An Interview with BriSCA F2 Stockcar European, British and National Champion 647 Chris Burgoyne
(interview published August 31 2016 in the lead up to the BriSCA F2 Stockcar World Championship weekend on September 10 and 11)

Age: 32
Home Town: Falkirk
Occupation: Mechanic and recovery operator
Family: Wife Isabelle and two sons
Racing career: First race was in Ministox at Cowdenbeath aged 11.

Congratulations on qualifying for the World Final but also for qualifying on the front row, are you happy with your grid position and your performance at King’s Lynn in the semi-final?
To be honest I would have been happy with a top 10 finish and simply qualifying for the World Final at King’s Lynn so to go out and win the race was brilliant, not only because it gives me a great grid position but it also gave me another big confidence boost. My confidence is really high at the moment and I think it is a massive reason why I’m having such a good season, winning the European and the British Championships has made this an incredible season already and then to win a World Semi-Final for the third year in a row is amazing. Of course this year was even more special because the semi-final was on shale and I’ve not been able to race on shale as much as I had hoped to this year which I guess meant I probably wasn’t seen as much as a contender as a few others in the race so to go and win it is just brilliant.

You mention confidence, how important will that be come the World Final?
It will make a huge difference. We’ve not long finished my shale car and in fact King’s Lynn was only the second time I had raced it. It had gone well the first time but King’s Lynn is the biggest of the shale tracks so I wasn’t sure how well it would go there and for it to perform so well makes me believe the car can go well anywhere as long as we get the set up correct and we’ve half an idea of what to do from when we’ve been to Mildenhall before so hopefully that end will be ok. I’ve had heat wins on shale before but I’ve yet to win a final so if the World Final could be my first shale final win that would be pretty cool, in fact I’d be pretty happy if I never won another final on shale again (laughs). As for myself, I’m feeling so great with my racing at the moment and I think it has made a massive difference. It stems from last year and battling George (McMillan) for the National Points. It was a hard fight and it hurt to lose it but the truth is I was too soft and George wanted it more and I guess in a way it has toughened me up a bit as a racer and being a bit more like that has made a big difference. Take the UK Championship with Gordon (Moodie). Years ago, he would have passed me and I would have settled for second but now I don’t think like that and I knew if he got round the next bed he would have been gone and he’d have won so I had to go for it right there and while I did get him my car jumped out of gear and by the time I realised what had happened Luke (Wrench) had passed me but I was still very pleased with that result because I know I did everything I could to try and win rather than just settle for second and at the end of the day that’s what a stockcar driver should do and I think it’s what people want to see.

Does this new attitude make you more of a target for others, especially those looking to revenge, or does it make people wary of taking you on?
I think there are elements of both. It’s a bit like the school playground again and standing up to the bullies (laughs). If you let them push you around then they push you around even more but if you stand up to them, they either stop or they think twice. I’d like to hope I’m not a bully and certainly not a dirty driver but I think I have been guilty in the past of letting people get their own way with me and not standing up for myself and hitting back like I should but I’m glad I’ve found this side of my driving now because I think it’s a big reason why I’m enjoying myself so much right now.

You start on the outside of the front row after Andrew Palmer won the Grand Final at the semi-final meeting to secure pole position for himself which also means he will control the start, does that put you at a dis-advantage?
Him controlling the start will, simply because he knows when he is going to go and I won’t (laughs) but you would hope that at a track the size of Mildenhall the advantage might be a little smaller from that because the straights aren’t so big so it will be harder to get a big advantage into the first bend. As for being on the outside, you never know with shale, it just depends how the track is on the night. At King’s Lynn the leader on the first bend of both semi-finals started on the outside so you never know where the best place will be. All I hope is I can make it out of the first bend (laughs). If I get out of the first bend I’ll be happy and I think if I can make I to half way I’ll have a chance. But then again I think I’ll be happy whatever happens, I can hardly complain about this year can I (laughs)?

What kind of race are you expecting it to be?
I honestly don’t know. The sensible answer is it will be chaos but then 10 years ago when it was last at Mildenhall the race went flag to flag didn’t it and I don’t think anyone expected that. It was still a brilliant race with lots of action and loads going on so I think whatever happens it will be a good race, with that many cars, the majority I would think fancying they have a chance to do well on a track as small and fast as Mildenhall it’s got to be a good race and while I think you will see stoppages you can never tell. You can never predict anything with stockcar racing (laughs).

Your Mildenhall form hasn’t been the greatest, you failed to qualify in the Semi-Finals two years ago and at the last World Final meeting you missed out in the consolation semi-final, is that a concern for you?
Not really, I’m certainly not worried mainly because I think I’m such a different driver now. As I said my confidence is as good as it can be right now, it helps knowing I’ve a good car for shale under me so I’m not the same driver I was even two years ago and that makes all the difference.

