ADRIAN – My brother Leo and I have competed in the BARC Speed Championship for several years now, starting as pure novices about four years ago. This has been a great year as we managed to compete in ten races at least.
We double drive, basically because we have competed against each other since kids at everything and there is nothing sweeter than beating your brother. To make it fair we use the same car. He is usually faster than me, which he attributes to my twenty kilogram weight penalty. I’m the eldest, so have four years more weight.
We started in Regularity Rallies, but as we could not concentrate for longer than fifteen minutes or got into arguments regarding which is left and which right, we decided to try sprinting which we first did at Crystal Palace and then Harewood in an Alfa Romeo 155Q4 – a beast of a car, my favourite but like going out with Naomi Campbell and Grace Jones at the same time – it will cost you in time, money and lots of bruises.
We no longer do Regularity Rallies in the UK. The weather appears as dull as the ‘sport’, but apart from the 2012 Targa Florio (Sicily) – in which we won our class in a Ferrari 348, we did the Coppa Della Perugina (Perugia) this year in a 1967 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe – we won some sweets!
Please tell us a little about the history of your car…
LEO – The car came from Scotland and was badly mistreated. In fact, the engine had seized and the car was a little battered.
ADRIAN – The McMiTo was a strange choice. Leo has spent years saying ‘we will never buy another car from Scotland’.
Do you have any help getting the car ‘Race Ready’?
LEO – Adrian had a great deal of help preparing the car as I did it all. He usually does stickers, but didn’t even do those this time.
ADRIAN – I was banned from adding stickers and then found that he had taken the one job I was good at.
What did you enjoy most about 2018?
LEO – This year I enjoyed beating my brother. He claims that he’s happy if either of us win but I rely on memories of childhood elder brother bullying to take pleasure from my own victories.
ADRIAN – I am generally proud of my little brother’s achievements, some of which cannot be mentioned.
