole mentalist creation. Grass roots motor­sport in creative extremis. “It is a bit daft. But the whole point is to get a six second quarter. This is the one that’s going to do it.” Wayne spent his youth within earshot of Long Marston drag strip (now renamed ‘Shakespeare County Raceway’) “It wasn’t long before we gathered the courage to cyle over to the strip and see it all for ourselves”, he tells me. And there began a lifelong obsession.

www.intergalacticcustomshop.com.

The West Anglian Regiment

Chris Middleton presides over a coterie of around fifty teenagers eager to become racing mechanics. “It’s a fun course, to teach as well as to take part in. I mean look, we get to play with toys all day long!” Matt Carron, 17 (back) and Joe Soames-​​Waring are just a couple of the hugely enthused trainees whose motoring ambitions reach out beyond MOTs and regular services. “It’s be brilliant if the F1 world champi­on­ships came back to England again, says Matt. “The success of British teams is defin­itely an inspir­ation. But it’s very compet­itive out there, says Chris, whose Automotive engin­eering degree has led to a wide and varied career working with the likes of Mclaren, both in Europe and in Australasia. The course aims to give three levels of school leavers exper­ience in working on true, live racing cars. The students prepare, support and rebuild Formula Ford and Formula Renault cars. “That’s where we are different, “Chris continues, ” Students here get to get out there and gain exper­ience before they even attempt to get into the labour market.”

www.col.westanglia.ac.uk

The Jedi Warrior

Rob Sayell is a true racer. His chops were honed on the oval tracks in the Grand Prix Midget class. In his first season he finished third, and eventually won the champi­onship six times. Graduating to the Jedi formula was all a question of ambition crossed with applic­ation. Money from his day job as a heating and plumbing engineer meant that he could make the investment of about £15k to buy the Jedi frame and engine and parts and pieced the car together with the help of his father, a profes­sional HGV mechanic. The Jedi formula cars pack true punch: powered by the Yamaha R1 engine, it can accel­erate to 100 in five seconds from the grid, and at tracks like Snetterton tops out at speeds approaching 150 MPH. “I was really pleased to have won the Club Class champi­on­ships in my first year out. Unfortunately, to graduate to Championship Jedi racing is a big budget leap.”

www.formulajedi.com

Just Jacques

Yes, that’s Jacques. He was born in the year that French Canadian wunderkind Jacques Villeneuve stormed the world F1 champi­on­ships. And yes, you guessed it: racing is in his blood. The 12 year old racer is about to step up into the senior class of Bernie Ecclestone’s Master Kart racing series. Where up until now he has shown flair and aptitude in karts that can make fifty miles per hour plus on the back straight, the next step up will see closer to 85MPH. “I’m still getting used to seeing him race in the smaller karts”, His mother Claudia tells me whilst clutching the family dog Toffee in the kitchen extension that serves as the team Morley Karting workshop, “This is going to be truly frightening!”

www.jacquesmorley.com