SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, Chris, really good uh to see you. Uh a couple of weeks to go until the start of the season, you're coming back for another go?

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Absolutely. Yeah, it's um you know it's always nice at this time of the year that the days get a bit longer and uh everyone gets the itch on, ready to go racing again.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Um let's just briefly touch on last season. There was some some good, really good bits for last season. I know you were you were pleased with when things went right, but there were some frustrations.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yeah, for sure. You know, last year there was the the positives were as you say good, you know, the pace was there, but you know, unfortunately the sort of halfway through there was too many things that out of my control that went wrong, really. You know, it just kind of um took us out of the independent championship and it took us out of you know a strong finishing overall in the main championship. I think at the halfway point last year at uh Croft um I was sitting fourth or fifth overall, so yeah, they end up 14th at the end and you know lose six results out of silly things that went wrong. It just uh it it really really motivated me over the winter time actually. It made me quite cross. So yeah, really, really, really excited to be back again this year and yeah, put put right what went wrong last year.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

So, what have you been doing over the winter? I mean, have you you've been spending time with the car, you've been looking and reviewing. Uh, what else have you been doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Um basically, you know, we I I work in the team every day, you know, me and Pete on the commercial side, uh, Ben does the car side. And yeah, the the first main goal is get money in. Um this the second goal is you know, what can we do to make make things better? Uh we reviewed the whole staffing side of things, we reviewed you know how we do things and how we record things, and you know, this can't happen again, what happened before, and yeah, really focused on ironing out the small details.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

So coming into this season, have you changed your mindset uh as the way you're going to approach it because of what happened last season? Has that been a bit you know, the that learning curve bit? Is that going to change what you do this year?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Not me, really. No, I think you know, not not for me, you know. It's more on the on the car side, you know. The car was too low at Donington last year because it rained. Uh we were too late at Truxton. You know, we had an issue with the alternators that took me out of race three at Sneddertmoor on the front row. It took me out of the warm-up lap of race three at Oldton Park, you know, it was an alternator issue. Um yeah, I could keep going, but it's just um it's just those things are the things that cost you the big, you know, the big gap of points. You know, this this is this is already too hot. The championship's already really difficult, and you know, having things like this going on in the background, it doesn't make it any easier. Yeah, so those are the areas that we need to focus on, and we have focused on, and we've we've moved the team around in DNA, which I think's in a good place now.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Excellent. Um, a lot of talk already, obviously, about the new qualifying format, uh, which is going to shake things up a bit. What have you made of of that plan so far?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Uh there's bits of it I like, and there's bits of it that I think that I don't like. I think you know, only one free practice session is a bit of it, a bit annoying. You know, I think the two free practices it was always nice to go out and then go out in the FP2 and then you know put your best foot forward for for of whether it was a race or a qualifying session. Um but listen, it might be great. I don't know. I think it's I think it's gonna make the racing very interesting. I think there's some days where you're gonna get it really right, and there's other days where it's gonna be really wrong. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

For FP1 was always sort of euphemistically referred to as housekeeping, wasn't it? Before you you put your foot down and went for it in in FP2. So that's gonna change. Strategy is going to change, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

For sure. I think it's gonna be, you know, sort of just go with it. I think you're just gonna have to go with it, you know, and make sure the car starts off in a strong window whenever you turn up at the track. I think that's gonna be very, very important. Um, and obviously, you know, the the race, the qualifying race is gonna be keep your nose clean and trither try and move forward or hold position or you know, take an opportunity if it arises. I think it's gonna make it um I think it's gonna make it very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Have have you sat down with with your colleagues and and mapped out a plan for this yet, or are you just gonna sort of suck it and see uh as to what happens at Donington?

SPEAKER_00 4:11

No, well it's it's it's obviously we've we've spoken about you know a lot of a lot of things and I think you know the thing that we've spoken about most is that we need to ensure that net in free practice one the car is within a certain percentage of where it needs to be, or it's gonna be very, very hard to go into like a a second you know qualifying rate. It's gonna be very, very difficult to sort of you know make sure you get you get you maximise that. So I think your preparation before the weekends now are is even more important. I think the simulator is a key a key area now which you need to be working on even harder because you're getting less free practice time.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah, absolutely. Is this the season with all the the effort, the hard work uh you know that you've put in in the last couple of years or so with restart racing, building that, coming back into the championship? Is this the season that it all comes together?

