My history (skip to the bottom for the latest)
0 - 16
I was always interested in cars and Motorsport, thanks to my Father. Born in Berkshire, I grew up in Norfolk.
As a family we would watch racing at Snetterton, including BTCC and the then well known Willhire 24 hour. This gave me an early taste of the noise and excitement that overtaking and accidents could bring!
Dad and I in Berkshire with his Austin 1300GT
At 'Jeepers' in Cornwall
My Father was very protective of his cars (he wouldn't let me wash them!), but he would often explain their workings in detail, even if I couldn't sit in the drivers seat! Years of Scalextric practice followed on a Brands Hatch layout, then racing 1/10 scale radio controlled buggies and touring cars, for clubs in Attleborough and Norwich. Learning to set up the suspension of these models gave me knowledge that I later used with full-sized cars.
17 - 24
After passing my driving test at 17, I was lucky enough to drive a neighbours BMW 635CSi, which felt very rapid after learning in BSM 1.4 litre Vauxhall Corsas! I studied at Brooksby College in Leicestershire for two years where I completed my National Diploma in Fisheries Studies, along with the award for Best Student. This and my subsequent business of 8 years 'Aqua Life Leasing' explains the reason for my forum nickname of Fishy Dave!
As a student I couldn't afford to run a car, but was happy with my GT mountain bike. I cycled from Norfolk to Cornwall by myself and regularly raced in 'Polaris' 2 day endurance events, as well as shorter races in Leicestershire. As part of the college course I drove tractors and trailers, a tenuous link to fish farming, but good towing practice. The odd Karting evening showed that not owning a car wasn't a handicap, with a few podiums against experienced opposition.
Moving to Somerset for a job in 1999 allowed me to buy my first car - a Fiat Uno 1.1ie S (55bhp!). I set up an aquarium design and services business called Aqua Life Leasing and at the same time I worked as a Team Trainer for the Virgin Mobile call centre, for five years.
25 - 29
I bought my Fiat Coupe 20 valve turbo in 2003, my first proper sporty car. This coincided with the popularity of online car forums and with the help of fccuk.org I took part in my first bit of motorsport, a 'run what ya brung' event at Santa Pod drag strip. 1/4 mile events seemed to involve a lot of waiting around, not quite to my taste. I then started in track days, firstly at Donington, followed shortly by Bruntingthorpe, Snetterton, Castle Combe and more; brilliant fun. I got further involved in FCCUK as a board member and forum moderator. I bought a Mini DV camcorder and a suction mount and began uploading videos online, this was before Youtube came in to existence. My first European road trip took in the Alps, Med coast and my first Nurburgring visit, a special place I visit almost yearly ever since.
First bit of timed competition
SELOC Sprint Championship 2005
Last sprint of the year in 2005 with the new Fiat
Track Days were brilliant, but I was ready for competition. Racing was well out of my budget, but a member suggested Sprinting. I bought a harness, helmet and fireproof suit and entered the SELOC Championship, based at North Weald. Competing in class D against Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Evo and Noble M12 the Fiat in near standard specification struggled, but it was proper competition at last, with an MSA licence. By being consistent and entering every round I ended up winning my class overall, class D Champion! I sprinted a couple of times the following year in my Clio 172, with a class award, but it was circuit racing against other cars that I longed for.
Before the days of GoPro cameras and before YouTube started, film of cars was not so commonly seen on the internet. I started getting enquiries from all over the world 'how did I make them?' 'What equipment did I use and where did I buy it from?'. The camcorder was a bit large to be stuck on the outside of a car, so I used a cctv bullet camera to plug into the AV In port on the camcorder; this was much safer and more gave more stable footage. After replying to these enquiries with a copy and paste answer I realised there could be a business opportunity.
2005
SELOC Sprint Championships 2006
Fast Films begins
I set up my second business 'Fast Films' in 2005, changing cars fairly often for fun and for practical purposes.
Fast Films grew rapidly, and became a great way of driving on track to film clients, the best known of which being McLaren F1 and then world champion Fernando Alonso. My footage was used on the ITV F1 programme as part of the Spanish Grand Prix coverage. Fast Films took me to Norway to film the Gatebil car festival for Performance Ford magazine, Spa Francorchamps to film for Total 911 magazine and all over Europe for the FB5K tour. I was being paid to drive my car on track chasing other cars to make video, amazing!
Part of the largest range of vehicle camera mounts in the world
By late 2007 I had many changes in my life, plus the car filming world was changing with the advent of GoPro. I bought an ex-race Caterham Supersport unseen in France, which sadly broke down on my return journey, requiring a second trip out to France to recover it! I sold both businesses and started afresh, working for a Toyota dealership.
