Pro Diaries: Leo Forster Rallycross Champion
Here at Extreme Element we pride ourselves in brining you the greatest experiences from top notch suppliers, so for this feature we thought we’d take the time to find out why our suppliers are among the best in the business… This month we’ve interviewed Leo Forster, founder of the Forster Racing School – ex National Rally Cross Champion now offering Rally Cross experiences in the South East!
Hi Leo, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. So, how did you first get into motor racing?
I first got into racing aged of 5 when I was fortunate enough to be taken Karting by my Dad in a local field, I remember racing my older brother… and actually beating him at something!
I was racing by the age of 11, and had won my first ever race and championship in my first year. I moved into Juniors which was a bit more difficult, racing 16 year olds, but I managed to win the British F6 Karting Championship at 13. Motor racing was put on the back burner for a few years after that, until after my A Levels – but I soon took it back up and went on to place second in the National BRDC Formula Ford Championship.
Unable to secure the funds to race the following season, I went to University and gained a degree. I worked at almost every race and rally school in the country, but was still unable to secure a drive until 2008 when I was introduced to Rage at Goodwood – and started racing Rallycross at the end of the 2008 season. I was thrown in at the deep end racing against the likes of Chris Meeke (IRC world Rally Champion) and Ollie O’Donnovan (previous British Rallycross Champion). I didn’t get into my stride until 2009 though, when I took the British Rallycross RX150 Championship, also winning in 2010 – but just missed out in 2011 due to mechanical problems.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to get into motor racing?
Find your nearest school or Kart circuit and go have a go. If you find you really enjoy it then get a licence and start racing. There are so many championships in the UK that it’s hard to choose the one that’s right for you, but one that is within budget and has a level playing field is a good start. I’m always looking for talent at the school and always take time to talk to people about what their next steps in racing should be. There are championships out there which don’t require licences, are extremely competitive and cost just £300 for a season!
What is the most fun form or racing you have competed in?
Fun and competitive has to be Rallycross, you just can’t beat sliding sideways at over 90mph with a bunch of drivers in equal equipment all looking to take your place. Circuit racing is quick – but Rallycross is fun!
What is your proudest moment or greatest achievement so far?
I think taking the 2009 British Rallycross Championship was the proudest moment. It had been 7 years out of the driving seat so to come back in that fashion was great. I had to come 5th or above to win, and my qualifying heats had been really bad – the pressure was enormous. I almost lost my voice shouting in the car when I realised I had won the race and the championship. I remember giving an interview after the race live on TV and the grin on my face must have made me look like a Cheshire cat!
Have you had any bad crashes or injuries during your racing career?
I’ve had a few bad crashes, but fortunately no bad injuries. I put a car in the tyre wall backwards at over 90mph once, broke the rear axle and my race helmet with the impact as it hit the roll bar. I had concussion for a few days after that one, but it was a lucky escape. The car was a Lotus 7 Kit car with the engine at the front, so had I gone in to the barrier head first I may have lost my legs!
Have you raced in any exotic locations? Which is your favourite?
Exotic? Maybe not… Belgium, America, Ireland I think that’s it other than the UK. My favourite has to be Ireland Rallycross tracks – both Nutts Corner and Mondello are great-fun, long and technical tracks. You really have to think about what you’re doing at those circuits.
Do you have a favourite stunt to perform when behind the wheel?
Stunts are surprisingly easy to do, I’m thinking of teaching them at the school soon; J Turns, one handed drifts, doughnuts etc… I do like to finish my passenger rides sometimes with a 360 spin then drift between two cars to stop!
Awesome! What have you got planned for 2012?
2012 is unsecured at the moment; I just haven’t got the budget to take the next step. I’d love to compete at the X Games, or do the off road championships but it’s difficult without a major sponsor. I’d really like to get into endurance racing in the long term – maybe share a drive with someone.
How did you make the jump from driver to instructor?
Instructing in the UK has two parts to it. The first is to get your racing up to spec and take the exam, the second is to network like crazy! I really enjoy instructing but I felt that almost every school didn’t allow their customers to experience raw racing. Driving with the car twitching, having to feed the power on or ‘lose the back end’ was not in the script. Something I wanted to change with Forster Racing School…
When did you set up your Rally School?
Originally I set the school up to teach racing drivers and Rally drivers how to get the most from their driving and decrease lap times. However, in January 2011 I decided to open the opportunity to everyone and change the way we do business. We still go fast and we still monitor time laps to see the improvement, but unless requested; its more about experiencing your potential than looking for a ‘tenth of a second here’ and ‘five metres later on the brakes’ there. We still offer that course and like to get heavily involved with training individuals but it’s also open to anyone who wants to experience it.
