8 Time BriSCA F2 World Champion & 2001 BriSCA F1 World Champion

Robert Speak the most successful driver in BriSCA F2 Stockcar racing history.

342 BriSCA F2 Final Wins & 1059 F2 race wins.

Roberts Story

Oval Racing Legend Robert Speak (Speaky) born 14th March 1972 he started racing at the age of 12 in Mini Stox. First race at Long Eaton, racing with a £50 engine from a nearby garage in Tyldesley. He did 3 seasons in Mini's, his main rival at that time was Frankie Wainman Jnr. At the end of his time in Mini Stox he had won every major title including the National championship.

In 1988 Rob moved up to F2 because it was the cheaper option than F1. His record in F2 speaks for itself and he is regarded as the sports No1 driver with records that may never be beaten.
He won 147 races during his best season, even in 1999 when he was establishing himself in F1 he still got into three figures.

At Cowdenbeath he became the first in Scotland to Win all his heats, final and GN races.

In his first full season 1989 he became the youngest National Points Champion at the age of 17and carried on winning it right through to 1999.

Making it 11successive National Points titles.

8 World Championships were to follow.

His first Gold roof came in 1991 at Bristol , ( Interview ) becoming the youngest to hold the title aged 19, this has since been beaten by 647 Chris Burgoyne in 2002.

1992 Skegness.
1994 Taunton .
1995 Ringwood.
1996 Northampton .
1997 Cowdenbeath.
1998 Swindon .
1999 Buxton.

NATIONAL POINTS CHAMP 11 TIMES - 89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99
WORLD CHAMP 8 TIMES - 91,92,94,95,96,97,98,99
BRITISH CHAMP 4 TIMES - 89,92,98,99
EUROPEAN CHAMP 2 TIMES - 94,96
GRAND NATIONAL CHAMP 5 TIMES - 90,93,95,96,98
NATIONALS CHAMP 2 TIMES - 96,98
BEN FUND CHAMP 2 TIMES - 93,96
ENGLISH CHAMP 2 TIMES - 93,98
SCOTTISH CHAMP 2 TIMES - 95,97
IRISH CHAMP 5 TIMES - 92,94,96,77,98

F2 218 PHOTOS

F2 Stats - Final Wins - Race Wins - Supplied by Mark Green, we would like to here from you if you have any reults we missed.

His next defence of his title was at Kings Lynn 2000 starting from the back of the 38 car grid. He finished 9th using his brand new Randall built car, which was sold the same night.
His 1997 Cowdenbeath world title was his Favourite. His win at Bristol was good because it was his first, but Cowdenbeath was special because of the atmosphere. Robert married in 1993 having two girls Amy and Natalie he has since divorved and is a dad again.

Racing at Cowdenbeath is the best in the Scottish Championship the racing line is very close to the wall, and it's so fast and big. It's said that Hednesford is bigger put you race a diff higher at Cowdenbeath. You go as fast round the corners as you do down the straight.

In the words of Neil Randon (The Sound and The Fury) "It is doubtful there is another driver who is willing to travel further and so frequently to race, from Arena Essex to Crimod, near Aberdeen . Speak lives to race stock cars."
When he was racing stockcars he spent most of his time maintaining the car even when he's not supposed to. He's even been known to work on it on Christmas Day.

Rob liked to race at tracks that are demanding, such as Crimond because it's downhill one way and the camber runs away from you on one corner. You have to concentrate all the time; you can't just back off. Northampton 's good because it get a good turn out of cars. I don't like easy tracks because there's no challenge involved places like Birmingham , Buxton and Arena Essex least of all Coventry .

Tracks that you have to work at are where I like to race the most Barford is a brilliant track because you have to work so hard. Racing his F1 at Kings Lynn was a favourite because you get so much grip out of the corners.

Neil Randon "There have been times when Speak makes the art of winning races look ridiculously easy, and he has been known to drive the last few laps of a race with one arm perched on the side of the cab, as though reclined in a comfortable armchair. Leading 40-car fields from the back of the grid before half distance has also rammed home the message that he is the undisputed number one."

