1995

The year got underway with the Autosport International Racing Car Show at the NEC in Birmingham.  Six drivers were invited to take part in a live action show which involved the cars putting on a series of indoor display races over four days.  The invitation came via Malcolm Forbes of Waltham Services who had staged indoor racing at Earls Court 2 in 1995 with Hot Rods and Superstox.

Simon Hiles, Neil Clarke, Harry Sayell, Steve Piggins, Nic Grindrod and Eddy Ricketts were the Club's representatives with John Salter acting as co-ordinator over the four days.  The firstday of the show was for press and trade only and the indoor action was restricted to rehearsals only.

The organisers took a while to sort things out on the practice day before the cars finally got to tread rather gingerly on the scaled concrete surface for some exploratory laps.  Neil Clarke got no practice due to electrical problems and Simon Hiles, in his last Midget outing, had an oil leak (but nowhere near as bad as Rallycrosser, Will Gollop's) which forced him back to the 'pits'.  Tiff (luvvy) Needell declined to race one of the cars but I did learn quite a lot from him about interviewing technique: "Which one is the fastest car?", "Why are you called Sonic?"

 The dress rehearsal was a bit of a farce but the Midgets put on a good show with five out of the six cars (Neil had clutch problems).  The lights went down and the race was on with 'The boys are back in town' blasting over the Public Address.  Eddy Ricketts tore away in sideways mode to win with Harry Sayell second and Steve Piggins back in third place apparently having taken up smoking again (it was the car really). 

There was another rehearsal in the evening and there was another good race.  Steve's car was now fixed although Simon opted out and John Salter was re-acquainted with Eddy's Dastle.  Harry took a flyer and eased off in the closing stages whilst Steve and Nic Grindrod had a great dice for second settled in Steve's favour after a couple of place swaps.  Neil drove steadily on his first outing on the rink to claim fourth with John fifth in his only drive of the weekend. 

The Shows went a lot better than expected.  It was decided to have all six cars in all the races and after the first show the Club was given two races per performance meaning a total of 23 races over three days. 

Having missed Friday and Saturday I returned to Birmingham on the Sunday to witness more action.  Nic was well in front by now, but everyone had won races and the crowds were genuinely enjoying the spectacle.  The inevitable happened on Sunday afternoon when Steve and Nic stacked their cars.  Both suffered car and wallet damage. 

Over the three days there were twelve shows with 2,700 people at each one (at seven quid a throw).  This means that in total some 32,000 people had what was probably their first taste of Midget racing.  There must be some potential new drivers in that lot.  Several current drivers paid a visit including Barry Goldsby, Gary Granger, Gordon Pooley, Gary Piper and newcomer Andy Collins.  Apologies if I've left anyone out. 

At the end of it all Nic Grindrod was the top points scorer despite missing the last couple of races.  Stacker has also managed to get hold of the video film of the races which also has the commentary of Tiff Needell and Jeremy Clarkson.  Let's hope for more indoor racing soon, perhaps at Malcolm Forbes' next Earls Court event which could also accommodate all those deserving, drivers who missed out at Birmingham.