What differentiates your experiences from all the others?
- Powerful and highly manoeuvrable machines accelerating from 0-60mph in under 4 seconds
- We will not hold you back, we expect to see what your potential is.
- Large run off areas to allow for error in a safe environment.
- Small groups to allow for a personal feel
- The fastest Rally X Experience in the UK
- The best Instructors, all our instructors must be quick drivers and great communicators.
Fantastic Leo, thanks again for talking to us today – and good luck with the racing this year!
If you would like to experience first hand the thrill of Rallycross and be taught by some of the best instructors in the country, including Leo himself; why not book one of his experiences through us?
Forster Racing driving experiences:
Forster Racing Taster Special
Get a great introduction to Rallycross as you drive the awesome Rage Buggy under the supervision of an expert instructor throughout the two hour experience. Finish with a white knuckle passenger ride driven by a pro!
Price: £79
Forster Racing Rage Buggy – Half Day
Learn some of the basics of Rallycross driving such as racing lines and ‘Scandinavian Flicks’ from professional drivers. The awesome Rage Buggy’s are capable of reaching 60mph in just 4 seconds ensuring ear to ear smiles!
Price: £149
Forster Racing Rage Buggy – Full Day
With a full day of expert tuition, this is the ultimate Rallycross experience as you get to grips with the incredible Rage Buggy! Your skills will be tested at the end of the experience with timed laps of the purpose built Rallycross track.
Price: £290
Girl Takes GCSE in Indoor Skydiving!
15 year old Sian Spence is still coming down to earth having flown through her GCSE exam in Indoor Skydiving last week…
As part of her PE GCSE, Sian needed special permission from her teachers and the Welsh examination board – WJE, to be able to take the landmark flight.
Students are required to take 4 practical parts of their examination, including 1 ‘off site’. With a family as heavily involved in Skydiving as the Spences – it was no surprise that Sian opted for a freefall course when given the opportunity.
Attending Penglais School in Aberystwyth, the keen Skydiver has followed in the footsteps of her father Sandy, who not only met Sian’s mother in the Skydiving industry; he was a UK skydiving gold medallist and coach to the famous Red Devils display team. He proudly beamed: ’she achieved 93%’ !
On top of that, Sian’s 83 year old grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday with a flight at the same wind tunnel!
With a family as fanatical about freefall flight as the Spences, it didn’t take Sian long to get into the sport – first trying indoor skydiving when she was 12. Speaking before her unusual examination, Sian said:
“I immediately loved it, but I hadn’t been for a couple of years because the indoor skydiving centres are too far away,”
The adrenaline inducing sport of Indoor Skydiving is loved up and down the country by anybody from skydive enthusiasts to first time experience tasters, as the 120mph winds and floating around as if you’ve just jumped out of a plane is a feeling that warrants the centre’s nickname: ‘The Smile Factory’. We think it’s great that the school complied and allowed this great addition to the curriculum – in fact, we’re pretty sure they should look at expanding into other great areas of the extreme sports world!
Good luck Sian, what are you going to do for your A levels… an actual Skydive? Synchronised Skydiving… or even a Base Jump?
Source: BBC News
Extreme Valentine’s Gift Ideas
The day of St. Valentine is usually reserved for romantic gifts and quiet nights in with your partner, but this year why not go against the grain and treat your loved one to a Valentine’s day present that is guaranteed to get their heart racing… with an adrenaline fuelled experience! These are some of our favourite extreme present ideas to give on Cupid’s most romantic day that are great when enjoyed together and create an even more memorable experience.
Lovers Leap Tandem 160ft Bungee Jump
Price £120
Make the ultimate leap of faith with your loved one this Valentine’s day with the gift of a 160ft tandem bungee jump. You will be strapped together as you leap from the crane platform sharing this petrifying but totally exhilarating experience. Once safely back on terra firma, you will be able to enjoy half a bottle of bubbly to toast your jump, and to help calm the nerves!
Experience Includes: Share an exhilarating 160ft plunge, toast your jump with a bottle of bubbly, experience the ultimate adrenaline rush with your loved one
Available at: Tamworth, Hove, Bristol, Bedford, Renfrew, Salford, Maidenhead
Harness Sphereing For Two
Price £65
What’s it like to go zorbing? Well why not find out with your Valentine and experience one of the latest thrills to come over from New Zealand. With harness sphereing you will both be strapped into the 12ft inflatable ball and roll down a steep grassy hill, reaching speeds of 30mph with nobody but your partner for company on the other side of the sphere!
