MotorsTV UK Official Blog

Jono Lester

It’s a nice way to end the year; driving a racing car.

In 2009, I haven’t really done it all that much. My last official ‘race’ was in April when I won the Hamilton 400 Trophy, and since I’ve been itching to drive whatever I can.

I’ve spent a good portion of this time as a test driver for Juno Racing New Zealand with their new Synergy V8-powered sports car, but insofar as Porsche racing goes, there’s been very little.

That very little however, has meant a hell of a lot.

I’ve aligned myself with the very successful Lechner Racing Team and in July had a two-day test at the Hungaroring, which put me in line for the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup after setting some really competitive times and working well with the team’s experienced engineers.

Again, this past fortnight, I’ve been up in Bahrain for some more testing with the team; this time developing the new 2010 Porsche GT3 Cup car which will be used in the Supercup next season.

As from the last 997 upgrade in 2008, this car is a cut above any Cup Car ever made. The response of the steering and engine; the noticeable increases in torque and power; the more docile yet more refined rear end with the giant rear wing – all of this has contributed to a very special race car.

To be one of the first in the world to steer one was a genuine pleasure for me.

My entry for the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has been lodged and I’m proud to be a part of the Lechner Racing Team with its passionate and hard-working mechanics and engineers, and a really positive and focussed team environment.

There’s still a budget to find, but isn’t that always the case with motorsport? I couldn’t have really picked a worse time to be money-hunting given the economic climate, however that won’t curb my enthusiasm and drive to make this happen.

I can see this being my one shot at making a career out of professional motorsport in Europe. I’ve gotta take it with both hands!

The weather’s great back here in NZ – believe it or not it rained more in Bahrain that it has here in the last two or three months! I’m really looking forward to heading up to the beach with my girlfriend, family and friends over the Xmas break for some brief R&R before heading full-steam into an exciting 2010.

See you all there!

Jono

www.jonolester.com

Hello everyone and welcome to my final blog of the 2009 season. It has been a great year for me and one I have thoroughly enjoyed. 2009 was my first season of car racing and it has been a steep learning curve. Karting was all I had ever known so this season was always going to be a challenge. British Formula Ford is a great championship which always attracts young talent from all over the world, this year was no different. However after the first round of the season I already felt very much at home and I had some great results in the first half of the season. A podium in my first ever car race was more than anyone expected of me, and pole at only my second attempt at Rockingham a few weeks later really signaled my arrival on the Ford scene. I had 13 consecutive top 6 finishes this season which helped me to cement a top ten position in the overall championship. I also won the scholarship championship taking 18 wins from 23 starts which is nothing short of dominant. Thanks to my British success I was given the chance to race 3 meetings in Germany for Austrian team Neuhauser Racing in the Formel ADAC championship and this provided me valuable experience into slicks and wings single seater racing. The team were nothing short of fantastic and gave me a very competitive car. The results were not what I had hoped for but with such limited track time I was always on the back foot. It was difficult going from a car with down force one week to Formula Ford the next, the too were just too different. However taking fastest lap at the Sachsenring was a highlight not to mention seizing what may be my only opportunity to race the fantastic Nurburgring GP Circuit. A big thank you to both Kevin Mills and Neuahuser Racing for all there hard work this season and I really enjoyed the experience. 

Having just returned from a weeks holiday in Tenerife I feel re-juvinated and more importantly slightly tanned and ready for the 2010 season. Plans for next year are well underway but nothing is yet set in stone, the biggest issue for me now is to find the sponsorship I need to continue my racing not only next year but in years to come. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it and wish you all the best for the New Year.

Hi everyone.

This blog is a mixture of happiness and sadness. Happy because after a fantastic season I was crowned champion, but sad as it means another season of motorsport is nearing an end.

Leaving Silverstone a few weeks ago I didn’t know that I’d just wrapped up the driver’s championship. It was fellow competitor Ed Hayes tha t worked it out on Monday morning. A very excited call from my Dad that afternoon marked one of the most incredible moments of my life, though admittedly it didn’t feel quite real.

Snetterton will always be special for me, as it was where I took part in my first ever motor race, on my 17th birthday in June last year. Back then I wouldn’t of imagined that I’d be returning a year later as driver’s champion and two finishes would earn Matt Blyth Motorsport team’s championship.

Testing on Friday took place in dry conditions and we were setting the pace, a couple of tenths up on our rivals. The same could be said the next day however, with damp conditions making for a very tricky qualifying session, where I managed to grab 2nd on the grid, the highest I have qualified since taking pole at Oulton Park back in May.

