MotorsTV UK Official Blog

Hello Everyone and welcome to my mid season blog.
We are now half way through the ten round British Formula Ford Championship and so far it has been a mixture of highs and lows. Taking my 1st outright win at Zandvoort was without doubt the highlight of my racing career. To stand on the podium in front of the huge grandstand while the national anthem played makes it all worth while. In contrast parting ways with the Kevin Mills Racing team only week or so previous was a real low. The first time in my 8 year history I have switched teams in the season. 

My latest race at Rockingham turned out to be a nightmare in many respects. There are so many variables in motor racing already and to then have the added issues at the weekend really made it difficult for me, and I’m sure there were others. In testing I had headed the times for the past 2 weeks. At both the pre race tests we were right up at the front if not quickest. Yet come qualifying I had a car that could barely make it through a bend without wanting to chuck me into the nearest wall. The data showed a huge loss in grip and with nothing changing from Friday to Saturday but the tires, we were sure this was the issue. We did our best and in Race 1 I managed to just hang on to 6th place from Dan de Zille. Dan drove an excellent race and I just managed to be quick enough in certain parts of the track to hold him off. I have a lot of respect for the way he handled being stuck behind me for so many laps. Many other drivers wouldn’t of thought twice about just moving me out of the way. Myself included had it been someone in front of me.

In Race 2 we made the decision to run my spare tires to try compensate for our problems. I got a great start and jumped up to 5th by turn 1 from my 6th place starting slot. I then managed to pass Scott Malvern a couple of laps later into turn 1 for 4th and that is where I stayed. The guys in front had just got too much of a jump on me and without a tow I just couldn’t make up the ground. I felt I had the pace had I of been with them to to challenge for a podium position. I consistently pulled away from Scott and was well clear at the flag. My team mate Tio Elinas won both races from pole so congratulations to him on a great weekend.

On the Tuesday after Rockingham we travelled to Snetterton for some official F3/Ford testing. The main aim for us at this test was to prove we had a tyre issue and see what we could do  about it. In session 1 I was consistently the fastest driver and was narrowly beaten in the dyeing seconds of the session by Josh Hill. In session 2 we did some back to back testing of our tires. My first set were from the Friday at Rockingham and my second were from the race. I lost roughly 5 tenths of a second when we changed them and confirmed to us there is a serious problem somewhere down the line. 5 tenths around a track with a long straight and 5 corners. It could easily be and probably was more at the twisty Rockingham circuit. Many other teams were also finding problems and it is clear that the championship could be greatly effected unless something changes.  In session 3 I ran new tires also from the Rockingham batch and set a lap good enough for P1 on the day. The tires seemed normal and showed non of the issues we had at the weekend. All very odd and certainly means all the teams will be paying close attention next time out.

We now have a a couple of weeks off until Silverstone where we will race on the Grand Prix circuit something I am very much looking forward to. 

I look forward to bringing you an update soon,
Cheers
Dan

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 12:57 pm and is filed under British Formula Ford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.