About Me | My First Race Car | My First Race

My name is Edward Hasler, I'm 25 years old, and run my own IT consultancy company - Hasler Systems Ltd. This is my second full season racing in the 750 Motor Club Kit Car Championship, although before 1998, I did take part in about 4 races from 1993 to 1996 (which was all my student loans could stretch to!). My results from these meetings were not particularly good, but I always managed to improve my lap times, and this small taster just made me more keen to take part in more races when I could afford to.

At the moment Interstellar Motorsport consists of only myself. I built the car, do all the mechanical work on it, and tow it to the circuits. My parents are always willing to help out with loading the car, parking the trailer, and provide much appreciated space both on the driveway and in the garage. They have also put up with various car parts being stored around the house during the 2 1/2 years of my life that I have spent building the 2 cars. My ambition is to eventually race in the TVR Tuscan series, but the Kit Car Championship is so enjoyable that I don't plan to leave it at the moment.

My First Race Car | My First Race | About Me

I started to build my first Westfield at the age of 16, while I was still at school. Having been a fan of motor racing since about the age of 10, I had always wanted to take part myself. I soon realised that my paper round wasn't going to get me much of a racing car, so I looked at the possibility of racing my Westfield. I soon found out that the 750 Motor Club ran a series for kit cars, and I carried on building my car, studying for A-levels, and trying to earn money to pay for it, dreaming of the time I would line up on the grid for my first race.

At long last, at the start of August 1993, I completed the car, and began to organise things for the first race. I took my racing driver course at Castle Combe circuit, and then took the car there for a Kit Car Action Day. Unfortunately, my car saw a bit too much action for it's own good, and ended up in the tyres at Quarry corner - just two weeks after I had finished building it... The next day saw me win the Young Driver section of the East London and Essex Driver of the Year Competition, organised by RoSPA, which was a slight consolation.

My First Race | About Me | My First Race Car

I had already entered for my first race, which was to be at Cadwell Park, near Lincoln, and towed the car up there the day before the race, with my father coming along with me to help. Unfortunately, I had managed to leave my fireproof overalls at home, which meant borrowing a set from a friendly Caterham driver. I also missed the novice drivers briefing, which resulted in my licence being endorsed.

Practice was uneventful, although I suspect my lap times were measured with a calendar rather than a stopwatch, however I kept the car on the circuit, and I had finally fulfilled my dream of being a racing driver! After practice, some friendly advice from Martin Harrison, who was leading the championship, left me with some ideas on how to prepare the car, but it was obvious to me that it wasn't ready to race yet. As the race was oversubscribed, I offered to withdraw, as I didn't feel the car was prepared enough, and thought it best to stop before anything else went wrong.

Over the next few years, I entered one or two races a year, and made small changes to the car to make it more suitable for racing, however it wasn't until 1998 that I could afford to enter more than a couple of races. I had also replaced my standard 1300cc Ford crossflow engine with a tuned 1600 crossflow after it expired at Snetterton in August 1996. Click here to see how I did in 1998.