Reid raring to go when the Racewall reopens

So said Cowdenbeath’s Paul Reid, looking back over the past year.

“I don’t know when I will get another chance. I had high hopes of racing in the three World Championship qualifying rounds that were going to be held in Scotland in May this year and was looking forward to the meeting at the Knockhill Trioval.

“I had thought of maybe going to Buxton for their round but it looks as if that might not happen.

“Let’s hope that they get a cure for this virus soon and we can get back racing. I was looking forward to my annual trip to Skegness in July but I am not too sure if we will be back by then”

With racing cancelled for the foreseeable future, Reid has time to reflect on his career to date.

““I was serving my apprenticeship at John Adams Plant Hire and he was racing a Formula II Higman chassis at Cowdenbeath.

“I was allowed to copy the car and I had it finished during the early part of 1992.

“When it was ready Gordon McDougall and Rob Speak came to have a look at it but persuaded me not to bring it out at the World Championship qualifying round.

“There was going to be quite a big field of cars and the racing was going to be busy. I am glad that I took their advice – that was the meeting that John Fortune and Chalky White had their big crash! I don’t think that it made my debut any easier when I took to the track the following week!

“Over the seasons I have built quite a few cars, some have been really good but one or two didn’t handle too well.

“My second car was built around Derek Dalgleish’s car but when I was repairing the car in the garage after getting damage after a meeting there was a fire and I lost all my tools and spares but was able to rebuild the chassis in a friends garage.

“It didn’t go very well after that so I had to build another. I got a bit of help with my next car, Alistair Forsyth helped with the Sierra suspension. The car was one of the best cars that I had built and it took me up to the red grade.

“I remember my first race from the red grade well. I went out to the grid early thinking that the other red grade drivers would line up in front of me. Wrong! – one pulled up alongside of me whilst the others lined up behind me! I was moved out of the way quickly once the race started!

“I tried the Jim Paterson car that Paul Winfield had used but ended up buying car from Keith Brown. To date that is the only car that I have bought. I got a lot of strong results with this car and I was competitive.”

Things were going well for Reid at this point but came to an abrupt halt after a horror accident in 2004.

“I broke my back and was confined to a special spinal bed for six weeks,” he said.

“One night as I was studying the ceiling I heard a familiar voice – Formula II driver Billy McGill was in the next bed having been brought in after injuring his hand.

“Happily my back is alright and doesn’t give me any trouble but I took a year out to recover.

“The next time I raced was at the Knockhill Trioval, which has big run off areas and it felt really good to be back.”

“One of my best year’s racing was in 2013, some 21 after I tentatively made my debut.

“ I had won quite a few races that year and as a result was well placed for the white/yellow series final and the Champion of Champions races.

“In the white/yellow final I made a good start and went through for a comfortable win It turned out to be almost a similar story in the Champion of Champions race - you need to win a race at the Racewall or at the Knockhill Trioval to get onto the grid.

“I got away well and then capitalised after Gordon Moodie and Chris Burgoyne fought over second spot. I was pleased to leave with a big trophy that day!”

““I had another bout in the red grade in 2017. I had a bad spell and was scheduled to drop down to the yellow grade. The night of the Stock Rod World final it was wet and the car was on rails and I ended up winning the final. The rule is that if you win a final the next week you race from a higher grade. So instead of getting my yellow wing out I had to get a red one.”

““Since then I have built a few more chassis but was beginning to struggle a bit with my car.

“I had been toying with building another and I based it around the RCE chassis which are dominating the racing just now. I started building the car in 2018 but kept the chassis I was racing up to the latest specifications.”

““Despite carrying out a lot of work on my new car I was still using my “old” car at the start to last season but when I hit engine problems in May I decided to bite the bullet and spent the next two weeks working on the new one. Mind you I had been working on it for about eighteen months. There had been a lot of rule changes and I basically held off finishing the car I had to put steel plate around the drivers cab and also change the braking system.“

““Anyway I did get the car finished and brought it for the Scottish Championship, maybe not the best meeting to do so but it was ready so why not? I started from the back of the grid but found the car very different to drive than the car that I had used earlier. In fact I am still trying to get it right, it just so different from what I was using.

“I did manage to finish in tenth place in the final though but we were altering the set up after each race. The following day was the FII Challenge trophy and whilst we had made some changes to the car it still wasn’t great but again I finished in tenth place in the final.”

“I am sure that there is a lot more potential to be gained from the car and I might have to change my driving style to suit!

“I have plenty of time to solve the problems but will only know if I have when I get driving the car.”