Maxi Jazz Racing

home news calendar results gallery circuits features history guest book forum contact us

Features

Maxi interview 7th July 2001                           Pitboards                          

We were sitting in the cab of the Maxi Jazz Racing team's tyre buggy while Maxi had lunch - pie, chips and beans, when I showed him an email I had received from one of his many fans. The fan had obviously gone through some bad times and was thanking Maxi for literally saving his life. He went all quiet and thoughtful before replying - I know racing is great and I have a Marcos which is more than I ever thought I would have in my life but what really gets me is when someone comes up and says 'I was doing this and I heard your song and because of that song I did this instead'. That really gets to me because that is what happened to me when I was a kid and that is the whole reason that I make music.
It's great earning money, having people like what you're doing but when someone comes up to and says it changed their life that is a great feeling.

Why did you start in music? 2 reasons - because it is something I can do well and because something was fundamentally missing from my life.
At the time I had sent out bills for BT for 10 years and for the last 5 years I had what I would call 'cancer of the soul' - you do the same thing day in day out and it's not making you happy. I had been on the dole for 9 months previously and it left me with this huge fear of having no money but when I got cancer of the soul I realised that was more important than having no money.
So OK I thought the only thing I can do is music, it's the only thing I enjoy doing, so I left my job and spent 6 or 7 years Dj-ing, working on pirate radio and playing with 6 different bands.
I was doing a little project for a mate who said he had a friend who was a producer and introduced me to Rollo. We teamed up for this little side project, and then we were all going to go back to our normal lives, but after a year the side project took over and became the monster that it is and took over our lives.

What comes first, the music or lyrics? Mainly it's the music then a lyric. If Rollo asks me to write a song I like to sit with my headphones on and play the music over and over and paint a picture in my mind and then I just write what I see.
When we are making an album the others go into the studio for some time and write 5 or 6 tunes and then I go in. We will all discuss topics to fit the tunes and we see how it makes us feel and then I'll write the lyrics.

Where do you get your inspiration for the lyrics - real life or just make believe? Real life, but not necessarily my life. Take Bring My Family Back for instance, my mum and dad are still together and they still love me, but a lot of my friends families have broken up and they behaviour towards you comes from a result of those break-ups. If your family broke up you would be affected by it and it happens all around you - it's not that extraordinary.
The story with the little kid comes from visiting a mate and him and his woman were having an almighty row, a real face to face row and their little kid, two years old, was sitting there on the couch in turmoil, trying to work out what he had done wrong to make mummy and daddy shout like that.

I replied that we didn't know anything about Faithless until after we had met Maxi. He commented that it had made him laugh what had been posted on the Faithless forum. So many people wanted to meet him and yet we got to see him every fortnight. All you need to do is go to race meetings.

As there is such a difference between a race meeting and a gig I asked about his concerts. I have to say that it's not the first time but it's been a long time since I've cried on stage but 70,000 people turned up at a concert in Belgium and they really went bananas. 70,000 people all waving their arms about is really something?

Do you see a lot from the stage? My lighting manager gets really annoyed because I like to move about the stage a lot. He sets it all up right with me in the middle and I go off to the side! Every now and then he'll get a follow spot (on a tower a 100 yards away) and he follows me and he shines that in my face all the time so it's very difficult to see anything. I live with it for a little while then when I want to see something I'll sprint to the other end of the stage really fast. You know he'll catch up in a few seconds, but you find out what the crowd looks like.

Why bother with a spot light then as the fans are not bothered? It's possible to do so many effects with a spot. He'll pick me out in red while the rest is white and he can make everything look one-dimensional. He is a genius with the lights bathing the stage in different colours, using smoke and other effects.

I have never seen you on stage - do you prance about? Yes I do. I find that the audience slightly looks to you for guidance. I find if I'm not concentrating during an instrumental bit you find the crowd are listening to it and enjoying it but that's all, but if I go down the front of the stage and start clapping or doing a little dance, then you see them start to move. So you do have to concentrate a lot and work at trying to build the atmosphere. (I have now seen Maxi in concert 3 times and each time the energy he creates amazes me).

Do you have favourite festivals? You go to a European festival and you don't want to leave, if it rains they look after you, I would go to hell first before Glastonbury again. When it rains you just see people suffering. All they want in this country is your money.