 Come race 1 later that afternoon, and still the damp conditions persisted. I made a fantastic start to get into the lead on the first corner and was able to pull out a small lead over the first few laps. However, due to the treacherous conditions and the need to finish in order to secure the team’s championship for Matt Blyth Motorsport,  I drove cautiously, perhaps a little too cautiously and ended up dropping back to 4th. However this was enough to mean I could really go for a fantasitc in race 2 and end the season on a high.

Race 2 took place in much more pleasant whether, so the final race of 2009 took place in dry conditions. It was a fantastic end to the 2009 season, with a great battle between me and old rivals Peter Ratcliff and Simon Young. I’ve had some fantastic battles with them this year and so I must thank them both for a great season of clean, hard racing. For this race though I was happily the one who came out on top to win the last race of the season, and take both the driver’s and team’s championships.

So as 2009 draws to a close I would like to thank my team Matt Blyth Motorsport for all the effort they have put in this year as well as my sponsors KM Dastur and Ian Hutcheson & Associates, for without them I wouldn’t be on the grid at all.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading these blogs, take care of yourselves.

Dan

Hi Guys,
 
What a week! I have been here, there and everywhere. I’ve been flying loads and doing my final exams which were tough. Lots to know about clouds and stuff. I played in a charity match at Loch Lomond which was amazing. It was an unbelievable place. Our team came 2nd overall which considering I thought I didn’t play that well I was pretty happy with. I also went to the last round of the BSB and did a bit on the Think! stand and the Chris Jones auction.

 Oli Ran her half marathon that weekend in London and raised over £1000 for her elephant charity and did the run in under 2 hours so she was so happy with her achievement. Out of 20,000 runners she came 4820 which I think is amazing. She wanted to that everyone who supported her and donated to her charity – there will be lots of happy elephants out there now. 

As I’m sure you know I have signed for Alstare Suzuki for next year. It was a tough decision as Stiggy has been fantastic and gave me the opportunity in the first place to come back to WSBK. I am so grateful for that but the Suzuki deal was too good an opportunity to turn down and I’m very excited about it.

Last race though and I would like to thank Stiggy and all my sponsors and fans with a double podium.
 
Sorry it’s late my computer went kaput!

Leon

Hi all

Apologies for the lateness of this blog, but I have been very busy lately due to starting university at Goldsmith’s College, University of London. I still haven’t got my Internet sorted so am currently writing this from my local Internet café.
 
Sine my last blog a lot has happened in the Caterham Superlight R400 Championship with arguably the two most anticipated races of the year: Spa Francorchamps & Silverstone GP.

So onto Spa, and a very exciting occasion for my team Matt Blyth Motorsport, who after months of talk were finally able to use their incredible new lorry – with a nicer interior than my house! Spa itself is simply incredible; there is defiantly a really special atmosphere there that is not present at any other track.

Whilst Spa is notorious for its weather, we had beautiful sunshine all weekend making for a simply unbeatable weekend’s enjoyment. As for the racing itself, we had the biggest entry of the year with an incredible 28 Superlights on track. The nature of the circuit made for some very close racing, with the high-speed layout and tow affect that is so apparent in Caterhams heightened even further to mean that you could enter the Kemmel straight in first, but be in 6th by the end of it. Whilst this encouraged ultra-close racing, it made it very hard to stay in the lead and so led to a very tactical first race, which I judged very well and was able to take my 3rd win in a row, albeit by only 0.078 seconds from championship rival Peter Ratcliff.

The second race was much of the same, however I didn’t judge my ideal position on the final lap meaning I was 4th heading into the bus stop chicane. Fortunately though a spinning car ahead of me gifted me 3rd place and a 9th podium of the year. To add to that, I also collected my first ever lap record, a 2:41 second lap that just added to an already phenomenal weekend.

Two weeks later and back in the UK to go to another magical place, Silverstone. This was my first visit the Grand Prix circuit and I have to say it is an incredible circuit. Like Spa, it encourages close racing because of its high-speed layout. Another strong grid – 23 cars for this meeting and more beautiful weather set the one-day event up to be another thriller.

After struggling to get enough out of the car in qualifying I faced an uphill struggle with my two main championship rivals taking up the front row. Race 1 was very tough with 5 cars fighting for the lead. Whilst I couldn’t take the win, a third place was good damage limitation as my rivals didn’t take too many points out of my championship lead.

