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As well as being a laughing matter in their own right, “vans can be the best vehicle to indulge your hobbies, as evidenced by motorsport enthusiast Mike Thomas, who uses his motorhome to enjoy Brisca Formula 2 production car racing. “
One of the pleasures of sightseeing will be stopping at the RV park to make the most of our recreational time. From opting for a camping site for fishing to an ideal destination for strolling, the many sites scattered throughout the UK and beyond offer glorious settings to indulge our passions.
Deputy Editor Paul Critcher sat down with Mike to learn more about his RV and how he uses it to inventory auto racing.
I’m based in Bridgwater in central Somerset. I’m a Shipping Manager at KRG Transport, which operates a fleet of 30 crane trucks. I work for a friend who used to race inventory cars.
I’ve been an avid fan of BriSCA Formula 2 inventory racing for years.
It’s a “short oval” race (taking place on an oval track a quarter mile long or less) and it’s a semi-contact motorsport (this is pretty self-explanatory!).
The races are held between March and November, almost every weekend. There are 15 titles on the British Tour and five in the Netherlands.
As a technical quarterback, I conduct safety checks on cars and make sure they are in compliance with the rules. I first became interested in inventory car racing in the 1990s, when I was watching racing at my local track in Newton Abbott.
This venue (which once drew thousands of fans) has closed its doors, but I’m still as excited as ever and attending as many races as I can.
Absolutely! In fact, it was thanks to our shared love of inventory cars that I met Zoé, and now she’s my fiancée.
We saw others on the track in other places and it grew from there. He runs an organization on Facebook (#LOVEF2S) that sells F2 stock car racing.
A few years ago I owned a VW T5 and then bought a Sprinter, which had been swapped out by whoever used to race and I used it as a tow vehicle.
I sold it for £10,000 in 2020 and invested in a new van, a 2019 Peugeot Boxer.
Then I asked a friend from the car inventory, who makes racing RVs, to convert it for me; He did an extraordinary job. I designed the truck to be the RV for me, bought all the parts, like the swivel seat, ribbed seatback seat, bed, and wheel, and flipped it around.
Like I said, he did an amazing job. What I discovered is the van equipment that has a ribbed semi-double bed in the dining area and a French bed in the rear, all in a 6m long vehicle!
I had been thinking about switching to something a little more modern and reliable, so I had a long verbal exchange with a friend of mine from car inventory, who makes a living selling pickup trucks.
He told me about a 6m Peugeot van he owned. I decided to buy it at a very reasonable price and, after the conversion, I now have a campervan that I can resell for a lot of money.
It has a French corner bed and a back bath. At the front there is a dining area that converts into a double bed.
It has all the fashionable comforts: heating and hot water for a Truma motorhome, oven and grill, refrigerator, TV soundbar, solar panel, swivel front seats, awning. . . the list goes on!
We’re still on the tracks for inventory car racing, so we’re usually off the grid in our RV. However, Raceway Venray in the Netherlands has an electrical connection.
Sometimes when we passed by Crimond Raceway in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, we stayed at a spot near Tebay, Cumbria, on the way. But my van is very autonomous and you can easily spend 3 or 4 days off the grid.
Zoe’s Facebook organization (#LOVEF2S) has a lot of data and BriSKA’s online page also has a lot of details. Tracks are all over the UK, from Cornwall to Aberdeen, and many meet-and-greets take place at weekends. There are also speed weekends at Skegness Raceway.
Actually, my hobby came first, but now we can’t believe we can do car racing without the motorhome. If it rains, we have a shelter, and I’m lucky, because I can park in the pit area, so I’m nearby if I need to make myself a cup of tea in the van!
Many other people crisscross the country in their RVs to pursue inventory car races. We see the same cars in meetings and it’s very easy to use.
There are several tours in Holland, but I only went to Venray. It is the largest and the World Cup is held there every year.
The Nutts Corner circuit in Crumlin, Northern Ireland, is another track that hosts a weekend – we held our world final there this year.
It’s a huge hobby – we call it our inventory car racing family!We self-fund our hobby; It’s not cheap, but we love it. We drive about 12,000 miles a year and love the RV lifestyle.
It’s an amazing way to pass the time and I met a lot of friends during the race. We’re getting married soon and most of the visitors to the wedding are other people we met at standard car racing.
We’re thinking about switching to a body. We’re putting in a lot of miles, so it’s time to move on and move on to something bigger – I like the look of the 640 Liner.
Take a look at what our technical expert, Diamond Dave, has to say about the pros and cons of lithium batteries.
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PCritcher