Below are videos from the races that Alex has completed so far in the MR2 Racing series. As he completes more races, this page will be updated.
Brands Hatch October 24th Race 2: This is a short video of the first few laps of the final race of the season. Alex starts pole but drops down to third after bogging down off the line. He gets back up to second only to have a bit of oversteer and lose the place again. However, coming into Paddock Hill on the next lap he dives down the inside to retake 2nd place and then sets about passing the leader, only for the leader to spin off a couple of laps later leaving Alex to inherit the lead and bring it home easily to the chequered flag to take another win.
Mallory Park September 27th Race 2 Part 1: After suffering engine failure in the first race and DNF’ing, Alex has to start at the back for the second race of the day. This is a rare chance for Alex to work his way through a pack of cars as quickly as possible. Despite a broken front ARB causing some very wayward handling, he manages to get on with the task in hand.
Mallory Park September 27th Race 2 Part 2: Alex has already made his way into the top ten and is battling with a few other drivers to make it into the top 5. At about 1:30 in the video he carries a bit too much speed through the Esses and runs across the grass. Upon rejoining the track he has a coming together with #5 but they both manage to continue racing until the flag.
Snetterton August 22nd Race 1: Alex is starting in second position and makes a good start, holding his place, but before the first lap is over the safety car comes out which causes some confusion and as a result Alex lost a place. A couple of laps after the racing resumed, Alex was back up to second and chasing down the leader Jody Firth, British GT4 Champion. He is right on his bumper when he struggles to find 4th gear, dropping him back a few places. Within 2 laps he’s caught right back up but again he struggles with the gearchange and puts it into 2nd rather than 4th. Luckily the engine survived, but Alex lost a place in the process, which he had regained by the end of the lap. Once again he managed to catch right back up with the leader, but unfortunately the chequered flag then came out.
Snetterton August 22nd Race 2: Alex is starting in second position but drops down to third by the first corner. He soon regains second and is hot on the heels of the leader Jody Firth. A few laps in he decides to make a move along the back straight into the Esses, by out-braking the leader and manages to make it stick. From there on he resists the intense pressure from behind to bring it home for the most pleasing and satisfying win yet.
Silverstone June 7th Race 2 Part 2: The final part of the second race from Silverstone and Alex is currently in 3rd place. A back-marker comes into play, briefly putting him into the the as the other cars were held up slightly, however by the end of the next straight he’s back down to 3rd, where he goes up the inside of the second place car only to have to door closed and a bit more paintwork exchanged. In the end, he finished third after a great race.
Silverstone June 7th Race 2 Part 1: The second race from Silverstone and Alex again starts on pole. Again he doesn’t get a brilliant start and drops down to fourth place. However, after getting back up to 3rd the front four cars break away from the rest of the pack and have a race-long battle for the top positions. See part 2 for the end.
Silverstone June 7th Race 1: The first race from Silverstone and Alex starts on pole after a wet qualifying session. Alex doesn’t get a brilliant start and within a few laps he has dropped down to 5th place. He tags on the back of the leading bunch who fight amongst themselves and Alex manages to find a few gaps and eventually works his way back up to 1st place, shortly after which the race is red flagged and Alex inherits the win as over 75% of race distance has been completed.
Pembrey 16th May Race 2 Part 2: Final half of the second race and Alex is currently in the lead. He has Adam Lockwood right behind him applying constant pressure, and there’s one hairy moment where he overtakes a backmarker who failed to see Alex and a bit of paint was shared, although there were no hard-feelings after the race. Alex managed to hold on to the end to take his first win, despite a bit of rain towards the end of the race.
Pembrey 16th May Race 2 Part 1: First half of the second race from Pembrey, with Alex starting 2nd after his result in race 1. Alex chases down the leader, Adam Lockwood, and they both break away from the rest of the field by quite a large distance. Alex makes a pass for the lead and makes it stick. See part 2 to see if he can maintain the lead until the end.
Pembrey 16th May Race 1 Part 2: Final half of the first race at Pembrey where Alex started 7th. He has managed to work his way up to 3rd and the 3 orange stoner cars are leading the race, when one of them has to pull in due to mechanical problems. Alex then has as issue with a backmarker where he possibly went the wrong side and the backmarker didn’t notice him. Then, he gets a whack in the side at the hairpin on the last lap but manages to keep going.
Pembrey 16th May Race 1 Part 1: First half of the first race from the weekend at Pembrey. Alex started 7th after a disappointing qualifying but started working his way up the order, slowly gaining positions. See Part 2 for the conclusion and to see if Alex makes it into the top 3 by the end.
Snetterton 5th April Race 2 Part 2: Second half of the second race from Snetterton. As you can see at the start of this video, one of the leaders spins off, leaving Alex in a great battle with Liam O’Toole for 2nd place which continues to the end of the race. A very enjoyable race.
