Preface
After talking to people, it came to my attention a lot of you don’t know the origins of how and why Unlucky Racing came to be. It’s a story I have told repeatedly over the years. But I think now is time to put it on record… well my side of the story anyway. I am purposely going to avoid a lot of the conflict and drama that was involved in the beginning, as I would hope it is now water under the bridge for everyone involved. It was never our intention to cause an all-out war or upset anyone. We just wanted to build on something.
In the beginning
I will go back to when I very first met Dele, before he was drifting Skylines with one hand out the window, even before he was wedging Burger King trays under his Corsa’s wheels with his handbrake up. I started hanging around with my local car club. It was your typical early 2000’s car club which had a weekly meet and we would get together to attend cruises or other random activities on the weekend. I was 19 and had been involved in the car scene since the age of 15 or 16 but had found myself looking for like minded people to attend events with. After first chatting on the forum I met up with few people for the weekly drive over to Milton Keynes on a Sunday. At the time Dele hadn’t even passed his test and needed a lift, wanting to get to know people I obliged (with a young Strac in taking up the back seat). Sitting in the local fast food restaurant in Milton Keynes racing the gherkins out of our burgers down the window I knew I had found a good friend here.
Fast forward a few years and we had grown up (physically not mentally) and were both driving performance Japanese cars. I had my first Impreza and Dele had his R34 GTT. A few others within our friendship group also had performance Jap cars and at one time or another one would always be broken. We would all take our cars to the groups master mechanic who seemed to effortlessly solve every issue under the sun all from his little garage at the back of his house. We would affectionately call ourselves Unlucky Racing from this.
In 2009 we felt that the car club we were in was no longer reflecting our interests and passion. Dele and I went out for a meal and decided there and then we wanted to do something different and break away from the ‘cruise’ scene. We knew there were many of our close friends who felt the same and wanted a new direction. Unfortunately, this split a lot of opinions and in the process managed to upset some people. We sat down with some of them and tried to reason things out, but it was too late, and the damage had been done. We had a strong group of original members (you know who you are) that initially came over and from that we grew our own weekly meet and set up events. This was the start of UR as you have probably come to know it.
What is Unlucky Racing today?
For me personally Unlucky Racing has never been about the brand, it was never a status thing. I wasn’t interested in being the biggest or the best, winning trophies or holding the largest meets. It was about community and the love of being in and around our cars. Around 2013 I lost that love and my life went in a different direction. Happily, Dele plodded along with UR with the help of Tom and Tom took the torch with the help of others for a while after that. We never ‘changed ownership’ because it wasn’t anyone’s to own. Unlucky Racing belongs to everyone and anyone who will take it. I feel this connection with everyone who’s ever been involved, and I hope that they feel the same too. Therefore, UR will never die.
Which brings us to today. It’s a dreary, cold and foggy Monday. But there’s something different in the air today. I picked up a little project car (Renault Clio 182) in September with the aim of getting out to a few track days with friends next year. It had always been in the back of my mind to bring Unlucky Racing out of hibernation properly and this felt like the perfect timing. I visited my friend Stuart at Wrapped Signs a few weeks ago and put a little teaser of some stickers and the reaction was incredible, there was a real buzz. A relaunch with new clothing and stickers and to start using Unlucky Racing as an outlet for our passion once again was inevitable. Speaking to Tom he matched my enthusiasm and I knew this could be a great time to go again. Dele isn’t out of the picture either, we live around the corner from each other now, although, like myself, being a busy family man these days, I know he will want to get back involved. He is without a doubt one of the most creative people I have ever known with fantastic photography, filmography and design skills that have made UR what it is today.
The Future
What does the future hold for Unlucky Racing? Things have changed over the last few years and we plan to reflect that. We won’t be getting involved with a weekly meet but will organise events throughout the year. Unlucky Racing will remain an outlet for our passion. This will include areas we haven’t previously dipped our toes into like karting and Sim Racing. We also plan to bring you some content to watch, read or look at. If you want to get involved in this, please do get in touch. I’d love to hear from anyone who has any ideas or wants to have some sort of creative input. Drop me an email at contact@unlucky-racing.com