I met my wife Beth in 2008, she is thankfully very keen on my passion for cars, and has driven at trackdays including Spa, Le Mans, Goodwood and others. I passed my motorbike test in 2007 and owned a Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat for two years, covering many miles, commuting to work in all weathers.
30 - 35
I passed my race licence in 2008 and started racing in 2009 in 'Colin' the Caterham, a dream completed, I was a racing driver! Budget was and remains the biggest barrier, but have found that only driving certain rounds and certain years does help keep the costs down. In 2009 I took class wins and became class D Champion in the BARC Intermarque Championship. In 2011 I took a third and second place overall in the Caterham 100 races at Castle Combe. What a thrill to be taken around the circuit in the open-topped winners car and be interviewed by the commentator.
I ran the Wiltshire South area of the Lotus Seven Club for a number of years, meeting some great friends. Using my friend Philip's huge farm buildings we ran a number of 'Chicken Shed Drifting events! I used knowledge gained from from setting up my car to flat floor other Caterham's. We helped raise money for charity giving passenger rides at 'Dad's Day Out' and 'The Supercar Event', superb fun.
In February 2012 I qualified as an ARDS race instructor at Brands Hatch, and whilst I have since let my instructor licence lapse I occasionally coach friends and contacts, particularly on their early trackdays or races.
35 - Present
In January 2013 I began a new career organising Motor Racing for www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk initially as Motorsport Administrator, before becoming Director in 2014.
After a brief stint of classic Porsche 911 ownership the lure of racing struck again. With the help of my good friend Philip Coles, I built and raced an Audi Turbo engined Lotus Elise S1 in the Castle Combe Sports and GT Championship in 2015. A horrible car to drive and own, a second in class award my only finish and result. I enjoyed sharing a Porsche 924S with Andy Yeomans in a 750MC Roadsports race at Donington in the same year.
In 2016 Beth and I travelled to the USA for the first time. A classic road trip, in a Mustang, exploring California's best bits: Yosemite, San Francisco, Pacific Coast Highway 1 and best of all a track day at Laguna Seca in a BMW Z4M. I owned this same model at the time, so when a 'forum stranger' kindly offered to let me drive a session or two for gas money I jumped at the chance, thanks Ivan. On the same event I bagged a passenger ride in a Corvette C6 Grandsport, what a noise; it started a search for used Corvette's for sale!
In 2017 I competed in almost a full season of the competitive Toyo Tires Production BMW Championship, finishing the year 8th overall, with a good few top ten finishes. In the same year I had two, 2nd in class finishes in the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons. A first in class in the MSVR Trackday Trophy was on the cards before a fuel pump failure, still, co-driver Tom King and I had done enough to take 2nd in class with my E30 BMW 320i. At the end of the year I shared Hannah Gardin's Mini Cooper S R53 in two rounds of Trackday Trophy, in what was a standard road car with safety equipment.
At the end of 2017 I was still dreaming of another US roadtrip and the thought of owning a V8 Corvette. Just a few days before Christmas I saw a forum advert for a one owner, high mileage Corvette C6 in California for just $9995! You can read the whole story here. Suffice to say, I bought it, so 2018 started with an epic road trip to America with my wife, to collect and drive my Corvette from California to Texas, where it arrived back in the UK in mid April. The road trip started at the Pacific coast and took in Route 66, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Horse Riding at a ranch, a trackday at The Circuit Of The Americas, Austin and more. We flew back via a couple of days at the Corvette factory museum in Kentucky, on to New York and home.
The E30 race car was sold, with a house purchase imminent and no room for so many cars and a trailer. After the 325ti was hit and written off I bought a Mazda RX-8 to develop into the CSCC RX-8 Trophy class, for road legal race cars. Unable to race within my own club I campaigned in Trackday Trophy and Trackday Championship, securing various class wins and positions, driving the RX-8 to and from each race meeting. Lastly the Z4M was sold just before the Corvette arrived in the country. The Z4M was the best all-round car I'd owned, along the way I'd written various magazine articles, been featured in some too and during my role as Z4 representative for the BMWCC of GB I'd been asked by Veloce publishing to write a book. After months of work it was ready and published: 'The Essential Buyers guide, BMW Z4', available to buy now from Amazon and publishers, Veloce.
Racing with my friend and colleague Hannah in her R53 MINI in 2018 bought us a first in class N at Donington in Trackday Trophy. Later in the year at what was the last scheduled weekend race meeting at Rockingham we secured a second in class podium.