For race two I started in a better position and took full advantage of it, by taking my sixth victory of the season and another fastest lap. This means that I now have a 13 point lead in the championship going into the final round at Snetterton in three weeks time. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Take care,

Dan

Hi everyone

Not a bad weekend then. I really enjoyed the track but the racing was quite lonely for me. We chose the harder tyre in the first race and it didn’t work quite as well. I was the only one using that tyre too so it was a bit of a gamble. In race two we had a couple of electrical problems but nothing too major so I just couldn’t push as hard as I wanted.

It’s true that I will part company with Stiggy after this season which is a shame as I have really enjoyed being a part of their team and I think we have worked really well together. Suzuki is on the cards for the next few days and I will let you know as soon as it’s a done deal, but it’s all very exciting.

I’ve been flying again today and this weekend I will go to Oulton on the Saturday to see some of the BSB boys in their last race. Then it’s off to Loch Lomond to play a couple of rounds of golf with friends. Oli is in London this weekend doing her half marathon. She’s been training really hard so she should blitz it.

I can’t believe the season’s nearly over, it’s gone so fast but it’s been awesome too. I love being in WSBK.

Speak soon

Leon

Hello everyone and welcome to my latest blog. It has been a few weeks since my last post and much has happened since then. With only one round now remaining in both the British Formula Ford Championship and the Formel ADAC Masters series the year is almost over. It has been a superb rookie season for me so far and one which I hope you have enjoyed reading about. As I missed the latest round of British Formula Ford at Brands Hatch in order to contest Formel ADAC at Sachsenring the Ford Championship is now looking very close. I am currently 5th overall with my Kevin Mills Racing team mate Daniel Erickson only a few points behind in 6th. It will all come down to the final round at Castle Combe on the 3rd of October and after recent testing form I’m sure I can finish the season strongly. Despite missing the last round I have attained enough points to be the Scholarship class victor which is a great reward for the efforts of myself and team throughout the year. I just hope now I can put in a good performance at Combe to finish the season in 5th place overall which would be a fantastic achievement for my first season of car racing, especially with such strong competition in British Formula Ford.

Whilst my Kevin Mills Racing team mates were at Brands Hatch over the weekend I was a few hundred miles away at the Sachsenring (Germany) preparing for my second taste of ADAC Masters. Having never seen the circuit before Friday testing I had just 40 minutes to get myself up to speed. Sachsenring is a brilliant venue and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of this high speed circuit. The opening part of the lap is very technical with some slow and medium speed corners. It is easy to lose a lot of time here and it took me the whole weekend to get fully on top of this sector.  The circuit then opens up in to a series of very fast left hand corners which are taken flat out in my ADAC car. It took me a few laps to build up the confidence not to lift through this section but the data showed it could be done and therefore it must be done. In qualifying I was 0.5 seconds off the ultimate pace and this left me down in 7th on the grid and 8th in race 2. I just couldn’t extract those final few tenths quick enough to pose a threat in qualifying but I was getting faster each and every lap.

In the first race I started 7th and after an unfortunate spin at the first corner due to a nudge from behind I was left in last place. I was determined not to stay there though and I set about quickly catching the field. 10 seconds down on lap 1 I took advantage of the clear track ahead of me to post some competitive lap times and caught the pack to eventually finish 8th. A Disappointing result but we showed good pace for Sunday’s second race and I was confident of a good result. Starting from 8th I managed to survive the first lap and held position. After being held up for the first few laps I managed to eventually pass 7th place man Christian Wangard and set about catching 6th. The first few laps had left me 4 seconds behind the leaders but it wasn’t over yet. I quickly began to take time out of the cars ahead of me posting new fastest laps on the way and caught up with 5 laps to go. I moved up into 6th before passing Adrian Campfield, Saturday’s race winner and fellow Brit for 5th. This is where I would stay for the final 2 laps coming within a few tenths of 3rd position.

It was a great weekend and I was happy to come away with 5th and a fastest lap. I couldn’t help thinking things would of been different had I of had the chance to test but unfortunately there was just no possibility. I think I did a good job considering the lack of time I had to improve and coming away with 3 of the 4 fastest laps of the race fills me with confidence for the final round of the series at Oschersleben in October. I look forward to reporting on my final 2 races of the season in both Formula Ford and ADAC Masters which I hope will be a fantastic end to a so far fantastic rookie season.

Cheers

Dan Cammish

Just got home to good flying weather which is where I am going to be for the next couple of weeks. I am a bit disappointed after last weekend as I really feel like I could have had a couple of podiums, if not a win. My pace was good in both races but I was just a bit unlucky getting nudged by a couple of other riders. As I always say though, that’s racing.

