There was a Formula 1 race on the first weekend of April this year. It featured more passing manoeuvres than you could count, cars sliding broadside through turns and drivers punting other cars out of the way without a murmur from the stewards. This was not the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, but a Formula 1 Stockcar race at King’s Lynn in Norfolk, UK, and just one bit of an action-packed evening.
BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Car is the pinnacle of the UK short oval racing scene and, while very different to its NASCAR namesake, there are also some similarities.
British stock cars began in 1954, so this year marks the sport’s 70th anniversary, with cars based on roadgoing machines, but has evolved since into highly specialised devices now more akin to American Sprint Cars.
These cars are often built by racers, who will also sell cars on the back of reputations made on track. There are no marques, as there are in circuit racing; they’re all just stock cars. As current frontrunner and car builder, Matt Newson, puts it, ‘You can tell a Matt Newson car from a Tom Harris or a Stuart Smith car, because it’s my shape, my style and look, but it’s not actually called by a specific name.’
The most obvious way stock car racing differs from circuit racing is that full contact is an integral part and, while cars are designed for speed, this can never be forgotten.
‘You’re always pushing the boundaries of everything,’ says former world champion, BSCDA (British Stock Car Drivers Association) vice chairman and car builder, Frankie Wainman jnr. ‘Pushing car set-up, car design, car layouts… everything to get performance.
‘But our job is unique, because it’s a full contact sport. It’s alright having the car as fast as you can get it, but if you get run into the fence and it doesn’t come out of the fence because it’s bent, it’s no good whatsoever.’
Heavy metal
With the above in mind, it’s no surprise to learn there’s a lot of steel in a stock car, but not of a typical British racecar construction.
‘It’s actually a flat chassis,’ explains reigning world champion and car builder, Tom Harris. ‘You can’t