Snetterton 5th April Race 2 Part 1: First half of the second race from the opening round of the season at Snetterton. Alex gets involved for a great battle for the top 3 / 4 places with the other drivers and manages to keep with them despite his lack of straight line speed. See Part 2 for the conclusion.
2008 Videos Below
Brands 8th November Race 1 Part 1 - First half of the first race from Brands Hatch and Alex is starting in 7th. He loses a couple of places in the first lap or so but soon regains them. He then has some clear track(and clear visibility) ahead of him so slowly begins reeling in the front pack. See part 2 below for the outcome.
Brands 8th November Race 1 Part 2 - Second half of the first race where Alex had managed to catch up with the leading group. You can see he slowly picks off some of the cars ahead of him, one by one, to get up the order. In the end he finished 4th, a great result seeing as he was 9th at one point.
Brands 8th November Race 2 Part 1 - First half of the second race, and after initially getting blocked into paddock after the start Alex loses 2 places but regains them by the end of Druids. A few laps later Alex can be seen going around the outside of the 3rd place driver who appears unaware Alex is on his outside and unintentionally squeezes Alex off the track onto the mud, resulting in a spin. Alex loses around 30 seconds and is frustrated (apologies for the language) but gets his head down to try and make up for lost time.
Brands 8th November Race 2 Part 2 - Second half of the second race after Alex got eased off the track and spun in the first race, in this part he gets his head down and manages to catch up with a few of the cars in front which passed him when he lost time from the spin. It was in this period that he set his fastest lap, the second fastest lap out of anyone any only 2 tenths off the fastest lap of the race.
Snetterton 19th October- Race 2 Part 1. This is the 2nd race of the day where Alex has a fantastic battle for 4th place with Jason Jesse (red car) and Sam Maher-Loughnan (blue car). The 3 of them change places amongst themselves well over 10 times throughout the race, getting incredibly close to one another the entire time. Alex says this is the best race he’s had so far in the series, see for yourself what he means. Watch Part 2 below this for the second half. See the full report of the races here.0
Snetterton 19th October - Race 2 Part 2. This is the 2nd part of Race 2 where Alex has a fantastic battle for 4th place with Jason Jesse (red car) and Sam Maher-Loughnan (blue car). The 3 of them change places amongst themselves well over 10 times throughout the race, getting incredibly close to one another the entire time. You can see at one point Alex out-brakes himself at the end of the back straight and manages to hold a huge slide, but goes grass-tracking. Thankfully, he didn’t lose too much time! Alex says this is the best race he’s had so far in the series, see for yourself what he means. See the full report of the races here.
Pembrey 28 & 29th June Nippon Challenge - Best Bits. Graham Poultney of X-SPEC Motorsport generously made a production race spec Subaru Impreza WRX available at cost price for me to use for the race weekend at Pembrey. I really enjoyed racing a different car, especially something with some power for once (260bhp in this case). As well as the extra power it handled quite differently to the MR2, with a tendency to slight understeer, so it was a great learning experience. I was on road tyres (against most of the other cars on semi-slicks), so the car moved about a good bit increasing the feedback it gave me. Here’s a selection of some of the best moments from the weekend. See the full report of the races here.
Pembrey 28 & 29th June Nippon Challenge - MR2 Roll. In Race 2, the two cars in front of me had a minor coming together, somehow causing the orange MR2 to roll over in what seemed to be a freak accident. Luckily, they were both OK and I managed to avoid them, but it was a scary accident nonetheless. See the full report of the races from the weekend here.
Rockingham 7th June third meeting. The Race Part 2. I worked my way back up after missing the gear, having great battles with everyone along the way. Had a couple of excursions, one at 1:50 in the video, but I didn’t lose any time or places doing so. It was a really good race, see the full report of the meeting here.
Rockingham 7th June third meeting. The Race Part 1. I’ve split it up into 2 parts so it fits onto YouTube. This is Part 1. I started in 6th place and had a great battle with the front 7 cars for 2nd place. I got up to 3rd at one point, but at 3:45 in the video I missed a gear coming onto the banking, causing me drop to 7th. See the full report of the meeting here.
Mallory Park 26th May second meeting. Race 2.Started in 6th place but put it in 3rd gear on the grid, rather than 1st, dropping me down to 15th by the first corner. I managed to fight my way back up through the field throughout the race, picking off the cars in front of me one by one. By the end, I was on the back of the leading pack. See the full report of the meeting here.
Silverstone 27th April first meeting. Race 2. Started in 5th and worked my way up to the front a few times, before someone lunged up my inside causing me to take avoiding action and drop back to 5th, at 3:25 in the video. From there on, I had a superb battle for 4th place, swapping places around 9 time with the blue car in 3 laps. See the full report of the meeting here.
