Everything went quiet for a reason - we were putting together a team...

Come meet us at the Palms in Lekki on Wednesday afternoon, or some of the others will be up in Abuja - tearing it up in the R8 at the weekend.

We have such a strong line up, and really great plans, there is lots of interest from sponsors and we have some great partners already. Its a big project and lots more to come.

Another update, only driven in one race this year - a small kart race in England. I took over from my team mate at half distance two laps down on a wet track, after one of my best drives ever we won by 10 metres!

For me the season proper starts at the end of the month - at Crystal Palace in London, I'll be driving a works Lotus running on bio fuel. It should be a lot of fun. I'll be back in the European Championship in the summer, but I badly need more funding - 1,000,000 Naira would put me at the front of the grid.

If you know any magazines or newspapers in Nigeria who would be interested please tell them!

Sorry I've been really busy working on my 2010 season, things are looking really good.

I was at a test day just doing a few short runs in a new (to me car) when the track owner comes up to me and says "you are racing tomorrow" so I did, if you look closely in these pics I did not even have my goves with me!

But the races went well and I got two points finishes!





J3WLS - are you going to be at the PMW show?

KayNiyo - sorry I didn't get this in time - next time you are in Europe let me know - I'm sure I can arrange a run out for you

daemibros - talk to the Hemega guys in Lagos

A1 Junky - I know you are talk to Ribi I've already signed if the team goes ahead

Abbihh - my email is Scl_trading@yahoo.co.uk

F1king - you are on, I'm in Mooesville, NC often

I'll be back on here a bit more to keep you all posted

Pics from yesterday

Been out testing again over the last two days - this is going to be an exciting season

I'm not getting drawn into a food fight (despite it sounding fun) as I already said british food isn't great, but last time I was in the states I was desperate to get on the plane home just for the food!

Beans? thats very working class.

Best food in the world? Japan - everything there seems to taste good.

I'm half Nigerian, I have never been there so its hard to say if its like England. But I'm half english and I work every now and again in the USA. And for me England, despite its bad points, is so much better, British food is not great but american food is terrible!

But one thing is clear - the english are more equal when it comes to race, the americans still struggle a lot with it. Don't ever forget that the USA had apartied style segregation and opression within living memory

Black-White segregation is declining fairly consistently for most metropolitan areas in the US. Despite these pervasive patterns, many changes for individual areas are small.[13] Thirty years after the civil rights era, the United States remains a residentially segregated society in which Blacks and Whites inhabit different neighborhoods of vastly different quality.[14][15]

Redlining is the practice of denying or increasing the cost of services, such as banking, insurance, access to jobs,[16] access to health care,[17] or even supermarkets[18] to residents in certain, often racially determined,[19] areas. The most devastating form of redlining, and the most common use of the term, refers to mortgage discrimination

Dan Immergluck writes that in 2002 small businesses in black neighborhoods still received fewer loans, even after accounting for businesses density, businesses size, industrial mix, neighborhood income, and the credit quality of local businesses.[20] Gregory D. Squires wrote in 2003 that it is clear that race has long affected and continues to affect the policies and practices of the insurance industry.[21] Workers living in American inner-cities have a harder time finding jobs than suburban workers.[22]

The desire of many whites to avoid having their children attend integrated schools has been a factor in white flight to the suburbs.[23] Recent studies in San Francisco showed that groups of homeowners tended to self-segregate in order to be with people of the same education level and race. [24] By 1990, the legal barriers enforcing segregation had been mostly replaced by decentralized racism, where whites pay more than blacks to live in predominantly white areas.[25] Today, many whites are willing, and are able, to pay a premium to live in a predominantly white neighborhood. Equivalent housing in white areas commands a higher rent.[26] By bidding up the price of housing, many white neighborhoods again effectively shut out blacks, because blacks are unwilling, or unable, to pay the premium to buy entry into white neighborhoods. Through the 1990s, residential segregation remained at its extreme and has been called "hypersegregation" by some sociologists or "American Apartheid"[27]

In February 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Johnson v. California (125 S. Ct. 1141) that the California Department of Corrections' unwritten practice of racially segregating prisoners in its prison reception centers — which California claimed was for inmate safety (gangs in California, as throughout the U.S., usually organize on racial lines)— is to be subject to strict scrutiny, the highest level of constitutional review.

