An Interview with 2012 BriSCA F2 Stockcar World of Shale Champion 905 Rob Mitchell
(interview published August 23 2016 in the lead up to the BriSCA F2 Stockcar World Championship weekend on September 10 and 11)

Age: 32
Home Town: Colne
Occupation: Don’t know!
Family: Wife Helen and son Ray
Racing career: First race was aged 16 (and five days) at Mildenhall in BriSCA F2 Stockcars, finished 10th and span my dad out.

You have not only qualified for this year’s World Final but will start on the second row of the grid, how do you feel about that?
I’m pleased, definitely. If you’d said to me before the semi-final race that I’d finish second I would have taken it, to be honest anything in the top 10 would have been good enough, especially as there was a stage where I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to do the race.

That was because of the birth of your son, Ray, just before the semi-final meeting, can you tell us about that week and how close it came to you not taking part in the semi-finals?
Ray was born two days before at 8.20am and we’d not slept the night before so it was very touch and go but I think what made it all the more real was when we were sent home with the baby. I don’t know if other new parents felt the same way but when we were in the hospital it was all fine because there are all the doctors and nurses if you need help and when we first got home all our family was there so again it felt ok but then they go home and it’s just me and Helen and the baby and that was such a scary feeling because you suddenly realise you are responsible for this little baby (laughs). So I must admit at that point I was thinking I wouldn’t do the semis because it was far more important for me to be at home with Helen and Ray. What made the big difference was that my mother-in-law came over. Helen is a Ford so we’re very much a racing family and her mum knew how much it meant to me to race in the semis so she came over to be there and while she never said as much I think a big reason why she did was so I could race and Helen wouldn’t be on her own. I spoke with my dad on the Friday and we half decided we’d go, he said the car was ready and it just needed me and I said I’d see how things were Saturday morning and that was when the boss (Helen) told me to go so I couldn’t really argue (laughs). I didn’t go down with the car, the idea was I’d drive down in the car so I could leave a little later and the plan was always to only do the semi-final race and come home but finishing second I had to have my engine stripped and so that didn’t go to plan and I still got home a little later than I intended. We actually stripped more of the engine than we needed to, being a Zetec and them still being so new I figured it was better to have it checked thoroughly in case something was wrong rather than discover something was wrong in the World Final but it was all ok and while I did get home later than I wanted to at least I came home with a good result so that was good, now I’ve got to try and get a good result for them in the World Final.

It’s been a pretty big year for you already, getting married and now becoming a dad, would becoming World Champion be the cherry on the cake?
I think the cherry is already on it (laughs)! I think winning the World Final would be another cake completely!

Do you think you are capable of winning the World Final?
Yeah, I do but then you have to think like that don’t you, otherwise you wouldn’t get anywhere. I think I can win but then I think there are at least 10 other drivers, probably more, who can win as well and with the race being at Mildenhall I think there are probably more still because the track itself will help blow the race open, it’s going to be interesting and you’ve no idea what’s going to happen which means anyone who starts the race has a chance.

Who do you see as your biggest rivals in the race?
I think anyone who finished in the top three in a semi-final is immediately a big challenger to win the race but I also think the Dutch drivers are going to be there as well. There are some excellent drivers on the shale in Holland right now and assuming they go fast enough in qualifying, I think if the likes of Barry Bauer and Wim Peeters are on the third row, and they’d be my personal picks, I think they will have every bit of a chance of winning as anyone else would in the race. I think Chris Burgoyne opened a lot of people’s eyes when he won his semi-final and I think he is another to watch for. I’ve seen him at Stoke this year and he’s gone well there so that should mean he goes well at Mildenhall, he definitely cannot be overlooked, not that I think anyone would given how well he went in the semi-final and Carl Issit is another one. He’s so good and so experienced and he is close enough to the front to have a really good chance, especially with it being at Mildenhall.

What about the drivers who qualify from the consolation semi-final, could one of them potential win?
They could but personally I don’t think they will but you just don’t know. It’s going to be so open and so unpredictable at Mildenhall that you can never tell but I think for someone to win from the back will need a lot of people towards the front to get wiped out and I would imagine at least one driver from near the front will slip through, hopefully it will be me (laughs). But I do think you will see someone from the back get a good result, especially if there are stoppages which I imagine there will be.

