Aug
6
Hello everyone and welcome to my latest blog. It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog so I felt it was time to fill you in on what has been happening lately. My last race was at Donington Park two weeks ago and it was the first time all season that I have really struggled with the car.
Qualifying was my worst of the season giving me two eighth place starts. I was only two tenths from being in the top three but as usual in Ford the grid is so close. My team mate Daniel Erickson did an excellent job to take a double pole position.
In race 1 Erickson headed off into the distance whilst I calmly drove my way up to fourth place and the Scholarship victory. Alex Jones was also on the podium in third which meant Kevin Mills Racing had all three drivers on the podium. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed to not win the first race of the season for KMR but I was still having a good season, having taken pole in only my second ever qualifying at Rockingham and still running fourth in the overall championship.
Race 2 saw me start eighth once again and I made a poor start and dropped down a few places. I was back up to seventh with a few laps to go but when Jamun’s Patrick Mckenna span on the way out of Old Hall hairpin I had to take to the wet grass to avoid him. I almost caught the spin but at such speed on the wet grass I had no chance and did a full 360! Luckily I had spun back onto the track so I grabbed second gear and dropped the clutch to get myself going again. I only lost one place in the melee but it was to Fabio Gamberini who was also in the Scholarship class. I caught him quickly over the next lap but it was all too late, I had lost for the first time in the Scholarship class.
Race 3 saw the first wet race of the season for Formula Ford. Starting eighth once again I made an excellent start and was up as far as fourth at turn 1 but I was a little tentative and was swallowed up by Chris Palmer and Josh Hill. This was my first wet race and I was doing ok, we had good pace but it was just too difficult to pass especially with my lack of experience. I was later passed by my far more experienced team mate and I finished eighth once again with the Scholarship victory.
All things considered this was far from my greatest weekend. I struggled all weekend for outright pace, the nature of the track really helped the more experienced drivers who had mastered the traditional Formula Ford slide. I’m sure I will get my championship back on track at Silverstone in two weeks time where I will be pushing harder than ever for that first victory.
Formula Ford is no longer my only focus for the 2009 season however. I have recently signed to race for Austrian based team Neuhauser Racing in the ADAC Formel Masters championship. I tested at Eurospeedway Lausitz around a month ago and last week had my latest test ahead of the Nurburgring race in which I will be competing. The test was held at the Nurburgring circuit using the shortened Grand Prix track and it went very well indeed. For the first time I tested alongside team mate Dominik Baumann and we were both quick enough to feature right at the top of the time sheets. I found the circuit to be a great challenge and a joy to drive. There’s a definite atmosphere about the place and I couldn’t help but enjoy myself. I posted the fastest time of the afternoon just a few hundredths shy of the quickest lap of the day set in the cooler morning session. Many other drivers were also present including championship leader Daniel Abt.
The race will take place on the 22nd of August and we will be supporting the ADAC 1000km for the weekend. This is one of the biggest events in Germany and will be a great experience once which I look forward to telling you all about.
Cheers
Dan Cammish
