Ray Donner and I would spend most weekends at either Rye House in Hoddesdon or Tilbury Go-Kart Tracks racing in the 100 National A series (1976-1979). After my return from the USA (1983-1985) we competed in 125-max Karts. Most week nights we would be glued up our garage working on our Karts or Motorbike Scramblers.

I wanted to go Saloon Car Racing as single seaters never really appealed to me.

My first race car was a Vauxhall Viva HB “Gerry Marshall” – I raced this in Modified Production Saloons, a great race series sponsored by Truseal and run by Al Wayman and Brian Sheridan.

I started to improve and managed to save up to get hold of a very nice Lotus Sunbeam. The series was now sponsored by Falken Tyres and I won my first race outright at a very wet Snetterton.

I changed cars a few times including a Mitsubishi Starion, Astra, and back to another Lotus.

I craved after a Ford Sierra RS 500, these were the best of the best in Touring Cars at this time in 1989 – so incredibly fast (in fact so fast that they were banned a few years later) but I didn’t have the budget. So Bob Mitchell and Ray Donner, my best pals, had started a race car team called Preptech and built me a Ford Sapphire over the winter months. We went for a nice 2000 Pinto engine from the famous “sausage fingers” himself HT racing, Aaron Tucker and Roland Hayes.

Initial teething problems (HT had pushed very hard to give me a competitive engine) were solved, bearing in mind I was in class C against some monster A class cars, but we started to get overall wins not just class places!

After two years of runner up I won the BARC championship overall in 1994 and had a very lovely evening at Effingham Park Hotel to collect my trophy rubbing shoulders with the best of them.

For 1995 we switched to a full blown Cosworth normally aspirated engine which was great to drive, so powerful, but budgets started to run out as no hope of any sponsorship.

After a hiatus of 10 years to consecrate on work flat out, I had to race again and when a RS500, my dream touring car, came on the market that was it! After racing that for a couple of years I started a motorsport team called SZ Motorsport.

Since then I have competed in four 24 Hour Silverstone endurance races and the FIA Masters Series classic Saloons including the prestigious Goodwood Revival and Members Meeting. I have raced in Europe, USA and South Africa and had the pressure to co-drive with legends including Derek Bell, Jason Plato, Robb Gravett, Oliver Gavin and Steve Soper!

One of my favourite races is The Classic “Six Hours of Spa”  with a highest finish of 2nd…so nearly the win.