V8 Hotstox
V8 Hotstox is a British stock car racing formula that races on British short oval racing circuits. Drivers are members of the British Stock Car Drivers Association and are affiliated to the British Stock Car Racing Association. V8 Hotstox have also previously been known as V8 Stock Cars.
Hotstox racing
Hotstox race at various venues in the UK. The tracks feature different surfaces such as shale, tarmac and concrete. The tracks all feature two straights and two turns to form an oval. The oval is surrounded by a safety barrier constructed of Armco, concrete, steel or posts and wires. Races vary in length with heats generally being 16 laps and final's 20. Each meeting consists of 2 or 3 heats plus a final and sometimes an allcomers race often called a Grand National.The field of cars is split into 5 groups according to experience and points. Novices are graded 'White' and must have a white roof. The grades ascend as more points are scored, the next grade is Yellow followed by Blue, Red and Super Star grade. The Super Star grade have red roofs with amber flashing lights and are the most experienced drivers. Super Stars must start each race at the back of the field. Novices start at the front followed by each grade.
Drivers may use force to pass the car in front to gain position. The winner is the first driver to complete race distance. The contact element is what attracts drivers and fans alike and requires great skill in delivering and withstanding the hits that are part and parcel of Hotstox racing.
History
1984 Humble beginningsSummers, Darren ''Stock Car Magazine''. Autographics, June 2009
Hotstox was a concept developed by then promoter of the now defunct Long Eaton Stadium – Keith Barber. Barber also edited and produced the premier Stock Car publication Stock Car Magazine. It was in the pages of SCM in 1983 that Barber outlined the idea of a budget contact racing formula as an alternative to BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars. The rules were influenced heavily by Stock Cars that Barber had seen in New Zealand. The New Zealand cars featured 'Stock' bodies and small capacity engines. Barber derived the name Hotstox from a formula that he had seen in South Africa during a visit in the 1960s.Early Hotstox rules allowed a basic ladder chassis construction with power provided by a Rover V8 or Ford V6. Suspension was restricted to leaf spring arrangements with strictly standard shock absorbers – rules which exist to this day. Stock bodies from production road cars were to be used and although the first constructed Hotstox featured such bodies, it became clear that creating a stock bodied car was not practical as the time taken to fabricate them proved both time consuming and costly.
The first cars constructed were built by Paul Lomax and by Dennis Howelland his son John. Lomax's car featured a Ford Fiesta body. Demonstration races began taking place – mainly at Long Eaton with the first meeting proper running at Long Eaton in April 1984.
6 cars contested the races at the first meeting. The pioneering drivers being #69 Paul Lomax, 7 Nigel Parker, 8 Ron Poyser, 50 Graham Bird, 58 Steve Booth and 99 Jack Eyres in the Lomax prototype. Although John Howell helped construct one of the first cars, he never went on to race a Hotstox. The first ever race was won by Nigel Parker who also took the feature final. The 2nd heat race was won by Graham Bird. A month later, the 2nd meeting took place at Long Eaton where two more competitors appeared: 3 Pete Clinch and 68 Alf Lomax. The race results were exactly as at the first meeting with Parker winning the 1st heat and final and Bird taking the 2nd heat.
Grids of up to 15 cars began to appear and meetings were staged at other venues: Scunthorpe, Coventry, Rochdale and Northampton. The first national championship was held at Long Eaton and was won by 3 Pete Clinch with a 3 Litre V6 Ford – and the Points Champion was Nigel Parker. By season's end, 19 meetings had been raced plus 1 demo.
1985 2nd season
Having had a successful first season, it was clear that some organising would be required. Kath Lomax had been given the task of implementing a points structure and assumed the role of press officer, fixture planner and other behind the scenes assignments.Keith Barber had constructed a new Hotstox based upon 1950s pioneer racer Harold 'Bozzy' Bosworth's Model B Ford Stock Car. The racer would be given away as a prize in a competition run by Barber's Stock Car Magazine. The winner, Barry Tempest raced it only twice – blowing the engine both times before selling the car back to builder Barber.
The relative success of the fledgling Hotstox formula garnered interest and criticism from the British Stock Car Drivers Association who saw the new budget Hotstox formula as a threat to the popular F1 Stock Car division. Fixtures were harder to come by due to BSCDA pressure. The fixture list ran from month to month with last minute meetings added in or cancelled. Long Eaton was the only promotion to guarantee their meetings. Still, 27 meetings took place: LE 9, Scunthorpe 6, Cleethorpes 4, Belle Vue 3, NiR 2 and Boston, Crewe and Skegness 1 each. Nigel Parker retained his Points Championship and added a British Championship to his trophy cabinet. The Nationals was taken once again by Pete Clinch. 27 drivers had raced. Notable additions to the formula included 96 Pete Morris, 24 John Gibson, 17 Andy Hulse, 72 Mike Dignan and 88 Graham Mellor.