Not all racial segregation laws have been repealed in the United States, although Supreme Court rulings have rendered them unenforceable and illegal to carry out. For instance, the Alabama Constitution still mandates that Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race.[5] A proposal to repeal this provision was narrowly defeated in 2004.

Land of the free? don't believe it. England is a free nation (for now)

If I get the sponsorship I need the car will be painted as a big Nigerian flag!

If anyone knows how to contact the Nigerian media could they point me in the right direction?

This is a shame - the only other Nigerian to have ever done anything in motorsport - I think from an international perspective this is typical of Nigerians - a poor perception

Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim was once a part owner of the Arrows Formula 1 team. Now the Nigerian is in big trouble in the United States of America where he had hoped to create a motor racing empire after his F1 adventures came to an end. In 2004 he created a team called Maverick Motorsports with the plan to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Robert Richardson III as the driver. The team took part in three races at the end of 2005 but then the various parties fell out and in March this year a Grand Jury in Texas (a jury which determines whether there is enough evidence for a trial) indicted Ado-Ibrahim on a first-degree felony count of theft over $200,000 and a second-degree felony count of securing execution of a document by deception. The Collin County District Attorney's Special Crimes Unit (SCU) alleged that Ado-Ibrahim stole about $625,000 from Robert Richardson's father by promising it would be deposited into a Bank of America trust account that did not exist. The court issued a warrant under the name Malik Ibrahim and police officials arrested him in Los Angeles in May. He is being held in the Collin County Detention Center in McKinney, Texas (not far from Dallas) on a bond of $1.5m.

The SCU has now charged him with seven counts of perjury for allegedly giving false testimony during his trials relating to the dispute with Richardson.

Anyway on a lighter note I've been testing for 2008 in something with rather a lot more power, next year I'm doing NASCAR.

Kart race last night - a hard fought event but for once in equal machinery - was up against teams including my team mate and the UK formula Vee champion, as well as a selection of local rally and sprint drivers, my team (including a 75 year old man who is one the fastest racers in england!) came in 2nd. We were quicker than the winners but lost 2 laps as we had to make an extra pit stop,

no pics,

but heres a really old one

Another run out yesterday - this time a race against the clock rather than head to head - its a bit like F1 Qualifying used to be - one car on track at a time. The category I drove in was the super competitive 1400cc class (cars must not be modified and have an engine smaller than 1400cc), and despite making some very silly errors (spins and a run off the track) my final run put me into 2nd place. However in the final moments of the session a similar car to mine went 0.3 seconds quicker, and then a Honda put in a time 0.1 seconds faster dropping me to fourth (1 sec behind the winner). So close but so far away!

anyway a pic of me - as you can see I was driving VERY hard!

Excuse my ignorance but what is a 419ner?

There are roads, there are cars - theres space. You don't need a lot of money to race in Barbados there are two small tracks yet they have great racing. Nigerian motorsport could be the envy of Africa

Safety is fine, the car gets rebuilt every year but its design is outdated and some parts are repaired when other racers buy new ones - but its a budget thing - the chassis cost just £2,500 - (650,000 Naira), and the engine is about £1,000 (250,000 Naira) but needs a complete rebuild at least once a year - the front runners spend about £20,000 on their cars (5,000,000 Naira)

I'm designing some new parts for the car which means I should be able to get closer to the front runners.

Best result? a few wins in rallying and karting.  Some podiums in races (but no wins annoyingly) - came very close to winning a race at Mallory park a few years ago (when I had a much bigger budget and raced a works car) but I spun out of second whilst dicing with the champion of Ireland.

The UK formula vee series is one of the toughest in the world. Here is a pic taken by my Grandfather at the end of the race - the yellow car coming into the shot on the left is a very heavily tuned Storm chassis built last year. He won the race but was later disqualified as his engine was found to be illegal - I can't afford more than one engine!   

The red car is a slightly more recent version of mine, but its driven by a guy who works for a company that designs and builds formula 1 car suspension (also a nice chap) he was 2 laps behind me.

