COVKARTSPORT . . .
The Established Low-Cost Steppingstone Into Motorsport Founded In 1996
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Paul was Tony's boss at ILMOR and a kind and interesting man to talk to! He suggested that Tony's victories at COVKARTSPORT should be included, with a photo', in the glossy commemorative book about ILMOR and we were very pleased with the subsequent publication! Tragically Paul lost his life piloting his own restored Hawker Sea Fury aircraft in a freak accident. Paul was undoubtedly one of the finest brains behind the scenes of motor racing!
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THIS IS OUR HISTORY ARCHIVE
Ry lindsay pictured (above) with former F1 World Champion and Indycar Champion, Nigel Mansell, at Dunkeswell Circuit, Devon, in 2005. Ryan raced to third place on the podium (in his gearbox kart) that day - from a grid of 30 karts!
Ryan Lindsay (above) in Formula Jedi at Mallory Park 2008. We should all be proud of Ryan. The competition that we all provided him (from 12 years old) at COVKARTSPORT and the sponsorship prize that we awarded him (at 15/16 years old) have all helped him to become the finest racing driver (so far) that we have ever produced!
Club President, Nick Stanley (Above) enjoyed racing, at MSA National level, in the physically and mentally tough world of 100mph+ gearbox kart racing! Seen here as he drifts his kart into "Wilkins" at Shenington Circuit in 2002. Nick retired from racing, at national level, having damaged his pelvis at the end of the 2003 season when he was 52 years old.
COVKARTSPORT Joint Vice-President, Peter Realf (above), seen presenting our first charity donation cheque to Dhushi Kumar, Medical Director of the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.
Above: Ancaster Circuit, June 1st 2008. Clubmembers presented Nick with a surprise racing car birthday cake to mark his 57th birthday. The cake was then cut up and the clubmembers ate it!
Magic days at Rissington! Above left to right: Nick with Louise Colin, John Surtees and Kate Bateman. JOHN SURTEES IS STILL THE ONLY PERSON TO HAVE WON BOTH MOTORCYCLE AND FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. A nicer man you couldn't wish to meet!
Above: Our Juniors pictured at Leicester Stretton Circuit in 1999
Above: Alan Smith (our overall 1999 Champion) pictured with his happy mum & dad at our Annual Dinner.
Above: Awards winners at our 2002 Annual Dinner
Above: Three of our "lads" who went into gearbox kart racing - (from left) Paul Cox, Matt Lancaster (seated) and Tom Anderson of Bristol. The Anderson Gearbox kart was built by Nick Stanley.2003.
Above: 2004 - Seven of our ladies had a good session on the Glan-y-gors Park Circuit! You can see Lesley Westlake on the left with Sian Lindsay and then Sarah Westlake. Third from right is Jayne Stanley (now Middleton).
Above: THIS IS WHAT COVKARTSPORT IS REALLY ABOUT - A GREAT ESPIRIT-DE-CORPS! This photograph has been used in many advertisements for COVKARTSPORT! From left: Paul Cox, Alex Johnson-Brett, Ryan Lindsay, Bob Moss and Peter Realf - Five very quick drivers!
Above: Our 2002 Annual Awards Dinner (from left) Tracey Davies, Barbara Stanley, Hazel Wagstaffe and Eddie Davies. Tracey and Eddie, the owners of Glan-y-gors Park Circuit, were our Guests-of-Honour and Babs and Hazel were accepting our "Thank-you's" for being our Scorekeepers for the 2002 season.
Above: 1998 at Shenington. Ben Beckwith tops the rostrum with Dr. Tony Sime (left) and Piers Evershed (right).
Above: 1999. Alan Smith (right) accepts his Winners Trophy from Jason Whittingham following our Championship meeting on the Silverstone Stowe Circuit.
COVKARTSPORT (a not-for-profit organisation) was founded in 1996 by Nick Staveley Stanley.
Nick correctly identified and exploited a gap in the market for a properly organised, low-cost, multi-circuit, arrive-and-drive Championship so he founded COVKARTSPORT taking the best aspects of what he had encountered in many different motor racing events and discarding the worst. This has resulted in a solid well-established racing series in which every competitor is treated very fairly and has a known, and fixed, low-cost outlay for the complete season!