In race one Johnny Rea pushed me out at the first turn which dropped me back to about 10th. It took me a while to come through and by the time I did the front runners were too far ahead. In the second race my start was much better and I was up to 2nd place when Ben Spies pulled quite a harsh move. He lifted up and I had no choice but to go on the gravel. When I rejoined something electrical had broken on my bike so I couldn’t accelerate and ended up being passed be Max too.

As far as the track goes I loved, loved, loved it! All you have to do is absorb it, learn from it and get over it. We now have a couple of weeks before Imola to train and talk with the team on how we can make more improvements to the bike.

I have the Goodwood Revival next weekend and am racing in the classic race against Jeremy McWilliams and Jamie Witham, so I feel it’s going to be a slightly competitive weekend, but fun all the same.

Quick word on the flying. I have about 18 solo hours to do in my little plane before I get my license so I’m going to be cracking on with that before Imola.

Leon

Hey everyone,
Last weekend (29th and 30th August) was my last Women’s World MX round! I’d spent the past month in Belgium riding at Lommel which has deep sand. It was all going well and I felt pretty confident about the last GP in Lierop (Netherlands) before, on the 21st, I had a bike failure on the face of a tabletop. The front wheel dropped and there was nothing I could do about it, crashed and had be taken to hospital to get checked over! I had bruises everywhere, blurred vision in my left eye and worst of all, ligament and muscle damage on my upper right leg, although but nothing was broken.

I spent the next week then going to see Eve (my sports trainer in Belgium) who got me into a very good physio. I’d like to say thanks very much to all them for all their help!! On Thursday 27th I tried riding at the Eindhoven track but felt sore and stiff so didn’t ride for very long. On Friday Eve took me to the physio again for one last bit of treatment where I also had my leg strapped for support…

Saturday I didn’t ride much in free practise and timed qualifying but still ended up first in practise and third in timed qualifying, which obviously I was pretty happy with! Between all my time outs I had a quick look at the track then tried to just rest up! Then at 6pm we had our first race where I didn’t make such a good start and almost crashed with Elien Dewinter. I also hit my leg (which wasn’t great!) and only ended up 5th but I was happy to finish!! Then in Sunday morning free practise I again just took a few laps to have a look at track. I then got the holeshot in race two before Steffi Lair passed me. Then she had a little crash but got back up to 3rd behind me and Fontanesia. Me and Chiara were having a good battle back and forth for the lead! My leg was getting sorer every lap though so I just backed off and finished 3rd. Steffi and Fontanesia got back passed me but well done to them as they were riding awesome!! I ended up 4th overall on the day and moved up to 3rd in championship!! I’m very happy with my 3rd overall in the World Championship. Now I will rest up before my last few races in England for women’s British championship and Women’s Red Bull MX of Nations!!

c u Natalie #44

It’s been a whole five weeks since I last rode my Stiggy Honda and I really can’t wait to get back on the bike. That’s the thing with racing, you’re always waiting for the next race. Whether it’s five days or five weeks away, all you think about is what you can do to fill your time before you get back to racing again.

Having said that, I have done a really good job with filling my time. I’ve popped along to support some friends in BSB which was fun to catch up with everyone and watch some good racing of course.

Steve Brogan, Oli and myself went off to Redtread Enduro School in Spain for a few days. We decided to do a bit of a road trip and take our mate’s van but it’s really quite a long way, 1300 miles from Calais. Even longer when the van you borrow brakes down in the middle of nowhere in a rain storm at 11 o’clock at night and none of you really speak Spanish! After an uncomfortable night, the three of us in the cab, we got towed to Madrid to get fixed and were on our way again.

It was an awesome trip though; Steve and I spent the time riding around the Spanish mountains while Oli went diving every day. The last days we went to a water park and just chilled which was a much needed break for all of us.

Me and my Dad have also been taking our pilots’ licence; my Dad passed his a couple of months ago so while I’ve had some time off I have been getting some serious hours in. I now only have to do a few more hours solo before I can take passengers. We have bought between us a Eurostar light aircraft, it’s a little two seater thing but it’s amazing and looks like a little Spitfire. I’ll put some pictures on the site.

We are a bit governed by the weather in the UK but we have been pretty lucky on the break, and after Germany hopefully we will continue to get some good flying weather.

I’ve done the usual stuff too like training every morning with Kirk, Oli is running a half marathon in October in London to raise money for an Elephant charity so I have been helping her train and running quite a lot.

Trailing as been a regular occurrence too although we didn’t really have any time to enter any comps. All in all it’s been a pretty good break, but a very quick one too. Well they do say time flies when you’re having fun.

Speak soon

Leon