Driver index
James Bilsland
James first year with the FISC Spridgets was in 1999 when he mechanicked (is that actually a word ?) with & watched Dave Shannon win. This must have been particularly satisfying since Dave drove James' car that year.
For 2000 James entered the series as a driver ( Dave built his own car car for 2000). Bearing in mind that 2000 was his first ever race season, it was a remarkable acheivement. He regularly finished in the top 6 & never finished outside the top 10. He was looking likely to finish in the top 6 in the drivers standings, until a heavy impact, in torrential rain at Croft, prematurely ended his 2000 season.
Most of the above information can be found via the results sheets. However, what people may not know is that in his first ever race he managed to overheat the rear brakes so much that the cylinder seals meleted & the brakes caught fire. This lead to complete brake failure & his first "interesting moment". He did finish the race though & has subsequently learnt that "Left Foot Braking" shouldn't be attempted on the straights .
James' Car
This car was rebuilt from the remains of Steve Edmed's Midget, over winter 98/99. The car had gone end over end down the back straight at Cadwell some years earlier. I'm glad to see that James is treating the car in the same way.
Almost completely fibreglass ( As far as I'm aware the only external steel is the "Hoop" betwen the fibreglass doors & fibreglass bonnet), this car carries an incredible amount of ballast to bring it up to the required minimum FISC weight ( 750 KG including driver). If you want to see what good corner weighting means, check out the ballast in this car. It is NOT where you'd expect it to be, but the car is almost perfectly balanced !
As I said above the car won the drivers standings in 1999 & was doing well in 2000. This is one to watch for the future.
Driver index