My Passion with Mike Schorah: Petrol head who found his excitement on the race track

I gave up playing rugby union at the tender age of 40, so I decided I needed something that would not only keep me busy but also keep me from under my wife's feet.

Having a passion for fast cars, I, like any other petrol head, always thought I could be the next Schumacher or Button. While trying to decide the best way to get involved with motorsport I found the Caterham Academy, which supplies everything for a novice like me to build my own race car. They also promise to get you through your race licence with automatic entry to a season of races with fellow track virgins.

Having been an Airfix aficionado in my youth, this sounded perfect for me. I spent three months locked in my garage every night, skinned knuckles, dirty nails and a few expletives thrown in, but in the end I managed to build a Caterham race car.

That was three years ago and Caterham racing now takes up a great deal of my downtime away from the office. I've moved up a few levels in the competition and now race at all the major circuits in the country. My car has since been upgraded and is now a full race-prepped Supersport. However, underneath all that it is still the same base car I built myself.

We race seven weekends each year in the National Championship. Each weekend is a three-day event, which is made up of testing and qualifying, followed by two races of 30 minutes each. My wife and girls come along to offer support and help with the spanners, and with my brother, father and lads from the office all helping out, it's become a real family affair.

I keep the costs down by doing my own support and we'll often camp on circuit or stay in budget hotels. The main costs are the entry fees, tyres, fuel, consumables and the odd accident here and there, including 6,000 worth of damage at Silverstone last year.

I love motorsport because it's a challenge; it gets me nervous and it makes me anxious. It's a great deal of preparation for a 30-minute adrenaline buzz but as you sit on that start grid waiting for the red lights to go out, it's just you against the world, knowing all the time that one slip or error will send you spinning into the gravel or worse.

To finish the race is a high, to beat your grid start position is a victory and to stand on the podium is, unfortunately, a feeling I haven't felt yet, but who knows, it's Brands Hatch next and I will be giving it my best shot.