How's your racing team doing?

Wow, now I'm glad you asked me about that. It's going great at the moment. I obviously did not have the chance to do as much driving as I'd like. But the last race that I had was at a really technical course called Croft, in the north of England. It's got some really flat out fast sections and a tricky infield piece. And it's known a bit for being a driver circus. Now, my problem was that on the testing day, which is three or four driving sessions, where you just drive around the course, to set the car and get used to it, then on a Saturday you have half an hour qualifying, and then the race is on Sunday's and last 20 minutes.
Now, I arrived at the testing day, at nine o' clock in the morning, after getting up still drunk at around 7 and having gone to bed at four after the show we did. I mean I only had a couple of beers, but with only three hours of sleep, you know... So I felt horrible, and after one and a half hours drive I arrived at the course, and I got in the car and could barely keep my eyes open.

So legally, you wouldn't have been allowed to drive (smile)?

Totally not! And I have never been more scared in a car, because you got your foot flat down on the straight and you come to this corner, and you know it's a fast corner. But I just stomped on the break and stood the car on its nose and just walked around the corner. Because: 'I'm not killing myself today, thank you very much, I ain't got nothing to prove' (laugh). Then I had to leave, so I had only 35 minutes track time and everyone else had 2 and a quarter hours. And I couldn't qualify, so I had to start at the end of the grid of thirteen cars.
When I got there, I had this huge great fear, that the pack would just run away from me, because they were quicker, and that I would overdrive and would run the car into a wall or into the sand, or something. And the most amazing thing happened...
For the first five laps, the pack was getting away from me, but they weren't running away, they were edging away, every lap a little more, maybe a car length per lap. So at the end of the fifth lap, I was maybe five or six car lengths off the guy in front of me, and then suddenly it hit me: 'hey max: break earlier for the corners, not later'. If you break earlier, you get on the power earlier: slow in, fast out. Basic racing driving technique (smile). But it's so hard to do, when your engine is roaring, and you have people in front of you, and you'll be 'let me try just a little bit more', and then you get a little oversteering and you lost another two tenths.
But then I was thinking 'bring it all back, five yards, per corner', and fuckin' 'ell, that little red car in front of me suddenly got bigger and bigger, and eleven and a half laps later, wuuusshhh, done him in the hairpin. And I'm in hot pursuit now for the eleventh place. The eleventh place then ran into the tenth place, they took each other out, while I was catching up to them. So suddenly I'm tenth. And two laps letter was the chequered flag, and ninth was a girl, and she was way in front of me. And when we went over the line two laps later, we were so close to each other, one more lap and I would have done her. And I was just 'yes'! I was an 'awarded driver' that day, and I was so happy.
My boys are actually out today at Snetterton, Dave is gonna race in July, so he is out with another new driver called Chris, and my manager Ray is there too, testing. So after this I will be getting on the phone, to find out how they all got on. We got a big day up, July the 8th. I'm gonna race at Brands Hatch on a Grand Prix course, and it's my favorite track. We are going to race there, and we got a bunch of sponsors coming up, and we are going to talk to them about money, because me and Ray wanna get into GT racing.

That's like a league higher?

That's like two or three leagues higher (laugh). Now, the Ford Fiesta's are great cars to drive, because they go around the corner really fast. They are not particularly fast flat out, maybe 115 miles an hour, but you can go a 90 degree corner in 90 miles an hour. They fly around the corner. They go around the corner faster than a Ferrari 360 racing car. We piss on them through a corner (laugh). Seriously. You do a mixed test, and there's lots of cars that are much quicker than you down the straight, but once you get into the corner.....
I've never ever driven front wheel drive cars before, ever. I hate them, to be honest. I don't like them at all. I love rear wheel drive cars. But Ray said 'why don't you do Ford Fiesta racing?', because he has done it and he knew it inside out. And he is a man that I know I can trust, so I figured 'okay, I'll do it'. So it was a double learning period: it was to learn how to race drive and also how to drive a front wheel drive car. And we did really, really well.
But next year, we are going back to what I know best: rear wheel drive, plenty of power (smile).

So, let me mention the website for all the folks to check you out: maxijazzracing.com.

Yeah, check me out! We are going to do alright. If I'm getting the sponsorship that I am looking for, and I we will need a lot of money, we will get two Porsche GT cars.
I had a go in a Marcos GT car, I got a Marcos road car. And I had a go in a racing car around Silverstone, last August. Wow. So easy (laugh)! It was so easy to drive after the Fiesta. At first I was like 'ooh, better not go to fast', because it's an expensive and powerful car, but the next thing you know, we was just whooping down the track. I had maybe seven races in my life up until that point. There was another guy in the same kind of car as me, a Marcos Mantis, about six garages up, testing on the same track, the same day. He had an extra hour in the car: I had two sessions, he had three. And my best time was only a second off of his. And he has been a the KTM Superlight championship leader at that time and has been racing for years, like seven or eight years. So I was like properly pleased with myself: 'I can do that, this is easy' (smile).

Do you actually follow other championships?

Yeah, I follow the Touring Car championships. I got mates there. I love the whole atmosphere. In a way, it's a lot like being in a band and doing a festival tour: you turn up every two weeks. There are the roadies setting up the tents, the equipment and everything dealing with the cars. The 'artists' arrive, some hours later, driver / performer, whatever. They kill the time, try to settle their nerves, there's a lot of small talk and stupid jokes, and then it's time to perform. And you do your thing and it's either great or terrible. Then you pack up and you are going to do the same thing two weeks later: you meet up again in another part of the country. It's brilliant.
You know, one of the great things about motor racing, is every time I go to the track, there are grizzled people of fifty and sixty and more years old. Jack Brabham is still racing and the man is 74 years old. You know. So racing is something I can do until I die really. Until I become decrecit and my body doesn't work no more. And I will allow that to happen. So racing is something I can always come back to, always.