Dave Pinkneys racing career first started in 1987 when he contested the Uniroyal Production saloon championship in a Rover SD1 Vitesse, the car was run from his garage and transported to and from the circuits in a converted D series horse transported. It was an interesting year, competing against the new turbo powered Ford Cosworths, the Vitesse was getting a bit long in the tooth and was comparatively down on power. But Dave still managed to mix it with the Cosworths on a regular basis enjoying many top ten finishes. His experiences that year convinced Dave to run a 3 door Ford Cosworth in 1988, again in the very well supported Uniroyal Series and he also contested a few rounds of the Monroe Shock Absorbers Production saloon championship. It was a Monroe round at Mallory Park on the 8th of May that year that saw Dave take his first race win, he went on to score 4 wins, a second and 3 third places. He also took part in the Wilhire 24 Hour race in June, sharing his car with Rob Gravet (later to go on and win the BTCC in 1990) and Lawrence Bristow. They qualified on Pole position and after 23 hours were in second place closing down the leader when the engine let go! The great success Dave enjoyed in 88 speared him on to move up in 1989, to the now very popular BTCC in a Ford Cosworth RS500. It proved to be a troubled year for Dave, as part of a three car team, his car was very quick in a straight line but suffered bad handling and poor reliability. His best result being an 11th at Thruxton on the 29th of May. However as is Dave's way, he did not give up an on the 20th of August at Brands Hatch managed to come through the field up to 5th position before a crash at Clearways brought the1989 season to a premature close. 1990 saw David in a Ford Sapphire Cosworth in the Esso Saloon car Championship, once again running the car himself with his own team, as he had done in 87 and 88. The season brought a degree of success with Dave visiting the podium 4 times, but also a high level of frustration, with many potentially winning drives thwarted by unforeseen mechanical failures. Unperturbed Dave and the Team continued to campaign the Sapphire in 1991. And saw a return to the top step of the podium on the 26th of August at Castle Combe, this was an especially sweet victory as it was the only race in which the all-conquering Nissan Skyline GTR driven by Matthew Neal was beaten all season. Dave had a total of 7 podium finishes in 1991; a year that provided some very closely fought racing and memorable battles with the Skyline GTR. In 1992 the regulations of the BTCC underwent a change, to the two litre normally aspirated rules that were to lay the foundations of the modern Super Touring era. At this time there was a lot of debate as to the best car / engine combination to use within the new regulations. With Dave's usual flare he embarked on a very ambitious design and development project centred on a Sapphire Cosworth shell and the Ford V6 engine (Later to be developed by Andy Rose to great effect!). Unfortunately supplier difficulties meant that the car never made it to the circuit that year. But David kept his hand in by competing in a number of Prod. Saloon rounds in the old Sapphire notching up a win at Donington in a long distance race (with Dave Bartrum) and, a further 3 podium finishes from 7 starts! David re focused his efforts on the BTCC in 1993, by acquiring a Prodrive built BMW 318is coupe, the make and model of car that had won the championship in 92. Dave and the Team were to have their work cut out this year however, due to the fact that in 93 the BMWs were made to remove their ABS and were penalised for being rear wheel drive by the addition of a further 25Kg of ballast. The team worked very hard this year with many a late night / early mornings all trying to hold down full time jobs as well, and Dave had his work cut out on track. He qualified consistently alongside the similar cars of Team Dynamics and often in front of Matt Meal, but results remained elusive. At the end of July Dave and the Team undertook a major rebuild of the car and returned to the championship for the Brands Hatch round on the August bank holiday. Testing for the weekend was held at the circuit on the Friday and whilst David was rounding Paddock Hill Bend the car burst into flame and David was lucky to get out. The marshals did a very good job getting Dave out and putting out the fire, but this left the car in a real mess. With at least 4 powder fire extinguishers emptied into the car, it took every one all night to get the car out for qualifying the next day. David went on to finish the race and his season, despite the conditions in the car. 1994 saw a change of direction, to a now fashionable, "one make" championship. Namely the VW Vento VR6 Challenge, this saw David in a front wheel drive car for the first time. He took to it very well and had a good season; the Ventos suffered a bit with reliability in the form of drive shafts and drive flanges. But out of his 8 finishes Dave had 3 seconds and 3 third places, so if the car had held together more often, who knows?. David was out of the country in 1995, but returned to the Vento arena in 1996, opening his account with a win at the first round at Oulton Park with no pre season testing at all. 1996 was to be a fantastic year for race wins, Fastest laps and Lap records, Dave had 6 wins (one of which was a dead heat with Matt Johnston at Donington), 2 second places and a third. But the tittle eluded him though he took it right to the wire at a cold wet Siverstone in September, where he did all that was asked, a win with fastest lap, but his rival for the tittle had to finish third or lower for Dave to win. But when the second place driver pulled in with a lap to go handing the position to his rival, it was all over. 1997 was another year of Ventos for David and the Team, not quite as prolific as 96, but he still took 2 wins and further 6 podium finishes.

This was also the year that saw Dave first driving a Vectra Sri V6. it was in the winter series, which he won. The prize for which was free entry to the following season's races. The Vectra Sri V6 challenge in 1998 was a trying time for both David and the Team, whilst trying very hard to set up the car all season nothing that was tried seamed to improve on the consistent position of 5th in qualification. Dave actually posted results of 1 second, 1 third, 1 fourth and 3 fifth positions. Dave and the team were later to find out that the front of the chassis and the sub frame were physically bent and had been from "New".

Once more, unperturbed by misfortune, Dave contested the Sri V6 Challenge in 1999 but in a "straight" car this time and the results came back immediately. Scoring 4 wins, 2 seconds and a third he took the tittle in a very exiting race at Siverstone on the 19th of September, in near dark conditions on a wet track he came from 8th on the grid up to second in a shortened race of eight laps. Perhaps his finest hour to date!

In 2000 Dave took a year off but came back to the BTCC with JSM driving an Alfa 147 in 2001. This is a new team with a new car and a lot of teething troubles. A series of disappointing engine failures and only one decent finish in 8th place does not do justice to Dave's ability. It won't be long before he appears back on the podium.

History kindly given to me by Andy Dean.