Report from yesterdays race,

Silverstone - England

I had a nightmare in qualifying, just as I was about to drive out of the pit garage and onto the track the ignition system failed, whilst I sat in the car the mechanics rushed around trying to find parts to rebuild it and the session started with me sat in the garage. Finally the car came together and we got it started and I roared out onto the track, having lost a lot of time I had to drive flat out on cold tyres (our tyres have to be at the correct temperature to grip properly), did one 1m38s lap (very slow) before going on a fast one - I started to catch a more modern car when I hit some oil and spun the car at around 100mph. I didn't hit anything and continued to start a new lap but at the next corner three other cars crashed due to oil including my team mate (Dr. Detlef Brehmer - German) so the organisers stopped the session.

I had not set a proper lap time yet so at the time I was running dead last. When the session restarted I got going again but the track was now in very poor condition with oil everywhere. I improved to a 1m13.74 lap (still 3.7 second slower than I ran last year - thats how bad the track was). This put me up to 33rd position - of 48. Whilst this doesn't sound great my car is about 13 years old - most of those in front are a lot more up to date.

For me the race was highly uneventful I started further back than normal and just worked my way back up through the field to 18th position. Not a great result but telling - I clearly need a more modern suspension setup and new a new aero package. I'm designing new bodywork for the car so hopefully I can complete that in time for the next race and move up the grid,

Using an airbase is the easy answer to finding a track however you need a lot of safety kit probably not available in Nigeria, Roll cages, nomex overalls, decent helmets, proper tyres, plumbed in extinguisherss, rapid doctor cars etc,

Track days are not competitive so can be incredibly dull.

The best thing to organise would be a sprint - you need perhaps 1 - 2km of half decent roads (with corners) that have nothing too solid to hit and decent flat verges - the winner is the fastest car to complete the course - cars run one at a time.

see here for a gallery of sprints in the UK

http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/gallery/nw0604/Page.html

@dis guy - when were you there I went to Brookes

I guess nothing came of this but I'd be keen to bring a car to any race

I'm not sure what the picture is of?

@ dis guy - I've seen them - but would just like to see someones typical day

@dis guy - which school was that?

I have a proposal - I have never been to Nigeria and have never really seen many pics.

Tomorrow I must travel from my village, through London to a small town to the West near wales for a meeting. I'll take my camera and take some pics of what anyone in England is very mundane but may show the real england, from the rolling Cornfields to the City streets.

I'll put them all up here - if you are not interested that is not my greatest concern this is for those who have never seen England. In exchange I'd like to see a similar set of pictures of Nigerian life.

err what is it?

Are these pics realistic - I could make London look worse - just from the window of the train home, but I could make it look like the city it really is

@aloib A bit unexpected but thank you for the compliment

I'd quite like to bring one of the cars with me to run a street demonstration but perhaps thats for the future. In the short term I'd be keen to visit Lagos and find out what sort of following the sport has and also take on some of the Karters there to see what level they are at.

If the Haggai lot get back to me I will arrange it.

Motorsport brings a wealth of associated industry and skills, 1 strong race circuit provides employment, industry and can support quite a large local area wiith a stable economy - it also brings prestige and allows opportunities based on that, the sports links to engineering and education are well documented. Its also quite non-political which means that national politics / religion etc are left at the door and the cars do the talking.

Sport is usually a positive thing that can have a wider positive effect on a society. Some of Nigerias problems could be helped by having motorsport.

Thats right at the airfield - theres one in a couple of weeks I'm doing in tha 1400 - you should come along and do it for fun - regs at www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com

@deb - thanks for your declaration - I want to prove it and to that I must go to Nigeria. I would love to help establish the sport there, but beyond karting you need a track. Anyone know of an airbase we could borrow?
Though I could easily introduce Autotesting and trials,

I do sprints too!

Mainly at North Weald in Essex - I also write the rules for a 1400cc class we are trialling. You should come out and compete Siena - Racing For Nigeria?

found the website - contacted them. I hope it will be possible to come to Nigeria to race with other Nigerians

tyring to find it - got any more info??

A quick google shows the above institute to be a Christian organisation - but nothing about racing - do you know anymore?

So nobody knows anyone else - what about the Hemenga Grand Prix Kart Circuit in Lagos - does anyone have any pics