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yes, I'm I'm really hoping so. Um because you know, last year it was all the work and effort and getting the cars ready for the for the first round, and it was stress getting everything, making sure we had all the bits to make sure we could put the cars together. But this year it was making sure the cars were put together completely correctly and ironing out any small things. It was all the smaller details now, um to make sure that the team is in a better place, that whenever the racing comes, you know, we're organised better, and to ensure that everything everything should work as it should, and that's that that's the bit that I think we lacked in last year. And also, you know, this is only the second ever season that I've came back and I've had the same car that are raced with the year before, which is uh, you know, and with with with the with the margins so fine, I think it's um extremely important to have the same piece of machinery that you used the year before, and especially a good a good piece of machinery because you know the cars are great.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Have you been pleased with what you've done with the car in testing?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yes. You know, we we were planning on doing more days testing, but the engines just simply weren't ready. So yeah, it would have been nice to probably get another two days somewhere, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

A couple of weeks till we kick off at Donington Park, where history shows us that the spring weather can be uh changeable, can't it? Uh which means you have to have a plan for the wet as well as a plan for the dry. But generally, it's a good place to start, Donington, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah, it's a great track. You know, there's always plenty of overtaking opportunities. It's fast, it's um you know, it's good for the fans. It's uh yeah, it's it's not like you come to Brands Hatch. It used to be the first round was a brands hatch, and everyone had forgot how to race because they hadn't been driving the cars for six months and everybody drove into each other to druids, but yeah, yeah, you know, Donington's you know one of the classics. Yeah, do you have a favourite circuit on the calendar? I used to have favourite tracks, but do you know what? I actually really like all of them. I really fairness. You know, I used to have Donington probably used to be my favourite, but you know, that the longer I've done this, this is this is my tenth year in the championship now. So, you know, I've done most conditions, I've been at most tracks, I've I've done it all for a long time now. So yeah, I I really like them all to be honest. And you know, I think the older you get, the more you actually realise how lucky you are to be involved in the championship. You know, whenever you're younger, you take it more for granted. You know, whenever you get a bit older and you you understand how the world works and how money works, and yeah, you you get relationships with people, and I'm you know, I'm very lucky to have done it for this long, and I'm you know very, very thankful to be back again this year and have a competitive team and a competitive car, and you know, turn up the first you know, the first media days of you know the first proper go, and it's just exciting to be here.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Absolutely, especially when the sun's shining, so beautiful when the sun shines at Brands Hatch, isn't it? So uh looking ahead to when we take the summer break, there's only four rounds in this year. Where would you want to be?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Firmly inside the top ten and at the point at the end of the independent championship, exactly where I was last year at that at that point in time. And you know, I want to be challenging for podiums and race wins. That's that's you know, you do that, the rest comes along with it. Seems fair enough to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Chris, it's really good to uh see you back. Uh I think this is going to be your best season yet. I can feel it. We're looking forward to it. Yeah, absolutely. Just before you go, as you know, we like to have a bit of fun at the start of the season uh and ask a couple of uh odd questions. This year they're based on the highway code. Yeah. How good are you on the highway code? Probably not good enough. So I've got three questions. You need to answer two, but you can choose one, two, or three. Choose which number first. Uh which one? Three. You've stopped in an emergency area. Okay. Before you rejoin the carriageway, what must you do? Switch on your hazards, switch on your headlights, uh use the emergency phone, or slow wave your arm out of the window to alert other drivers. Say that again, what we need to do. So you stopped on the emergency area on the road before you rejoin the carriageway. What must you do? Switch on your hazards, switch on your headlights, um, use the emergency phone or um wave your arm slowly out of the window. Put on your hazards. See, it's catching everybody out. It actually says in the highway code Rule 278 that you should use the emergency phone to inform the operator who may decide that they need to close up a carriageway so that you we you can rejoin safely, depending on the reason for stopping. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

I don't see many people doing that, though.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

No, funnily enough, rule seventy-eight's probably gone by the by, hasn't it? Um, one more. One or two. Two. Two. What shape is a stop sign? It's uh it's a one two.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

It's uh is it an octagon? Hexagon. Hexagon. You were close, but I'll give you that. You can have that one. Well done.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

So you get one out of two. Well done. Thanks, Chris. Have a great season.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Cheers, Chris. Thank you.