Hard into the bend! – Peter Barber Photography
Like most formulas on short ovals, the grid is formed from the driver’s average score from the meetings they’ve attended. The club runs “separate grids for both Tarmac and Shale as certain drivers perform better on one surface than the other”. The higher the average score, the further back on the grid you are, making for very exciting racing. The last spot on the grid is reserved for the previous race winner stopping a “new quick driver winning all 3 races first time out” which often happens in other formulas like the BriSCA F2s. The club has a few championships, the main Overall Champion is the driver who scores the most combined points from shale and tarmac meetings throughout the season. There are also Tarmac and Shale Championships and a British Championship introduced around 5 years back, the winner receiving the covered chequered roof.
Simply put, these cars aren’t slow. They rank the third fastest lap times on our ovals after the GP Midgets and National Hot Rods. Around Buxton, the UK Modifieds were 6 tenths of a second faster than the BriSCA F1 Stockcars, and it's a similar story on shale!
We were told that garage preparation between meetings is quite minimal, saying that “if you don’t crash a lot then there’s nothing to mend”. Keeping an eye on tyre life is very important for the UK Modifieds with tyres lasting 3 to 4 meetings, along with checking that the single adjustable shock absorbers are working fine and brakes are all in check. One driver tells me that the most time-consuming bit is changing the car to run from surface to surface, depending on how competitive you want to be. The cars themselves range in price. With an all steel product car, the prices are cheap around £3000 to £5000 getting you on track, but for brand new builds or nearly new top specification cars; you're looking upwards of £10,000. All things considered that is rather 'cheap' compared to some top spec cars in other formulas across our ovals.
The very smart car of 70 Brent `Russell – Peter Barber Photography
So how did these cars get to the UK? Micky Preston and some friends had raced “in most of formulas in the UK and they wanted to race something different, so after a search on the internet they found the Mod-Lites”. Having seen 20 car grids at most of the US tracks they thought they’d be great on our UK tracks. After talking to a car builder in the states 6 cars were brought back to start with, now a handful of cars have since been manufactured in the UK, but the majority having been imported. “It obviously took time for the formula to grow but steadily and surely it did”, now there are around 30 cars in the UK, and the club is continuing to grow and entice new drivers to the formula. “We’ve gained a couple of new drivers over winter and the beaming smiles when they exit their cars says it all”.
The formula recently visited the now ORCi registered track of Swaffham Arena, the club said it was a great experience and nice to visit a promising new track. “The promoter Pete Gould welcomed us with open arms and he and his team made us feel welcome all day”, each track has it's own unique differences and Swaffham’s being “the large inside kerb that you needed to keep away from! It was tough to pass on the outside line as there was not a lot of grip there, so going for the gap in front was vital”.
28 Simon Panton – Peter Barber Photography
The UK Modifieds were at the Motorsport with Attitude show earlier this year, putting on some great action in the arena, with 496 Neil Holcroft and 28 Simon Panton on display. The club felt it was a great event, and thank “both Neil and Simon who made their cars ready and available for the show at such short notice”. 3 weeks before the show, the club managed to get 2 stand cars and 6 drivers for the live action arena, an achievement in itself. We are told “there was great interest in the cars in the Live action show as the sound we made could be heard from across the whole event, and the fact 2 of the drivers were up on 3 wheels, it made us look great”. Plenty of questions were asked about the cars and most people said they’d never seen the UK Modifieds before. “We will definitely be back next year!
The club plans to keep getting stronger, “we have had several drivers stop racing due to various reasons, so we need to move these cars on and get fresh drivers into the club so they can get the experience what we all do at every meeting”. The rules are quite static now and they have no major plans to introduce or remove anything drastic (unless it’s Health and Safety related), so any new driver can buy a used car with reassured confidence. With 10 quality cars for sale right now, in various specs and prices, it’s possible for you reading this to jump into the formula! If you need any more information, please get in touch through the UK Modified Facebook page or on our Facebook page, On The Oval.
Up on three wheels! – Peter Barber Photography
The club would like ti finish with, “thanks to you at On The Oval for taking the time to speak to us to complete this interview, along with all the current drivers for their continued support and any driver who has raced with the club in the past, otherwise the UK Modifieds would not be here today. The website is our main problem at the moment as we are struggling to get it updated, we aren’t tech experts! So, for all our latest information please refer to our Facebook and Instagram pages, as these are kept fully up to date. Final thanks go to Startrax Promotions, who have been kind enough to promote us from the start”.
We wish the UK Modifieds the best of luck for the future, and look forward to seeing them on track soon!