1986 – 3rd season
1986 really should have seen the formula hit the big time but, meetings were still hard to come by with just 19 definite fixtures including sessions at Barrow in Furness. Despite a much bigger driver base of 51 registered, attendances averaged around the 20 mark. Much publicity was gained when ex 1981 F1 World Champion Len Wolfenden joined the ranks.In August the Hotstox traveled east to Mildenhall. It was there that Kath Lomax began discussions with Spedeworth representatives about the possibility of the Hotstox and Spedeworth F1 formula racing together.
In September, 13 drivers made the trip to the Isle of Man to race for the 1st Manx TT Trophy. Winner of the Championship was 190 Len Wolfenden. A round up of the Championships saw 69 Paul Lomax take the Nationals at Long Eaton, The British at Belle Vue and the Points Championship to boot. 32 meetings were staged: LE 11, Belle Vue 6, Skegness 4, Cleethorpes 4, Barrow and Rochdale 2 each and NiR, Mildenhall and Aycliffe 1 a piece.
1987 Spedeworth
With gaps appearing in the fixture list and following on from the initial Spedeworth contact made at Mildenhall in 1986, the Hotstox journeyed south to Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane, London in April 1987 for an historic first meeting racing against the Spedeworth F1's. Paul Lomax scored two heat wins and the meeting was heralded as a complete success. A month later 19 Hotstox traveled to the capital and took on 25 Spedeworth F1's again receiving much praise for both sides.The first ever solo Hotstox meeting took place at Long Eaton on 20 June. This was a real milestone for a formula that was less than 3 years old, going from nothing to a meeting dedicated to the formula. This also marked the appearance of some Spedeworth F1's first venture on to a BriSCA shale track. The British Championship was held at Belle Vue in September where rumours of Stock Car Racing legend Stuart Smith's appearance at the wheel of a spare Lomax car were proved right. However, even Smith could not stop Len Wolfenden from walking away with the silverware. Not content with that, Wolfenden went to Wimbledon a month later and brought home the Spedeworth version. The Nationals saw Paul Lomax successfully defend his title at Long Eaton in November and also go on to win the points. The meetings were shared by: Long Eaton 10, Belle Vue 6, Wimbledon 3, Boston 3, Northampton 2, Hartlepool 2, Aycliffe 2, Skegness 2 with Scunthorpe and Crewe 1 each. There were over 70 active drivers by season's end.
1988 Continued growth
The Spedeworth connection continued with Hotstox racing at Ipswich's Foxhall Heath stadium, Wisbech's South Brink and Plough Lane Wimbledon. The Hotstox also debuted at Buxton's High Edge Raceway and after 2 years of trying, secured 2 dates at Birmingham Wheels which proved to become one of the most successful tracks for the Hotstox. The annual visit to the Isle of Man saw Paul Lomax crowned as Manx Champion to which he added the British and Points Championships. The Nationals went to 96 Pete Morris at Long Eaton which led the fixtures list with 10 meetings, Scunthorpe 5, Aycliffe, Crewe & Northampton with 4, Skegness 3, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Boston 2 and Buxton chipping in with 1 each.1989 The finest hour
1989 was probably the Hotstox finest year. As in the previous season, another bumper influx of Ministox youth joined the ranks with Steve Hodgson, Lisa Harter, Andy Smith and Andy Turner stepping up from the junior division. Turner won the season opener with a final victory at Buxton, from another Ex F1 driver, Trevor Cadman, Richard Ainsworth made the move from F1 to Hotstox as did John Cayzer. Both Ainsworth and Cayzer debuted a Hotstox version of their F1's with Cayzer also building an identical sister car to his own for near neighbour Ms. Harter.Another event under threat, but for totally different reasons, was that of the Manx Championship. The ferry company had hiked their prices up but relented eventually and the trip to the Isle of Man went ahead with Pete Morris taking the Manx Sword home.
The highest ever turnout of 49 Hotstox at Long Eaton's May meeting was topped by season's end with 53 at the same venue. The Spedeworth connection was kept alive with Paul and Alf Lomax, Keith Chambers, Pete Morris and Lisa Harter all making the trip to Ipswich for the Spedeworth British which was won by Spedeworth driver, the late Terry O'Connor. There followed a meeting at Wisbech which featured separate events for both Hotstox and Spedeworth F1's. Both raced for their own versions of the East Anglian Championship before a joint allcomers race which turned into a demolition derby. The winner of the East Anglian Championship was Jon Maw who tragically lost his life later the same year. Jon is remembered to this day with the running of the Jon Maw memorial trophy.
In what was a year heavily dominated by ex ministox drivers, only the experienced Richard Ainsworth was able to keep the young guns away from all of the silverware as he took the National Points. Andy Hodgson won the Nationals; Keith Chambers won the British and Ray Witts took the Northern and Midland. The Manx Championship was won by Pete Morris.
Sadly, Aycliffe closed its doors after having hosted 5 Hotstox meetings in 1989, Long Eaton again topped out with 11, Buxton, Birmingham and Scunthorpe weighed in with 5 each with Hartlepool and Mildenhall staging 2 apiece.
A young Andrew Smith debuted late in the season but suffered engine problems.