Experience Includes: Share the Spereing experience with your partner, reach crazy speeds of 30mph
Available at: Newquay, Bury Port, Chepstow, Cheltenham, Reading, Forest Row, Ware, Birmingham, Nottingham, Holywell, Macclesfield, Leeds, Stocksfield, Blairegowire
Orca Experience
Price £82
This white water Orca experience takes rafting to the next level, as this small inflatable raft fits two people and will really test your relationship as you tackle the raging rapids together. The challenge will be working together, and not falling out (of the boat and with each other) as the towering waves and swirling swells smash into your wave tackling raft.
Experience Includes: Use team work to take on the rapids, test your relationship while the adrenaline is pumping
Available at: Bala (Merioneth)
Top Gun Experience For Two
Price £805
Without question one of the ultimate extreme gifts this Valentine’s day as you will both be up in the skies learning to perform some breathtaking stunts! To get even closer to the real Top Gun experience, your loved one, or ‘Ice Man’, will be tasked with tail chasing you in the simulated Dog Fight as you do your best to shake them from your tail before they get a chance to shoot!
Experience Includes: Aerobatics session Top Gun style, compare your total G’s pulled, watch from your own cockpit as you both fly crazy stunts.
Available at: Cirencester (Wiltshire)
Extreme Adventure Tubing
Price £59
Enjoy a dodgem ride on the white waters of the river Tummel with your loved one as you bob, bounce and bundle your way through the swirling rapids together. As you go with the flow of the fast moving water, you can attempt to catch ‘eddies’ and surf standing waves which is sure to keep the adrenaline pumping the whole way down the river.
Experience Includes: Take one the River Tummel’s rapids, enjoy the white water dodgem ride with a loved one
Available at: Pitlochry (Perthshire)
So there we are, a selection of our favourite extreme Valentine’s gift ideas. Experiencing these exciting activities with a loved one will only make the adrenaline fuelled adventure more enjoyable as it is yet another memory you share. So if you’re looking for a new, unique and exciting Valentine’s present for that special someone, there’s an experience to suit everyone tastes and budget.
Billy Morgan – Triple Rodeo
British snowboarder Billy Morgan has managed to raise the bar in international snowboarding recently by landing the very first triple backside rodeo on a snowboard! Hailing from Southampton, Billy is an unlikely candidate for gaining such world acclaim for being the first to land a huge new trick and help progress the sport of Snowboarding even further. American riders such as Shaun White have helped make the sport what it is today with the likes of the double McTwist, but Billy has now helped raise the profile of British snow sports and has put us on the map as real competitors at future events with this massive achievement!
The trick itself involves three complete off axis rotations – distinguishing it from a triple back flip, which has been landed many times before and was the crowning jewel in many a riders trick list to throw down at competitions in past seasons. However, this new trick, nicknamed Konichiwa (the Japanese for ‘hello’) by Billy is the new top trump in snowboarding tricks and other riders will no doubt be racing to add it to their trick catalogue.
When asked if he knew it was the first landed attempt, Billy said, “Sort of. Ben and I thought someone might have done one into powder, but then when we looked online we couldn’t find it. Just skiers. It was only after all the websites started claiming it that I was like, “Wow. Am I really the first one to do it?”
Billy admitted that he had previously given it some thought, claiming: “but then I think about a lot of tricks. It was only really that day. Ben [Kilner] was like, ‘I bet you can do a triple’ … so I said to Hamish [McKnight, GB Team coach] ‘Is this realistic?, and he said, ‘Yeah, just go for it. It’s not one of the tricks you can huck and see what happens though, you have to intend to land it first try. So do it.’ – And then… I kinda went and did it.”
The future looks bright for Billy as he has just signed up some big name sponsors to help him practice harder and can only help when it comes to the big competitions and with the Snowboard slopestyle being added as an Olympic event, Billy said “It seems a bit crazy to think that far ahead but yeah. The thing is just to train and compete as much as I can and see what comes of it”.
Whatever happens, we wish Billy the best of luck at future competitions and hope he, along with the rest of the British snowboard team, show the world that even without our own ski resorts we can compete with the rest of the world and show them a thing or two!
Story Source: Whitelines.com
Image Source: ESPN.com
Red Bull “New Year. New Limits.”
Red Bull have become well known for putting on crazy stunts over the past few years with their “New Year. New Limits” events. Previous years have seen multiple jump records being broken, Trophy Trucks being back flipped, Rally cars launching into barges and Motocross riders jumping up onto the the replica of the Arc De Triomphe in Las Vegas!