Race Profile of the President: Nick is a Coventry businessman born in Coventry (1951) and educated at the University of Westminster. One of his hobbies has been a life-long interest in motorsport that has resulted in him being in and around many classes of motorsport and racing teams all of his life. As for karting Nick has raced in no less than 12 different classes including 100cc and 125cc 2-stroke, 4-stroke petrol and gas-powered karts from 160cc to 400cc, electric karts and the ultra-fast 2-stroke gearbox karts in which he took part in many of the National Super-4 racing events. Gearbox karts gave him the best thrills of any machine he has ever driven: "To race wheel-to-wheel in karts at over 100mph is truly awsome!" He finished his racing at National level in 2004 though he still holds a current MSA National-A Race Licence. Nick is often asked to test new karts at various circuits by both circuit and kart owners and Saxon Motorsport will confirm that he holds the dubious distinction of perhaps being the only driver to grenade a Billand big time! Testing Clive Childs's kart at Whilton Mill in 2003 the engine let go without warning. At 80mph and maximum revs Nick was covered with shrapnel, hot oil and boiling water but he walked away unharmed! He has also served as Public Relations Officer in MSA National Short Circuit Gearbox and has written and published a number of double-page technical articles in "Karting" Magazine. During the course of his own racing Nick has come into contact with, and had good conversations with, the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, John Surtees, Jenson Button, Tiff Needell, Vicky Butler-Henderson, Jason Plato etc, etc, and has even spoken to, and raced, at some of the same events as Lewis Hamilton!
Nick has won many club racing events over the years including the 1996 overall COVKARTSPORT Championship (at the age of 45) and 3 wins out of 3 at the final round of our 1999 Championship - Our last un-segregated event when he beat all of the lightweights in the same races! In MSA National competition, with grids of 20 to 30 karts, he was a consistent top-10 finisher and always knew how to nurse a broken or misfiring machine to a finish!
Nick's father, grandfather and only maternal uncle all worked within the automotive industry in Coventry. Grandfather Benjamin Dugmore worked under Walter Hassan the world famous F1 engine guru at Coventry Climax Racing Engines and uncle Ernest (Ernie) Dugmore was a well known independant racing engine builder/engineer who achieved fame preparing race-winning engines for the likes of Colin Malkin and "Jumping" Jeff Williamson. The latter winning back-to-back Championships in the live "Rallycross" events televised on the BBC in the 1960's. Rallycross was probably the first complete motorsport series to be televised live in the UK - it certainly came well before the first live coverage of F1 and famously produced the Murray Walker quote: "He's only got to get around the last corner to take the chequered flag - Oh, he's crashed!"
When Ernie Dugmore died in Myton Hospice (now one of our 3 favoured charities) in 1992 his wife Molly encouraged Nick to use Ernie's extensive workshop in Keresley, Coventry and it was here that Nick built many gearbox race karts. At first under the guidance of Peter Masson of Nuneaton and later incorporating Nick's own design skills - as evidenced in Ryan Lindsay's last gearbox kart. This kart, designed and rebuilt around Ryan by Nick in 2005, was based on an Anderson-AK frame and widely held to have the lowest centre of gravity and best weight distribution and handling in the Championship. It incorporated radical positioning of ballast and many novel features including a unique handbrake to prevent it creeping from the grid-starts. However, the engine builder could not give Nick what he wanted in terms of top speed or reliability so Ryan had to settle for 3rd place overall - still a very good placement for the youngest driver in a National Championship that resulted in Ryan being offered a place with the AHS Racing Team in Formula Vee single-seaters!
Nick has never been willing to suffer those who do not share his own views on "Professionalism": The need to prepare and present well, to focus on both short and long term objectives and to search for constant on-going improvement. Nick's eye for detail and presentation had previously won him the "Kart Promotions" Challenge Award for Best Prepared Gearbox Kart of 2002 and Nick's karts were always known to be amongst the best looking and best prepared karts on the grid! All of the above experience has given Nick a very good understanding of motorsport and the qualities required in individuals to attain consistency in winning either as a racing driver or as a race engineer. Nick constantly looks for those who display the extra edge to progress really well and, when pertinent, will reward them with the "President's Award" - sponsorship from his own pocket that has given some drivers their first taste of 100mph+ gearbox karting and single-seater racing cars!
The success of COVKARTSPORT today is due to the support of the members, the depth of excellent competition, the efficiency and fairness of the operation and its officials plus the hard working and genuine altruistic determination of Nick and his two Vice-Presidents: Peter Realf and Stuart Lindsay. Pete and Stu having served COVKARTSPORT for a combined total of over 20 years!
........ more early COVKARTSPORT archive photographs soon to be added to this section....
