Dec
12
Still Riding the Rollercoaster!
So it’s been more than a month since I last blogged and you could be forgiven for thinking the reason for this is because now that the race season is over for 2011 I don’t have very much to say; but nothing could be further from the truth!
It really has been a rollercoaster ride for the past few weeks and I haven’t yet found the time to get off. After returning from Barcelona where I took part in the official GP3 test I took part in a couple of charity karting events and more testing and development work on behalf of Ford with their new ECOboost car. I was also invited to be a guest in a radio chat show which Scott Stringfellow hosts for Radio Silverstone and once getting over my initial nerves I really enjoyed this. Finally I had the little matter of the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC competition to take part in where I was selected as one of the six finalists for the second year in succession. This took place over a number of different days in November firstly with time on a race simulator (at Banbury) then a day at the Porsche Fitness Centre at Silverstone, followed of course by the two driving assessment days on the Silverstone circuit where we all drove our Formula 2 car as well as the new McLaren GT car and a Mercedes DTM. Finally a couple of weeks later we were all interviewed at the McLaren Technology Centre at Woking.
As you will no doubt all now know unfortunately for the second year running I missed out on the big prize of the young driver of the year on what will almost certainly be my final opportunity to win it. Naturally I am very disappointed but then as with last year so are 4 other drivers. There can only be one winner and its winner takes all so congratulations and well done to Oliver Rowland who I am sure will go on to have a great career as nearly all of the previous award winners have done especially with the help of the Racing Steps Organisation behind him.
However let me say I wouldn’t have missed it all for the world and second time around I enjoyed it even more than last year. It’s a great honour to be selected twice and I can honestly put my hand on my heart and say that I couldn’t have done any more in my efforts to claim the big prize. Obviously coming from a non-aero class of racing I was still something of an underdog but it didn’t feel like that at all and I was very satisfied with my performance in all aspects of the competition. I had a great time throughout the whole event and then again at the Autosport Awards Dinner in London last Sunday. In fact I didn’t really have time to dwell on the disappointment of missing out on the Award too long as I was straight into a couple of meetings after the dinner and then following a very late night had to head back into London for mid-day the following day to attend the BRDC Awards lunch. It’s tough at the top!
The BRDC lunch was a great occasion, far more intimate then the Autosport Awards dinner the night before but no less prestigious for that. In fact the whole event had a really nice relaxed feel about it. A lot of people that I’d not previously spoken to came up to say hello, including Tiff Needell, and of course the highlight for me was being presented with the Henry Surtees Award for outstanding achievement by a BRDC Rising Star. What made it very special was that John Surtees presented the award to me which was created to honour the memory of his son who tragically lost his life in a race accident in 2009. I knew Henry reasonably well as he and I started out in cadet karting around the same time and competed against each other so the award was particularly poignant for me especially in a year where we have been reminded that motorsport can be so cruel. Also as regular readers of this blog will know I am a big fan of John Surtees and what he achieved and the fact that he is still working tirelessly today, not just for motorsport but for many good causes. Let’s hope the Queen remembers that when she dishes out the New Year’s knighthoods!
As well as all of this I have found the time to do a bit of coaching for prospective new drivers in Formula Ford including kart star Laura Tillett and my younger brother Jon. Jon got to drive a Formula Ford car for the first time at Silverstone last week at the regular end of season category sampler day and I have to say once he got the hang of it he was pretty impressive. Thanks to Gavin Ray & Raysport for entrusting him with their excellent GR11 charger for the morning and then in the afternoon he was in my championship winning Jamun Mygale SJ10. It was strange seeing him in this especially as he was wearing my spare helmet so it almost felt like I was watching myself in the car! Many observers were pretty impressed with what they saw so I may have to start looking over my shoulder! But it would be great if he can get a chance to show what he can do next year although of course as always this depends on budget.
So with Christmas just around the corner will I be putting my feet up? Not likely! I’m doing some development work in the kart on behalf of Project One Racing and then next week I’m delighted to say I’m off to Barcelona (again) to drive in the two day FIA Formula Two test. I’ll let you know how that goes and how things are progressing towards the next exciting phase of my career in my next blog. But before signing off today I have so many people to thank for this year. In fact it’s a really long list and I will run through everybody that’s been part of our adventure next time out but just for now I’d like to say thank you to Sam & Penny at Racing Line & Noel at Stratos Marcomms for arranging the F2 test which I’m really excited about. I really enjoyed driving the car for the last two years in the McLaren Autosport BRDC competition but the nature of that means you tend to run short bursts. I’m really looking to getting in some extended seat time in the car and seeing what I can do.
Onward! (KBO)
All the best for now,
Scott