Читать книгу Every Split Second Counts - My Life with Fast Carts, Fast Women and F1 Superstars - Martin Hines - Страница 6

I first met Martin Hines together with his parents, Mark and Maude, at the Zip Kart factory in Hoddesdon when they invited me to join the early Young Guns team.

We won many championships and I particularly remember the Junior World Championship in West Germany. Martin produced a special kart for the event which later became the ubiquitous ‘935’. The tyres from Bridgestone were 1.5 seconds a lap quicker than our rivals’ and as the distributor, Martin and his family donated a supply to the British team - just one of the examples of Martin, Mark and Maude’s commitment and generosity to young British karting talent.

At 16, I entered the 135cc Series for Zip Kart, using the 935 and, at times, the A chassis using engines from Michael Schumacher’s German Tuner and later AIME. These karts were utterly fantastic, so powerful, and I well remember Martin travelling to Jesolo and Parma in Italy bringing special tyres or chassis parts.

I will always remember with such fondness travelling to Zip from Newcastle to build new chassis using the factory’s facilities, then going round the corner to test at Rye House Circuit. Martin’s mum and dad were so supportive of me. I’ll never forget how kind they were to me… My father has since told me Mark would give him the occasional £500 to help with expenses. It is commonplace in these politically correct days to speak well of all the people one comes across in their motorsport career. I don’t give a shit for ‘PC’, which is why I hold the Hines family in such high regard. It was Martin who demonstrated how important image was in both in your equipment and your driver’s race wear. It is also vital to consider how you promote yourself.

Yes, Martin is one of the good guys in motorsport and I am privileged to consider myself a friend. Indeed, he and his wife Tina were guests at my wedding. Long may he continue to hold his passion for karting and helping young kids live their dreams.

Jason Plato Zip Kart works driver

After a successful start to my racing career, my father Denis and I quickly realised the importance of factory support and equipment, and how even at such an entry level this could create the right results.

In 1991, at the age of twelve, I was lucky enough to be given the chance to drive for the Zip Young Guns team in its infancy, in the Cadet 60cc class. At this time team owner Martin Hines was still racing himself in the 250E gearbox karts at World Championship level and was known in the UK as ‘Mr Karting’. It was an important step for me, as this was the first time I would drive for a works team and be in direct competition with my teammates; and also for Martin himself, who was pioneering a new way in which ‘Dad and lad’ went racing. Needless to say, the team was a great success, and grew year by year to become almost unstoppable in the junior ranks of UK karting.

In 1993 I won my first serious championship, which in turn led to where I am today, and I will always be grateful to Martin and everybody at Zip Kart who helped me on my way to F1 in those early days.

Anthony Davidson