After 17 years of involvement in motor racing of one sort or another Jason Davies is now deservedly Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Racing Champion after an amazing season where he swept all before him in the Sierra Cosworth which he and his father Martin built under the colours of M&S Engineering, the family business at Withybush.
 
Jason had set his stall out to win this year's championship after a quiet 2015 where they were developing their 500hp engine and, in Jason's words,
"Delving into the 'black art of aerodynamics’, where there is a huge math’s component, and tiny changes to the car's set-up can improve it greatly or reduce its capacity for speed."
 

A marathon, not a sprint!

 
The championship is decided over 10 rounds, a number at Pembrey and two at Castle Combe, just over the Severn Bridge, where the Welsh Championship carried the motto,
"You don't have to be Welsh to join in the fun!”
 
The Davies’ team certainly had a good year, winning six out of the possible ten races, was on the podium for two others and was doing very well in the remaining two when mechanical problems forced them to drop down the order.
 
For the final race weekend in quite dreadful conditions at Pembrey Jason held a 13-point lead when there was a maximum of 42 points still on offer from the two races.
"So I was definitely not sure of winning," Jason told us,” but I qualified in pole position with a two--second advantage, which is huge when you consider that in one race in dry conditions there was just 0.5 seconds between the first three of us”
 

Amazing victories by huge margins

 
"We decided that the safest place to be was out in front of the 31 competitors and after our warm-up lap the green light went and I got away to a cracking start.

"I really felt nervous leading up to the race, but after that start I was quickly in the zone and began to break away from the rest of the field over the 15-minute race - and was amazed after winning to learn that I was 27 seconds ahead of my nearest rival.
 
"It was a massive weight off my shoulders and with pole position again I opted for the same tactic with the field down to 28 - and I finished up 34 seconds ahead of anyone else in the field!
 

Family matters

 
"It was a very emotional moment with my dad Martin, mum Sue, sister Mikaela and friend Brendan Evans (who is very good with the spanners!) there to cheer me on because they have all been tremendous support over a long period.
 
"I was delighted to follow in my father's footsteps because exactly 20 years ago he won the championship treble of 1994, 95 and 96 - and was also joint champion in 2012 to show his fine racing pedigree."
 

Early start in Karting

 
So it was small wonder that Jason wanted to try his hand at go-karting as an eight year old at BP Karting in Withybush, using one of their karts in the Saturday Club races a year later and adapting to the high speeds of 40mph, which seemed much faster because the drivers were so close to the ground.
 
"My first kart only had a 60cc engine but I was thrilled to race and soon I was competing at the Llandow Track near Bridgend on a steep learning curve against some more-experienced young drivers.

 
Returned to racing for fun

 
"I competed in the British Championships for three years but with racing taking place on 40 out of 52 weekends each year we had to acquire a mobile home for travel to venues as far afield as Cumbria, Yeovil, Kent and Lincoln - and I eventually decided that although STP School was very supportive it was too much alongside school work."
 
Jason and his family decided to return to club racing, racing purely for fun, on the same circuits but without the pressure and with a real camaraderie amongst the competitors and their families - and focussed for a time on his school work.
 

Moving up a gear in circuit racing and rallying

 
But at 17 the Davies duo built their first car from an Escort Mark Two shell and used it for circuit racing and came second in the class for cars of two litres, beaten by only two points by Mark Nicholson, an old friend from Swansea.
 
Jason also tried rallying for two years and had co-drivers/navigators that included Ceri Morgan of Haverfordwest Auto Centre, learning lots of new driving skills as events took place on ice and snow, loose grit and mud - gaining better control of the car and coping with sideways motion as a result.
 

Exciting staff indeed!

 
Jason eventually changed his car’s specification to return to circuit racing but picked and chose his races with care to maintain the ‘fun element’ – but after regularly winning his class the urge to become overall race winner returned and in 2012 he and his dad built his Sierra Cosworth after buying a body shell and building their own 420hp engine – and in 2014 he won their class in the Blue Oval Saloon Series, organised by the Classic Touring cars Club.
 
“It was exciting stuff,” admitted Jason, “and I came second overall after racing at top circuits like Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Donnington Park and the Spa Track in Belgium, all of which had standing starts of 25 competitors over a time span of 15 minutes.
 
“I might even have finished first but lost out after a car malfunction set me back at a vital stage in the series.
 

Hard work off the track paid off this year

 
“But it gave me the necessary impetus and after spending last year on development  it really paid off this season so I’m delighted: not only for myself but my family and friends as well.
 
“I can still remember my father kissing the bonnet of his Cosworth after winning his hat-trick of championships when I was only 5 years old and although I am not looking to emulate that amazing feat I can well understand how he must have felt because winning it for the first time is wonderful and a real dream achieved!”
 
Chat to Jason Davies for a short while and it is easy to see his love of his sport and his natural modesty about his special feat – we did just that and thoroughly enjoyed every moment!