STEVEN DAILLY
From: Edinburgh Car: BMW Compact Position: 5/1458 in the rankings
Since I was four years old, I’ve always had a steering wheel in my hands. My dad’s done a lot of racing in the past and he used to race remote control cars and I would watch him. In my opinion the remote control cars are a real challenge that teaches you how to be consistent. I know a lot of people think it’s silly but that’s where Lewis Hamilton came from – that was the first thing he did.
After doing that and racing in karts, in 2015 we won every race in the Scottish Compact Cup. Then in 2016 I was third in the [British] Compact Cup and in 2017 it was between James Gornall and I – we were always first and second. After everything last year [when Dailly inherited the title after Gornall was excluded for an engine illegality] I’ve spoken to James a lot and I’m friends with him. I decided I was going to do the championship again this year and prove that we can do it – and I’ve won it with a round to spare! I would’ve liked James to be there again as he was a top driver but that was never really going to happen.
It’s been a really good season this year. It’s just about keeping it consistent all year – I’m not the paciest guy in the world but I’m consistent, and that’s what wins championships. The key to that is a lot of training and I’ve got a good mentor because I work with my dad.
The racing in Compact Cup is absolutely spectacular and every driver in the field has a sense of humour of some description. Everyone tries to help each other – if someone crashes, I will do everything I can to try to get them back out.
But I’ve won the title twice now and I’m looking at different options for next year, including the Ginetta GT5 Challenge. I’ve got the money to buy the Ginetta, it’s just getting the funding to actually race it. It’s a lot of money but in the motorsport world it is value for money.
But first is Donington Park [the final Compact Cup round]. I don’t need to do Donington – the only reason I’m going to do it is the National Driver Rankings! It’s something I’ve been keeping an eye on all year as you get a little prize. I know Donington really well, and will be looking to get into the top three. Then it all depends on the other drivers!
See how Steven Dailly is doing on this week’s National Driver Rankings: nationaldriverrankings.co.uk
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