I WAS going down the road in Dunfermline when I spied these two characters looking at a recently dug hole in the road, writes our Cowdenbeath Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

To my surprise I recognised them – they were the Stirling based saloon drivers James (JL) and Kevin Letford (KL). They quickly enlightened me that they both worked for Clanceys and there had been a problem which meant that Kevin and his team had dug the hole and it was going to be left to James and his team to fill it and make good.

JT How did you get into racing?

JL: I started racing minis when I was 13and then moved into bangers. I raced a Robert Bruce saloon but when the engine blew I retired. When I did return I raced Superbangers, a hot rod went back to bangers than came out with a Harry Burgoyne saloon. Did 5 meetings then retired due to family commitments. When they had grown up I came back in 2013 in a prostock but in 2016 came out in a saloon after the Zetec engine was introduced which cut back the cost of racing saloons. The car I have was Stevie Honeyman’s but Brian “Biff” Honeyman raced it

KL I also started in the minis but at 16 took a couple of years out. I then raced Rookie bangers and prostox before buying the Greg Honeyman saloon.

JT: Tell me about your racing this year

JL:“We both race very much to a very tight budget. My kids are grown up so that eases the burden but as far as I am concerned if I didn’t have the money then I wouldn’t be racing.

KL:I have young kids so they have to come first but what doesn’t help is that I am on call and that restricts my outings. We spend as much time in the garage as we can but our major sponsors are our wages! All the time you spend working on the car is made worthwhile when you get good results on the track. We both use the Zetec engine which we can get from the scrappies for £150, and that keeps the costs to a minimum”.

JL: It is the end of our second season in the 2 Litre National saloons and overall I think we both have had a good season. I had stripped my car at the end of last year and was able to cut a lot of weight out of the car, something like 83 kilos although I had to put some back in. I didn’t want to rush getting back racing but it took me a lot longer to get it ready that I thought it would. When I did come out the car went better than I thought and after picking up quite a lot of good results my average was high so I moved up to the red grade. I ended up doing faster laps than I had ever done so the effort over the close season certainly had paid off. My form then took a dip and I got caught up in quite a few incidents and dropped back down to the blue grade. I didn’t really find it any harder racing from red that the blue grade but I had no consistency that month Once I dropped down to blue I began to put together some really good results, which boosted my morale. It is all down to car handling and after a few adjustments my car was back on the pace. Mind you all you need is a heavy shunt into the wall and you are back to square one!”

KL: “I have had a lot of handling troubles but towards the end of the season it has been much improved. We are getting to grips with setting the cars up so we are both looking forward to the start of the 2018 season. I had my car ready for the start of this season. I started as a yellow grader but got caught up in a few incidents and managed to drop down to the white grade. Over the season I have had to rebuild the front corner no less that four times. I really didn’t get any breaks over the first part of the season”

JT How did you get on down at the Skegness weekend?

KL “We both went down to Skegness for the UK Speedweekend. I didn’t have too good a time of it unfortunately although I didn’t really get much damage this year. Last year it was wrecked but with a lot of help from others I managed to get the car back out. This year I didn’t have that problem but didn’t qualify for the final even through the last chance qualifying race. Bit disappointing!”

JL:“I led the first race on the Saturday until the closing stages but then got wrecked by a back marker. Although I got the car back out it just wasn’t right and to crown it all on the Sunday in the last chance qualifying race I had brake problems

JT What about the World Final which was held at the Racewall but run under the jurisdiction of Autospeed?

JL:”Neither of us had managed to qualify for the World so we had to take our chance in the last chance qualifying race. There was around 30 cars on the grid including ex-World Champion Eddie Darby. The grid was lined up in World ranking points order and I started the race from the fifth row. I had a really good race and managed to keep up with the drivers ahead of me. I began to pick up places and moved into fourth place but on the last corner I saw this English car slowing down. I did so too but then saw a group of cars beginning to get close. I accelerated and so did he and whilst he did turn into me I managed to hold on to finish fourth. In the final itself I was alongside Luke Grief and I decided that I would try to keep up with him and follow him through the gaps. Unfortunately he didn’t go too well and I had to pass him. I got myself up to twelfth place and was racing with two of the English drivers who were dicing. I picked my moment and got ahead and moved into tenth place. I glanced off Cole Atkins car and it damaged my coil pack. The car stuttered and I had to pull off but was really chuffed to have been in the World, pleased with the cars performance but was disappointed that I didn’t finish the race.”

KL: “I started right at the back of the grid and made up a lot of ground and towards the end of the race I was in the top six and a place on the World grid beckoned. I had had problems with one of the back hubs which caused me problems. Raymond Dick managed to force his way through and I had to be content with seventh place missing out on the final.”

JT The next major race for them was the Scottish Championship

KL: I drew 4th place on the grid and was the first car out on the parade lap. It started to rain but not that heavy so I decided that I would go with the dry tyres. I got away well but had no grip and got squeezed out wide. By the time I got back in line was well down the order. I ended up in tenth place.”

JL: I drew 2nd last place on the grid and decided to put on new tyres. I was flying at the start and was well up the order behind Ross Watters. Then the track began to dry out and all the drivers I had passed caught back up with me and I ended up in ninth place.”

JT Tell me about your win in the white/yellows.

“I was lined up as last car on the grid and started almost half a lap adrift of the white graders. I had put my dry tyres on and someone had said to me “nae pressure” huh! When the race started I found the track quite slippery and it was difficult to find a dry line. I had to get my head down and just get on with it. Euan Mathieson was leading and he was going well and by the time I moved into second place he was the length of the straight ahead. I think he must have messed up a bend because all of a sudden I was much closer. I caught up with him with just over a lap to go and got inside of him on the turnstile bend. We were side by side going down the back straight and into the pit bend. I managed to accelerate exiting the bend and was able to put a bit of distance between us. Didn’t want to give him a chance to get back at me. I was really chuffed to have won the white/yellow series final and I enjoyed the occasion.

KL I was on standby!

JT What about the Superbowl?

JL: I picked up two good results in the heats and had a decent place on the grid. I got away well and started to catch the cars ahead and was having a dice with Deane Mayes when there was a race stoppage with three laps to go!. On the restart my gear lever jumped out so I just coasted into retirement! Gutted! I came out for the Champion of Champions race on the Sunday. The car was going well but I stripped the gearbox so that was my season over.”

KL: The Superbowl was my best meeting of the year even though I failed to qualify for the final. In one of the heats I was in with a chance of a tenth place but went in too hard on the car ahead, missed. and ended up hitting the wall. In the other the water header tank broke lose after a shunt and I had to retire the car when it began to overheat. I didn’t get the car repaired for Sunday.”

JT Next years plans?

JL I hope to have my new car ready for the start to the season and hope to change my present one to use on shale. The World is on shale next year at King’s Lynn so I intend to try a meeting there to see how it goes. Hope to race in some of the World Ranking events and my target is to be on the grid for the World Final at the Racewall. My sponsors are Roundabout Travel and me! My mechanics are my dad Jimmy and Kevin”

KL: I will do the UK Skegness weekend and probably the World at King’s Lynn but I am taking the family to Disney World in June so can’t afford to do too many away meetings. I have the Willie Mitchell Webster car and intend to be out for the start to the season. I will be giving the car an overhaul over the winter so don’t have too much to do to it. I get sponsorship from Jag Auto Engineering, Fair Deal Autos and J. Cuthill Motor Engineers. My mechanics are my dad Jimmy, my wife Mae and my wee laddie John.”