Michael Looker who heads up Universal Racing gives us an early 2019 insight into their promising start to RHPK 2019…
Michael, please introduce the team for anyone who is unaware of the 2019 driver lineup for Universal Racing
This year Universal Racing is made up myself, Josh Harrison and Shayne “sausage” Cuthbert. Shayne joined us mid-season last year replacing Wayne (Edwards) who left to join Polish Lambo. Shayne has brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team in terms of both set-up and driving and he has really pulled Josh and me along.
Round 1, a win and Round 2 a second – a fantastic start to the 2019 season, How does it feel?
It feels Great! All the hard work and long hours in the workshop are finally starting to paid off, we always knew we had the pace to compete for podiums and finally things seem to be coming together. That said, we still have 7 races to go and as we all know in RHPK anything can happen.
Universal Racing in 2018, we saw a string of retirements and disappointing results, what happened and what’s changed for 2019 to be so competitive?
2018 was a huge learning curve for us. You name it we had it go wrong from snapped chassis to a transponder fault, loose steering wheel to brake failure. Oh and of course losing a wheel on the Alpha live round in June. My point is you need to make mistakes to learn from them and hopefully we’ve got most of them under our belt now.
This season we have changed everything apart from our 7kart Chassis. We’re running a pair of new Monkey Motorsport jet engines, we have changed our stint order, we’ve even changed our pre-race poo time. But the biggest improvement has come from the kart prep. Instead of just spending a few hours changing the obvious bits like bearings and stubs. I now strip the clutches, rotate the chains and inspect the chassis thoroughly. It doesn’t cost a penny more to prep a kart properly you just need to do it right.
Who are your top picks for both classes this year and why?
This year I’m willing to bet my house that it will be the most competitive season in RHPK history. I think we’re going to see lap records being broken on multiple occasions throughout the season and I could pick 5 or 6 teams in both classes who could win the championship.
Let me explain: Spectre have to be the favourites, pairing the current champions with the runners up on paper sounds like a master plan by Derrick. But then there is Renegade Monkey’s, Ben Bishop former ABA bandit joining forces with Sir Steve Aldridge and Mark Beaumont – If that’s not dream team lineup then I don’t know what is! Moving along we have Custom Rods now with Ben Cook joining Sam Read and Chris Orme. Oh and not to forget Helicopter services, GKD, DAD, JND and them little Polish Lambo V2 whipits (little fu*kers are barely out of nappies but boy can they drive!)
As for clubman I see it as a 5 horse race:
CLM Lambo, March racing, Zingrae, Monkey motorsport and of course Universal. But then again we have the class selection to come into the fold after round 3 or 4 {please delete}so anything could happen. It could clear the path for the likes of KA racing, BMH, Burton, and HP. Like I’ve already said this year really could be the most competitive year to date.
Who are your main rivals this year?
I think it has to be CLM Lambo. Their performance in the last race was “super” strong! And if it wasn’t for bad luck in R1 we could have had a interesting battle on our hands.
What has been your standout race since you joined the series and why?
For me, the stand out race has to be our first win which came in March. Finally we got to stand on the top step of the podium as a team.
A big thanks to Michael for his insight. For those that don’t know Universal is an independent tyre and auto centre company with branches throughout London, Essex, and the southeast. Anybody who competes in RHPK is offered 15% off the retail price on tyres!
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