This year was no exception and to see the new year in with a bang, Red Bull FMX rider Robbie Maddison and Snowcross racer Levi LaVallee tried to break the Motocross and Snowmobile distance jump record simultaneously in San Diego, California! Thousands of hopeful spectators crowded into every available viewing spot in the marina in the hope of catching a glimpse of the action. The gap between the two piers in the San Diego Marina is over 300ft and the speed needed to clear the water and make it to the landing ramp meant both riders had huge run ups and roll in towers! Months of planning, preparation and practice went into making the jump possible – from aerodynamic testing in the wind tunnel to modifications to the bike and sled to make them fast and light enough to cover the massive distance!
29 year old Levi LaVallee soared an incredible 412ft 6 inches on his specially designed snowmobile, touching down on the massive landing ramp smashing the previous record of 361ft and setting a new world record that will surely be hard to beat!
“I just landed an over 400-foot jump. I’m not sure how the sled’s doing, but I’m OK, so it was good. It’s an amazing feeling. You have no idea how pumped I am.” Said LaVallee shortly after the the jump which was planned to happen the previous year, but a serious crash in training resulted in the entire event being cancelled and caused Levi to miss the the Winter X Games!
The event also turned out to be pretty spectacular for Robbie Maddison as he yet again beat his own record jumping an enormous 378ft 9 inches! However, Robbie set a new world record of 391ft during a practice jump the previous day, but wasn’t able to match this distance on the night. Shortly after the jump he said “I was confident we were going to go a long way tonight and we’re going to come back and go even further.” Maddison also said he plans to make some changes to his bike to go even further next time!
With the bar now raised even higher, well, longer, we wonder what could be in store for us next year?
Img source = www.redbull.com
Top 5 Extreme Sport Taster Experiences for Under £50
With a colossal range of experience day choice for your Christmas shopping, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of what to buy and will they like it? Well, one thing we know here at Extreme Element is that people love a new hobby like nothing else, so the gift of providing an interest that’ll keep them happy & occupied throughout 2012 is about as good value for your money as you’ll find.
To help you decide which hobbies are most popular among those looking to start a new extreme sport – we’ve compiled our top taster sessions for under £50 to help kick start an active and involved 2012!
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Pulpit Rock: The Highest of Tourist Attractions
Pulpit Rock, Norway, must surely be considered one of the most extreme of tourist attractions on the planet.
The 82ft x 82ft cliff face has a sheer drop of 1,982ft and comes completely untarnished by the Health and Safety brush. Fears of damaging the natural beauty of the stunning cliff has meant no safety barriers have been set up, so tourists can literally stand on the edge, or in most cases; sit with their legs dangling over the side.
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Pro Diaries: Anthony Dunn – Radical Champion
We caught up with Anthony Dunn, one of the country’s best Performance Track Driving Instructors and an accomplished Racing Driver. In his 20 years of experience in the motorsport industry, Anthony has achieved many race victories including those in the Radical, which you can enjoy an experience for yourself with Anthony right here at Extreme Element.
Hi Anthony, thanks for talking to us today. So what makes the Radical so awesome, and what do the competitions consist of?
The great things about Radical Sports Cars are the aerodynamic grip, nimbleness and balance. It’s a terrific car to drive – easy to pick up, but hard to master. But mainly it’s just great fun! Racing in one depends on the level you compete in; either Club, National or European. Invariably each race or stint will be around 20 minutes – so if 2 drivers are sharing we would each do 20 mins of a 40 minute race.
How did you get into Racing?
Like many racing drivers, I started with Karting. But I was a bit older than the average, as I started when I was 18. Most racers nowadays start at 6…or even younger!
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Japan: Supercar Pile Up Costs £2.5m in Damage
Western Japan witnessed a pile up of supercars to make even the most ardent of non-petrol heads wince on Sunday, with damage bills thought to be totalling a staggering £2.5m! TV footage shown below highlights a 400 metre stretch upon which thousands of pounds worth of supercar debris is scattered, with disbelieving onlookers stood in arms.
Highway Patrol Policemen Eiichiro Kamitani said: “I’ve never seen such a thing, Ferraris rarely travel in such large numbers.”
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Top 5 Crazy Extreme Sports
Skydiving, Kitesurfing, Mountain Boarding; it’s not for everyone – and for every hang gliding hero out there, there appears to be a volcano surfing veteran. So, this Friday fun piece is to introduce those of you fortunate enough to have thus far avoided Extreme Ironing and the lark.
As it’s Friday and the Christmas spirit is beginning to adorn the air, we thought we’d take a look at the silly, the surreal and the altogether splendid activities classing themselves as Extreme Sports. Well, we wouldn’t be the experts if we didn’t look in every corner, nook and cranny for activities to get the heart racing – even covering the scraps and death-traps such as this fantastic five below:
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