COVKARTSPORT . . .

Born Coventry 1951. Educated: University of Westminster.

Involved in motorsport since 1955 (spectator at British GP, Aintree, Stirling Moss winner) when I was just 4 years old!.

My maternal Grandfather (Benjamin Dugmore) worked directly for Walter Hassan at Coventry Climax Racing Engines. Hassan was the top F1 engineer of his day - perhaps today's equivalent of Ross Brawn!  Hassan's Climax engines powered the Lotus, BRM, Cooper and Brabham F1 teams of the late 1950's and early 1960's with drivers such as Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, John Surtees and Graham Hill all winning F1 races. In the 1960 French GP the top 8 places were all taken by Climax engines and in the 1964 Belgian GP at Spa the top-3 were Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax), Bruce McLaren (Cooper-Climax) and Jack Brabham (Brabham-Climax)!

I was always very close to my only maternal uncle (Ernie Dugmore) who was a race engine builder/engineer. He hand-built racing engines, cross-flowed and meticulously balanced, for the likes of multiple Champion Rallycross Driver Jeff  Williamson in the 1960's. Jeff enjoyed great TV success driving Ernie's mini-cooper engines!

When Ernie died I inherited his large workshop in Coventry where I built many gearbox karts for myself and the likes of Peter Masson, Paul Cox, Matt Lancaster and Ryan Lindsay. All of these karts were raced successfully (using Masson-built engines) in MSA/ABkC National competition with both Paul and Ryan running consistently at the front of the grid achieving many podiums between them.

I have known many top drivers including John Surtees, Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell and I have seen most F1 drivers in their early days in the Junior Formulas. I have even raced at the same race events as drivers such as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Jenson is always such a nice chap to chat to - always very easy to get on with!

I have served as a National Gearbox Kart Representative at the ABkC (Association of British Kart Clubs) and I have raced in many National Gearbox "O-Plate" meetings. I also raced many times in the old Elf Hill House Hammond National Super-4 Gearbox kart race meetings run by Highlight.  Super-4 is the class where Nigel Mansell learned his racing skills for 12 years!

It is brilliant to race Gearbox karts wheel-to-wheel at over 100 mph so my favourite circuits reflect my need for speed. My favourites were Rissi (RAF Little Rissington) Gearbox Circuit which was my home club and 3-Sisters in Lancashire using the gearbox Circuit and "Cowards Summit" which you took flat-out and actually took off on the blind brow of the summit! These days (at Covkartsport) my favourite is Glan-y-gors Park which is also big, fast and flowing. You can get into a nice rythm on circuits like these.

I still hold a full MSA "National-A" Competition Licence.

I never had the budget or the engine to compete consistently at the front of the grid at National level and, because I am a heavier driver, my kart always ran at about 10kgs overweight. However, I did have several front-row starts and I always finished races in the top-10 from gids of 25-32 karts! In my Novice year (at National Level) I finished the season winning 4 Top Rookie awards at Rissington, Shenington, Kimbolton and Fulbeck and came 10th overall in the National Championship from 38 drivers. Later, 6th-8th place was about my average but I was always frustrated at the lack of pure top-end speed from my engine.

At club level I  won many events with fastest laps and raced to over 100 race-wins in 6 different classes of kart and I have now driven 12 classes in total. The last time I topped the podium for an overall event-win was at Glan-y-gors Park in 2006. Since then poor health and 4 operations have made racing progressively difficult for me but I hope to give it a go again as soon as I am able. I will enjoy it even though I know that I cannot ever be as fast as I was!

I have written many technical articles including three double-page articles on Gearbox kart racing published in Karting Magazine and I am a former National Public Relations Officer of the 210 Challenge.

I founded Covkartsport in April 1996 because I wanted to provide a multi-circuit championship at the lowest possible cost as I was fed up with the big money and elitist nature of motorsport in general! I have always wanted to encourage good racing talent - especially  for those who don't have the surplus cash to compete at higher levels!