Who do you see as the biggest threats to the title?
I personally think the winner will come from row four and either be Carl Issit or Rob Speak. They are among the most experienced drivers in the race and I do think experience is going to help in a race like this. It’s also going to be a proper old school stockcar race I think and guys like Carl and Rob are in my opinion proper old school stockcar drivers so I think they are going to be very much at home for this one and also I think Dave Polley could do well because I think this could be his kind of race as he tends to do well with big grids where you need to use your bumper to get through. But to be honest every driver out there has a chance, it’s so unpredictable and everyone out there is capable of winning it, I wouldn’t rule out the last chance qualifiers at all, I think they stand every bit as good a chance as anyone else, we’ve seen it before in F2s and in other formulas like Saloons and F1s as well so why not here.

You are one of only three drivers confirmed on the grid at the moment to have previously won the World title, your last one coming in 2002, would it make winning again so special that you have had to wait so long?
It would but there are so many reasons why it would be so special to win the race again, especially this year. First is the time since I first won it and I think as incredible as it was to win the race at home at Cowdenbeath, I think winning it this year would be even more special. First it would mean winning the World, British and European in the same season which would just be incredible. Also it would mean not only winning the World away from home but also on shale which I think would be especially cool as a Scotsman because we are not best known for our shale racing so it would kind of prove I can do it all on both surfaces. But the truth is I think it would mean more to me now because if I’m being honest when I first won it I was pretty young and I don’t think I fully appreciated what I’d won. Also I think there was some immaturity there and I was guilty of thinking that winning my first World title that young I would be the nest Rob Speak and won eight or nine like he did (laughs). Well it’s been 10 years now and I’m still looking for a second! I didn’t have the best year as World Championship because while I was good at Cowdenbeath and the tracks I raced at regularly when I went to say Birmingham, I wasn’t anywhere near as good so it was a bit of an eye opener and a bit disappointing as well so it would mean everything to have another go at being champion, especially with how well things are going right now. The only problem with if I was able to win this year is my dad and younger brother won’t be there as he is racing his Ministox at Crimond that weekend so if I do win someone better get my phone to the start line so I can ring him quick (laughs).

Mentioning your dad Ernie who along with your uncle Harry are two of the all-time greats in Saloon Stockcars, did you ever consider racing Saloons rather than F2s?
To be honest I wanted to do Saloons and not F2s when I came out of Ministox but it was my dad who convinced me to do something different. He basically said if I did Saloons, anything I ever achieved would be compared to the rest of the family and looking back he was right and by doing F2s I’m not compared to anyone in my family which I think is a good thing. There are still some comparisons, it’s why winning the British this year was so special because my dad never won the British and he even had tears in his eyes when I did so that was really cool. I’m committed fully to F2s now so I wouldn’t switch to Saloons I don’t think but I wouldn’t rule out maybe trying BriSCA F1s at some point, I’d like to try that.

Much has been said of the state of the formula in 2016 and the moves to try and improve things, are you pleased with how the formula is at the moment?
I think it’s doing better and the best thing is the drivers now have more input in the rules which I think is very important but you always have to be careful that the opinions are for the best of the entire formula because obviously it is easy for someone’s opinion to be based on what’s best for them, that’s only human. Shale seems to be doing well and to be honest we are seeing more people race on tarmac so it is picking up but it’s hard because a lot of people talk about trying to slow the cars down and I think everyone wants to go fast so I think the idea should be to try and see if we can make it easier for everyone to be a little faster but I’m not sure what the answer to that is (laughs).

It has also been suggested about introducing a shootout style series to the National Points Championship, much like BriSCA F1 Stockcars has, is that something you would support?
I’m really not sure. What I can’t understand is that with this talk of a shootout series there is also talk of a lot more prize money being involved, well why don’t they just use that for the National Points Championship because I think if there was more people would try for it. Take myself, after last year I wasn’t going to go for the points again but my average is very similar to Gordon (Moodie’s), but he’s done a lot more meetings but if there was the prize fund on the National Points this year which I’ve heard talked about being on a shootout series then I’m sure I would have had a crack at it and that would benefit the whole season, rather than just a few meetings at the end of the year.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
My wife for all her support and putting up with the late nights, a massive thanks to my dad because I wouldn’t be doing anything of this without him or my whole family, my mechanic Panda who puts so much into my race, Big Bov aka Anderson Autos and the rest of the team and all my sponsors, Roundabout Travel, Jamie Davidson Scrap Metal, Bill Livingston, my engine builders for the last two years JB Racing, W Gomley Car and Van Sales Limited and H and Burgoyne Accident Specialists.