The Corvette gave passenger rides for charity at Rockingham, although the weekend was cut short after cracking brake discs. So the upgrades began....
I drove in the Spa 3 Hours race in a Healey Sebring Sprite, in 2018 and 2019 as part of a team, what a thrill. This was my first time racing a classic and on cross ply tyres too, I loved it, no grip and plenty of sliding around, with quicker lap times than my co-drivers too. In 2019 we finished first overall in the BRM Balance Of Performance competition (a handicap race as part of the 3 Hours), with an expensive watch being presented to the cars owner, Marcus. To stand on the top step of the podium at Spa, after 3 Hours of hot work behind the wheel was an amazing experience.
2019 brought Hannah and I another 3rd in class in her R53 MINI, racing at Cadwell Park. I shared my RX-8 for its final race with my friend Tom, we also picked up a 3rd in class at Brands Hatch GP in Trackday Trophy.
The Corvette was being used regularly on track days in 2019, the small upgrades improving the car all the time, whilst still keeping it comfortable and pleasurable to drive on the road. It set fastest times on the MSUK North Weald sprint course, the place I started competitive driving all those years ago. For years I had asked my Father to join me racing, he'd always said no, but at last did say yes to sprinting. We entered two rounds of the Javelin Sprint Championship in the C6, at Snetterton and at Anglesey. Two 4th places for me, just outside the medals, but not bad for a near standard road car with more than 200,000 miles on the clock. Dad did well at Snetterton, beating a fellow senior competitor in an Aston Martin. I loved sharing the experience with Dad, but it reminded me why I gave up sprinting, not enough track time for the money. Trips to Le Mans 24 Hours, the Nurburgring, Hockenheim and then at the end of the year to southern Spain demonstrated the Corvette's versatility.
The RX-8 race car was sold, before the birth of my son, Austin. He was named after the circuit we both loved on our memorable road trip. The Corvette would never become a race car, it would ruin it and frankly I just don't have the money. However, I could get close, by entering the 2020 Time Attack Championship and a round of Super Lap Scotland (SLS); neither are racing, but more closely resemble qualifying, with multiple cars on track against the clock. Covid prevented me entering any round of Time Attack, but I did take part in SLS. A superb event, as affordable as a sprint, but with as much track time as a race, Knockhill was a challenge for the heavy Vette, I was pleased to come away with a 2nd in class.
2021 saw me enter the full Super Lap Scotland Championship, with wins in class D and fastest road car categories. I currently hold the SLS class D lap record at Croft. I finished as Class D Champion and Road Car Champion.
Clive's USA Road Trip book is finished and went on sale.
2022 started with success in the Pomeroy Trophy on a very slippery, cold Silverstone. 1st overall in the braking test, top 5 in all other tests and 3rd on the road in the main 'it's not a race' track session in the afternoon.
The second BMW 320si was driven on track, at Thruxton, just to see what it was like.
I shared a different FIA Austin Healey Sebring Sprite in June 2022, in the Spa 3 Hours race. With three drivers and a very underpowered car we started 67th overall and finished 41st, more importantly we all enjoyed ourselves.
In July I headed to Goodwood, to take out passengers for charity. The weekend was all about raising money for The Children's Trust at The Supercar Event, the event generated over £35,000 for the charity.
Circuit Record
To date I have driven or raced on the following circuits:
UK
Anglesey Coastal
Anglesey GP
Bedford Autodrome GT
Bedford Autodrome SW
Brands Hatch Indy
Brands Hatch GP
Bruntingthorpe
Cadwell Park
Castle Combe
Colerne
Croft
Curborough
Donington Park National
Donington Park GP
Dunsfold
Goodwood
Hullavington
Keevil
Knockhill Clockwise
Knockhill Anti-clockwise
Llandow
Lyneham
Mallory Park
Millbrook
Mira
North Weald
Oulton Park Island
Oulton Park International
Oulton Park Rally/Drift
Pembrey
Prestwold Hall
Rockingham Oval
Rockingham ISSC
Santa Pod (drift and 1/4 mile)
Silverstone GP
Silverstone National
Silverstone International
Snetterton (original)
Snetterton 200
Snetterton 300
Thruxton
Woodbridge
International
Circuit Of The Americas (Austin), USA
Hockenheim, Germany
Laguna Seca, USA
Le Mans Bugatti, France
Monte Carlo,Monaco
Monteblanco, Spain
Nurburgring Nordschleife, Germany
Nurburgring GP, Germany
Rudskogen, Norway
Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
Zolder, Belgium
Beth driving
3.2 Carrera on track
2016
Trackday in Texas 2018
