Living the Legend

This is the first part of the story of my own unlikely route into the world of motorsports - with any luck it can provide inspiration for those standing on the outside and looking in, wondering if maybe one day they could do the same.

The adventure began on Valentines Day 2007 when I opened an anonymous looking letter to read the words "delighted to inform you that you are one of three successful candidates for the 2007 Scottish Legends Championship Scholarship." Having entered it more as a laugh than anything else while I scrimped the pennies to try and go racing for the first time in some way, shape or form during the year, I have to admit to being very shocked to have received it. I'd had a shot at the Legends Experience (a voucher that entitles any member of joe public to have a go in a race-car) at Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife, Scotland the previous September and tootled around safely if not spectacularly and enjoyed my time, expecting it would be the last time I'd drive one of the little machines. To then find out I'd been given some funding by Aly Hunter's Scotlegends car preparation team, Knockhill Racing Circuit and the Scottish Motor Racing Club (the governing body of Scottish Motor Sport) with the condition I attempt the full series came as a massive surprise given my total rookie status having attempted no previous form of motor racing!

At this point I should explain the setup of the Championship itself. Created originally in the United States in the early 90's to combat the spiralling cost of motorsports, a Legends car is a 1250cc Yamaha racing-bike engine and gearbox bolted into a 5/8 scale replica of 1930's style Ford, Chevy and Dodge coupes and sedans. Imported into the United Kingdom a few years later and adapted from their original oval specification to run on the more prevalent road-course circuits of Europe, a very popular British series was built up and following a lot of interest in the cars whenever the British Championship made visits to Scotland, a Scottish Championship to run over roughly ten rounds in the Spring and Summer months at Knockhill was created. Run since 2000 when six entrants took to the track, by 2006 it regularly saw upwards of twenty-five entrants at each round, the fields mostly made up of wealthy businessmen with money to spend on thrills and young drivers fresh from the karting scene and looking to make their way up in motorsport circles. All of this combined to make the SMRC Scottish Legends Championship one of the top levels of Scottish Motorsport. A big fan of the series, I'd hoped one day I might get a chance to have a go at racing one of them, but I had neither the racing background or the money to do so - it looked like a life as a spectator was the best I could hope for.

Then came the news of the Scholarship. With interest in the series at an all time high, funding was provided by the SMRC to Aly Hunter's team to run a drive to bring some new talent into the series that might not normally be able to afford the leap to that level. The basic package would provide most of the funding towards the first three rounds of the Championship along with testing and entry fees. With three rides in the Championship available via the Scholarship, it was at the very least worth a shot and I duly sent in the application form, convinced that due to my utter lack of previous racing experience that it was probably a pointless endeavour. Then came the letter on February 14th that was better than any Valentines Card.