THE SELF INTERVIEW No. 7

Name: Colin Rodger
Occupation: IT Consultant

1. When did you join 7 Oaks? …… 1981

2. What or who inspired you to get into motor sport? ……. A friend of mine took me to Brands Hatch to a Formula 5000 meeting when I was 17 and from then on I was hooked with the idea of competing.

3. What was your first competition car and why did you choose it?  ...It was a Mini Se7en racing car that I bought from St Ives in Norfolk. On joining Sevenoaks I got to talking on a regular basis to Jim McDougal, Dick Robinson and Bev Comber, all of who raced minis. Eventually Jim introduced me to Nick Bailey and I ended up buying his car!

4. Brief history to present day…...I raced in the Southern area Mini Se7en championship at Brands Hatch, Lydden and Snetterton during my first competition year. During the subsequent four years I competed in the National Mini Se7en Championship racing at just about every circuit in the UK. I managed to win a few races with fourth in the championship my best overall result. During this time I started doing some Road Rallying with Sue Spellar in order to get more competitive miles behind the wheel. Sue and I competed together for many years and ended up doing dozens of events together, usually quite successfully due mainly to Sue’s amazing abilities with an OS map and tricky navigation. I had a number of years off from racing until the early 90’s when I was invited to share a Sports 2000 Royale RP42 in the then Thundersports series. Unfortunately we were never really competitive due to poor car preparation. However, the following year I raced the same car in the National Sports 2000 championship until an accident at Thruxton towards the end of the season intervened. I stopped racing again until two years ago, when I decided to buy a Sports 2000 Lola and import it from the USA. I’ve been racing that car in the UK Sports 2000 series ever since and taking in some foreign races too!

5. Most extravagant bit of kit for your comp car…A Pi data logging system

6. Did it work? …..Yes, I wouldn’t be without it now!

7. Favourite venue/track/hillclimb and why? ….Spa Francorchamps in Belgium because its probably the best racing circuit in the world, plus I did get pole, fastest lap and a race win there two years ago on my first ever race at the circuit!

8. Worst venue/track/hillclimb and why  ...Silverstone ‘the home of British motor racing’. I hate the place, it’s so featureless and you always seem to be a million miles away from the spectators.

9. Worst/Most expensive accident ...A rear suspension failure out at the back of Thruxton where I was flat out in my Royale Sports 2000 car. I was lucky to walk away from the impact!

10. Best/Favourite motorsport car ever ….McLaren MP4/5B from 1990

11. Best/Favourite racing/rally driver ever ...Ayrton Senna. I know that it has been said many times that he was a flawed genius, but the guy was simply awesome when you watched him in the car, particularly during qualifying. He’s sadly missed today.
 
 

The Acorn : August Edition