Where's the worst gig you have ever been? We did a gig in Philadelphia where only 45 people turn up. The record company hadn't advertised it at all. The problem with America your record has to be played on the radio, you can't just do clubs.

Do you sing in the shower? All the time, I also talk to myself, probably because I live alone. It wouldn't be fair to make someone wait 7 months for a cuddle when I'm on the road knowing that at every gig half the girls under 20 want you. I also expect her to have her own life and interests so she'll not be able to tour with me.

Where are you from? My mum is Jamaican, my dad from Guyana and they met over here. They now live in Jamaica, as the damp is not good for my mum. I just love living in London.

How did you get into motorsport? 12 years ago my mate Dave (who also raced this weekend) was coming up to Brands Hatch once a week to have lessons and I came to watch. I wouldn't try to drive - at that time I was trying to become a DJ and it was a case that I couldn't spend £145 to drive round Brands Hatch when I had records, headphones, needles and other equipment to buy. I said then that whenever I got half a living then I would come back and have a go. By then it was 12 years later and my attitudes had changed and I said to myself that I would try it once and if I had any aptitude at all I would (for the same money) get my racing licence and drive as often as I liked.

So how did you meet Rae? We met at the Brands Hatch school day. (see History)

What was your first race like? It was here (Brands Hatch), I started on the grid where Dave is starting today (13th), I finished 12th and I can remember every second of that race, every second.
I got out of that car and I was dancing and I was singing - it was brilliant. My best position is 7th at Thruxton and I'm really proud of that, I was trailing Jason Bartella in 8th place on the penultimate lap (but I didn't know it). I had noticed that he took a little confidence lift at Church (an extremely fast corner) and I thought if I could stay on him on the next lap - get a tow and pass him at the chicane. Rae had told me a week before that you can get a tow at 2 car lengths so he lifts at Church and I get in behind him and stay with him all the way round the corner and half way up the straight. I put my foot down and majestically whooshed past, took the chicane cleanly, turned the last corner to find the chequered flag.
What else was really good was on the in lap the marshals at Church clapped as I came past. When I left the circuit I stopped off at a service station and two people came upto me. I thought they were Faithless fans especially as one was waving but both were complimenting me on the move. I thought I don't believe this!!

After Fiestas what are you going to do? GT's - I love rear wheel drive with plenty of power. (GT's had just finished qualifying and were returning to the paddock and Maxi was pointing out the Lister and Marcos cars). I really want to do GT's but I might be with Fiestas for another year. I had a test in a GT on August 29th last year and I remember it very well. I had 2 hours in the car and my times were a second off the other driver (who is in the championship) who was 2 garages down. I know about rear wheel drive cars, I know what to do, as I drive one every day. A lot of my problems with this (Fiestas) are that in the heat of battle I'm more likely to do a 'rear wheel drive' correction rather than a front wheel drive. As soon I get back to rear wheel drive the happier bunny I will be. That's not to say I don't love this little cars because I do and they have far more to give me than I am getting out of them.

What do you prefer, the race or the qualifying? Race, race, race and thrice the race! I'm a shit qualifier; I use my head qualifying and my heart racing. If I could learn to use my heart qualifying I could do a lot better.

Do you have a favourite track? Here (Brands Hatch) and a worst one? In terms of results Donington but I hope to do testing and qualifying so I hope to do better.

Who is going to win the championship? It 's a three way split between Matt Pinny, Colin Turkington and Nick Padley and it's very close. As Damon Hill said - it's like a game of tennis and it's championship point and you serve and the racket breaks and you lose and there are no more rackets. You can't say I have another racket and retake the point. One of those three will be smiling at the end of the season. (The champonship was eventually won by Turkington).

What difference has it made being under the Powertour banner rather than TOCA? In terms of today we were back to a 10-lap race instead of 20 minutes. There is no prize money and also we are getting a lot less testing than with TOCA, previously we had 4 one hours sessions testing, this year it was three 35 minutes sessions for a an extra £100.