1999 while still racing F2's he made his debut in F1, Although this was not his first run in an F1 car because he had a one off ride in Frankie Wainman Jnr's car. Frankie was suspended at the time and had taken the car there for a sponsor to use but they didn't turn up. This took place at Hartlepool 1989, he even used Frankie's #515. He managed a 3rd in the heat but damaged the car in the final. All this left Rob with a threat of suspension from F2 if he didn't get an F1 licence. (If you know of a photo from this event please get in-touch). He hired a car from Alister Forsyth but the ageing car was not up to the job and Rob was keen to qualify for the World final.

So he borrowed the shale car of Jason Holden for the Qualifying rounds at Belle Vue And Northampton without much success. He then took up the offer from Jamie Davidson to use his tarmac special as he was taking some time off. And with Jamie footing the bill Rob took over the car which was said to be the most expensive F1 at that time, it had the power to match it's great looks. It was so powerful it would spin the wheels at the slightest touch. It was a hard car to drive because it was so powerful, and it needed all the track, so we gave it to Terry to sort out.

His first race in the Jamie Davidson (first 2 photos) car was at Northampton 06/06/99 winning the Heat and Final. Then again on 20/06/99 in-between winning a Heat at Buxton 13/06/99 plus a second in the final.
The debut of the Elite came on October 14th 1999 three days before the Grand National meeting at Northampton . With just 11 appearances he finished the season in 24th place with 247 points.

2000 SEASON In January 2000 Rob made the pages of the Sun Newspaper when in a Nationwide poll to find the world's top 100 drivers he was voted 47th place. The poll was taken by readers of Motoring News as they searched for thier all time list of motoring heroes. He beat names like Nelson Piquet, Jacques Villeneuve, David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen.

The highlight of his first full season in F1 was winning the European Championship July 16th Northampton using his new FWJ built tarmac car for the first time. ( photos ).

In the early part of the season he had a run of 4 Final wins at:
Stoke 8th April, Swindon 16th April, Sheffield 24th April & Kings Lynn 30th April.
As well as 4 Heat wins on Shale, 2 on Tarmac & 2 Grand Nationals on Shale.
Still managed to finish 6th in the National points championship despite missing so much of the season.

2001 SEASON In only his second full season he did what many said would take years. Winning the BriSCA F1 World Final photos . The season started badly at Coventry with the loss of the engine. After 7 2nd places & 4 3rd's it wasn't until August 12th Skegness at the East Coast Finals that he won his first feature final. This consistency had kept him in the top 3 of the National Points. To add to his World final result he again won the European Championship for the 2nd time in July. 2001 saw Rob debut in the new ASCAR series with 2 races for the Colin Blower team, in the second race he finished in 4th place a seasons best result for the team.

Robert with the F1 World Final Trophy

Figures for the 2001 season:-

Of the 15 tracks visited this season Rob's scored the most points at 6 of them. Areana Essex 51pts, Birmingham 53pts, Hednesford 171pts, Northampton 226pts, Swaffham 78pts & Wimbledon 59pts. He was 2nd at Buxton 117pts behind Paul Harrison (2) 257pts, 2nd Cowdenbeath 60pts behind Frankie (515) 102pts & 2nd Skegness 181pts behind Frankie (515) 235pts. He was 4th at Stoke, 5th at Kings Lynn & Sheffield.

FINAL WINS TARMAC 1 - FINAL WINS SHALE 2

HEAT WINS SHALE 10 - HEAT WINS TARMAC 9

CONSOLATIONS SHALE 1

GRAND NATIONALS SHALE 2 - GRAND NATIONALS TARMAC 4

WORLD CHAMPION

EUROPEAN CHAMPION

2002 SEASON Rob was given a fulltime drive with the Colin Blower in the UK version of NASCAR known at that time as ASCAR, it turned out to be a frustrating year with no podiums. 5th place in Round 2 was to be his highest finish. He finished the season in 9th place. 2002 also saw a new space frame tarmac car built by 'Cecil' photos . First time out was at Barford in the rain where he won the Final, second time out was wet again at Birmingham with 2 heat wins & the GN. Unfortunately that was to be the only final it won & by June and the Scottish weekend Rob reverted back to Jamie's car.

