An interview with: Andy ‘Ace’ Harrison

Andy owns and runs Acespeed Historic Motorsport and swears by Motul lubricants and products. Speaking to Andy at his base in Shipley, West Yorkshire, we asked him about his wide-ranging business and why he trusts Motul products to ‘do what they say on the tin’.

Andy, tell us about the racing you and Acespeed do

“We do historic racing and rallying. We’re about to do the Monte Carlo historic rally in January. We compete with the Envoy (pictured), a Mini, the famous London-Sydney Marathon Morris 1800 ‘Landcrab’, a Wolseley Hornet rally car and two MX-5s which we hillclimb, so I’m a busy chap! A lot of the time, I prep the Mini and the Envoy because I like doing it, and it gets me back on the spanners. When you build a company up like this, you tend to get drawn away from the mechanical side, so it’s nice to get hands-on again, but I’m also supported by a team that knows every nut and bolt.”

How do you balance the ‘day job’ as a garage with your racing activities?

“We offer everything from MOTs, services, general everyday repairs and code-reading. Moving into the classic car industry, we do some prep, we have a paintshop 50 yards down the forecourt, and we have five or six race cars that belong to customers. When the everyday work dries up each day, we get on with a race car or a classic car.”

This year has been rather unusual, but what does a normal racing season look like for you?

“As we go through the winter, we do all the shows like Autosport International and your historic race shows. Usually, the first races and rallies are around March. Once we get into March, I don’t have any free time! The family time disappears because I’m constantly at either rallies, races or a show. “COVID hit motorsport massively. For the first six months of the year, we didn’t do anything. We could open as key workers, so we were here. We were here in the workshop for the NHS and the emergency services. When the key work dried up and I delivered them all back, we got on with some of the classics. That helped us through the period because there was always something to work on. Everyone who hasn’t raced this year really wants to next year. I think we’re in for a good year in 2021.”

Why do you use Motul products?

“They work! The brake cleaner works, the oil works. We have all the various grades, and we have no problems whatsoever. I love the back-up we get on the technical side, so it’s a win-win for us. The products are very good. It does what it says on the tin; it actually works. We spend a lot of time on the dyno bed and the rolling road. We have used various oils, and the horsepower gain just by changing oil is incredible, and how good the engines are when we strip them back down.”

What do you love most about your job?

“I’m passionate about what I do. ‘Life’s for living’ is my tag. Business is money-orientated, we can’t get away from that, but it’s the passion that makes me come in every day, and the financial gains side of it comes later on. I’m driven by passion, and I want people to be happy. I love racing, I love classic cars”.

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