How many other meetings are you going to be at? Obviously I am very, very busy at the moment, I have windows in the schedule but these keep changing. I had everything for Thruxton, testing, qualifying and race day but now I can only do the testing and the qualifying. Radio 1 has decided I need to be in Devon on the Sunday and that means I can't race at Thruxton.
I'll let Rae race the car and if we have a spare car I'll test and have a go because every second is good as far as I am concerned but I wouldn't want to take the car off Rae. As for the rest, I have just got a new itinerary and I haven't had time to match it to the racing. I have 3 schedules, the racing, the promo, and the gigging schedule.
I just want to think about Paddock Hill not schedules but I'll let people know.

What's your dream racecar? The Marcos Mantis, which is also my dream road car. I have a slight problem with it at the moment - it drives really hot but some guys at the circuit are going to look at it for me. I was banned for a year from driving it, if I hadn't have been I wouldn't have raced. I would have driven round Europe instead.

How did you get involved with Buddhism? Through an old girlfriend and very begrudgingly. To me everything has a purpose, there are no coincidences. For example the other day I was at home and I was thinking of a mate I hadn't seen for years. I wanted to get some fags so I go looking for my keys, which I can't find, then there's some motor racing on the box which I watch, so eventually I say to myself, get out and get your fags. So I open my front door and there's my mate walking past my place. I also don't believe there is nothing after we die. I can't believe we are on this earth for only 70 years and then asleep for eternity. Only 70 years practicing, against all eternity - no way!

Pitboards

Well the day started innocently enough with 'Powertour meeting at Brands Hatch'.
Tickets bought, seat arranged for the race day and cameras in hand, Kevin and I wandered down the support paddock in search of MaziJazz Racing team and the four cars they were running. Rae Claydon was up to his ears in cars and three nervous drivers (well some more nervous than others), and two mechanics. Introductions were made with Andy Neate, Robert West and Damon Wellman and the regulation photos on front of their cars taken. Rae explained that he was qualifying Maxi's car with the proviso that if Maxi didn't arrive in time on the Sunday then he (Rae) would race.

Then came that question - 'Les, four cars and two mechanics means we have no one to do the pit board. Would you and Kev help?' Would we ever. The chance of standing on the pit wall while the cars race past at full whack was a dream come true. To handle a pit board was a bit daunting. To handle one pit board with 4 cars on it was really scary. A code was quickly decided for the rows on the board. Top was Andy Neate, bottom was Rae and the other two - was completely forgotten in the excitement. We were to report back to the garage at 1pm prior to being called to the assembly area.

The rest of the morning was spent in a daze wandering around the paddock and then trying to find someone to take a photograph of us but to no avail. We arrived back in plenty of time to find the golf cart/tyre truck was being loaded. It had drizzled in the morning and the decision had been made to take a set of wets for each car to the paddock. The philosophy being used is 'if you have them you won't need them'. So 4 sets of wet tyres plus 2 slicks for each car - a total of 24 tyres and all being pulled by one small golf-cart up a hill. The inevitable happens and we end up pushing (twice). On to the assembly area where the boys are given last minute instructions of when to come in for a tyre change and Kev and I went on the pit wall.

The GT and F3 teams have TV monitors connected to MST and the timing screens. These give the qualifying positions and the difference in seconds from the pole man. Rae and the team were allowed onto track and completed their first lap. Rae was in the lead and I started to dig out P1 when the rest of the pack passed the finishing line and quickly dropped Rae to 10th. At that point I realised this was not going to be easy. Kev stuck by the screen and reeled out the driver and his position - Nick 8th, Rae 10th,Damon 11th and Robert 17th. I dug out the numbers, slotted them in the right place and hung the board over the pit lane. There another problem reared its head. We were too close to the final corner and by the time I worked out it was one of 'our' cars they had passed me. We resolved this by Kev looking over the paddock to Clearways and giving me a warning. The cars shot past in groups and sometimes, so close that they could have grabbed the board easily. Luckily our four cars all came round together otherwise a one-minute lap time with 4 staggered cars and one pit board would not have worked.

The team slowly improved their times and ended up in 6th (Andy), 8th(Damon), 10th (Rae) and 16th(Robert). Robert had had problems with the engine in that the dipstick broke and sprayed oil all over his tyres. He had to have an oil change and new tyres. All too soon the session was over and we scurried back over to the paddock (minus the tyre truck) to be given the official qualifying sheets - well we are team members now!