2002 was to be the first year he didn't win a major title, he did come close though 2nd in the British Drivers Championship after leading up to the last lap. In the lead and cruising in the European Championship only to get a puncture. And then 2nd in the big one the World Final, if he hadn't have been involved in every incident in the first half of the race I'm sure he would have taken the title. I'm not going to go into Rob's reasons for leaving F1 as they have been well reported or speculated depending on where you heard it, but Rob has told me privately and I agree with his decision.

Rob continued to entertain in banger racing. One of the best nights for me was the Belle Vue Charity Banger meeting photos Rob just went to enjoy himself and did just that winning the charity final and the DD. This led to a drive in the Banger World Final at Wimbledon Nov. 10th. photos .

He started well from his 16th position on the 40 car grid. Driving a Granada under the GMP banner and was soon up into the top half dozen but progress was stopped when the engine packed up and that unfortunately was the end of his night. Next stop Ipswich where he won a heat & started from the back of a 70 car final, he led with a quarter of a lap to go when he was T-boned by a rival from the centre green. He still managed to finish second. Then to Birmingham on cold wet night he came 3rd in the final. A week later at Buxton He had a 3rd in the Euro Heavy Metal Classic won a heat and the final and got 2nd in the dd!

Another formula he tried in 2002 was National Hot Rods photos Driving Dick Hillards spare Peugeot 205 - Heat 1 10th - Heat 2 11th. Despite the none finish in the Final due to a 15 car pile up. He enjoyed the experience and may do more in the future.

F1 STATS

2003 SEASON In 03 Rob left the world of F1 to concentrate fully on the now renamed Days of Thunder (ASCAR) held at the 1 1/2 mile oval Rockingham. He raced for West-Tech in the LearnDirect car. It was to be a frustrating year with many races being dogged with car trouble. But in a rain shortened 40 lap 3rd round of the Championship Rob produced his best race result winning his first race. It showed what could be done when the car was right. Starting on the 3rd row he took the lead on lap 16 to the flag. photos.

Results: RD 1 8th - RD 2 8th - RD 3 1st - RD 4 4th -RD 5 14th - RD 6 DNF - RD 7 18th - RD 8 DNF - RD 9 11th - RD 10 DNF - RD 11 DNA - RD 12 6th - RD 13 3rd.

2004 SEASON he moved to the newly formed Team Turn 4 as team mate to the 2003 champion Ben Colins (the Stig).

2009 Saw the much anticipated and talked bout return to F2 racing. Robert was asked by Terry George to race his new Elite as a test bed for future cars. The intention was to do the remaining tarmac QR but first he took the car to do the National 6th June at Cowdenbeath .The car was a real handfull to drive and was taking all of his skill just to get round he still managed 3rd in the National and a 2nd in his next heat. He did six more meetings which included a Final win at Buxton 4th July. This got him into the Semi with a fantastic drive me came in 2nd behind #7 Moodie. The WF was at Buxton 13th September with the car still not fully on the pace he went into the 3rd turn with the intension of removing Chris Bradbury 886 and Moodie 7 he didnt get 886 as clean as he had hoped but he did take them out it was a huge hit and cars were everywhere. To cheers from the crowed Rob appered but the nerf bar was fouling the tyre, he pulled to the center and using another cars front nerf bar he pulled it away to even more cheers. But as he took his place now on the front row he was told to pull off for outside assistance which was a crazzy desicion. Rob then used the RCE of John Fortunes at Arena Essex 25th Oct braking the track record 15.643. Next meetin Skegness 29th Oct another Final win, the last meeting was Hednesford 8th Nov where he won both heats the Final and a 3rd in the GN.

 

2012 Banger Titles

Scotish Open Champion
Coventry Masters Champion
King of the Peak Champion
Buxton points Champion
The Champion of Champions Champion

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