Neil Armstrong has stacked up a collection of sprint and hillclimb titles with a car he uses to take his children to school!
Plans to race an Integra Type R were put on hold for a year as the Southampton motorsport ace dusted off his tried and trusted Mitsubishi EV06, slapped on a set of tyres and brakes and went sprinting again.
"Knowing how dominant the car was two years ago when I had a few class wins, I thought I would have a cheap and easy season," said Armstrong with a wry smile.
He won his class at the first four events
but going into mid season he wasn't having
it all his own way with a few new high-
powered challengers flexing their muscles.
"It was incredible how the stakes were raised during my absence from competition last year," said Armstrong.
However, with consistent high scoring and several more class wins at venues like Pembrey, Castle Combe and Lydden, Armstrong found himself leading several championships. Just recently he took a class win and broke the hill record at the Longleat Hillclimb in Wiltshire which resulted in him clinching the overall titles in the 7Oaks Motor Club Marketing Machine Speed League with three more rounds still to go.
Then last week Armstrong ventured up to the Midlands to the Curborough sprint course near Lichfield for the final rounds of the BARC Cars and Car Conversion Speed Championship and the ACSMC Guildford Tyres Sprint Championship.
It resulted in another class win and an overall championship triumph in both categories.
"After winning various classes in the CCC Championship in previous years the
overall championship had always eluded me," said Armstrong. "I missed out by 0.6 points
last time and it was close again between
myself and Shaun Macklin from Romsey, who was competing in the pre-94 Formula Ford Class.
"Unfortunately Shaun lost to class rival Keith Sollis in the last round and my win secured it."
According to Armstrong his beloved EV06 didn't come out of it unscathed. "I struck a marshall's fire extinguisher in a high-speed sprint near Abingdon and did a lot of damage to the door and the side. I was being pushed to the limit by a high-powered Cosworth but still came away with a narrow win.
"However, with the engine still standard the car was still very competitive against much higher powered machinery. Good old Mitsubishi!"
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