You are set to start the race on the outside, do you think that will be a disadvantage?
It’s impossible to tell and there is no point making plans for any race, especially one like this, you just have to go into it and see what happens. I would say being on the outside isn’t an advantage although hopefully being so close the front will limit any disadvantage it might be. I think the main danger is going to people tripping over each other and that can happen whenever you are on the grid and of course at the start you will have those who just want to get through the first lap and get the race underway whereas there will be others who will be more urgent to gain places and will see the start as the perfect chance so again it’s going to be very interesting. Also with a track like Mildenhall, even starting at the front you are going to be in among the back markers almost immediately so that increases the chances of tripping up over someone. In the last World Final it was me who the leaders (Mark Simpson and Gordon Moodie) tripped over so hopefully the same won’t happy to me this time (laughs).

This year has seen the Semi-Finals and World Final staged on shale which has been a big talking point among some, what are your thoughts on this?
I’ve no issue, at the end of the day both events are on a rota and that is how they have fallen so that’s it, there has been enough years where both have been on tarmac and everyone has just got on with it and I don’t think there has been much complaining from the shale drivers, they just get on with it so I can’t understand why there was the whinging about it. It did make me laugh, those saying the shale drivers have got the World of Shale and while that is a special event it’s still the World Championship which is the big one and also there have been similar series to the World of Shale on tarmac but they’ve never worked because the drivers have never supported them like the shale drivers have supported the World of Shale.

You are among the drivers running a Zetec engine, are you pleased with how that has been going?
Yeah, it’s been great and to be honest I’m amazed more people aren’t using them. I think it’s just a psychological thing where people think because an engine is so much cheaper there is no way it can be as good as an expensive one but trust me they are (laughs). I set the fastest lap time at the semi-final meeting and the engine cost a fraction of what others are. I’ve been using engines from scrap cars but I have a friend who then strips the engine down and rebuilds it. It’s not to make the engine any better, it’s just to make sure the engine is ok and there is nothing wrong with it because it’s all well and good spending a couple of hundred quid on an engine but it can cost me that much in fuel to get to a meeting and obviously I don’t want to do that not knowing my engine is ok. I think by the time we’ve done what we’ve done an engine is costing us around £500-£600 which is a little cheaper than buying a new one from Fords which would still be cheaper than a Pinto and that bit of work saves us some more money, which is helpful now I’m a dad!

Much has been said about the moves to improve the sport in 2016, how do you feel these steps are progressing?
Unfortunately with getting married, having a baby, running a business and trying to race I’ve not been as involved in this as I would have liked to have been but I tip my hat to those drivers who have been taking part and I would definitely say the sport is no worse for it and I think things have the potential to get much better. I don’t think the sport needs anything major, just some tweaks which will make all the difference and I think having drivers involved will help identify those tweaks. I like the idea of having a Shootout series for the National Points Championship like they do in BriSCA F1 Stockcars, I think it will make the end of season more exciting but it’s worth a try, if it doesn’t work we can always go back to the old way. I think what will make the biggest change is when some more top drivers start using Zetec engines. Again I can’t quite figure out why more aren’t and so many are still spending so much money fixing Pintos. Again I think it’s just a mind-set that an expensive engine must be better than a cheaper engine but believe me the Zetecs are just as good, well they are better because they are cheaper (laughs). Unfortunately I think all the while the top drivers aren’t using Zetecs, neither with the lower graded drivers because of a similar mind-set, they see what the top boys are doing and think that’s the best way but it would only take one or two to change and I believe the rest will follow and I think that will do wonders for tarmac because then people will be able to have competitive engines for a lot less money.

There has also been a lot said about the grading system with some saying the current system results in some shale only drivers being under graded, is this something you would like to see addressed?
I would but again I think it just needs tweaking rather than a massive overhaul. I’m not sure the answer but maybe grade drivers on their averages like they do in other formulas or just have a way that a driver can be graded on their ability rather than the points they score. Again it’s something which could be tried and if it doesn’t work you just go back to how it was before.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
There is so many, Tommy Power who helps me with my engines, Sid whose my main mechanic, Bart and my brother Chris and everyone else who helps and especially my wife for her support, just need to win a big trophy now for her and the little man.