Hello folks, my name’s James Peace. I’m a 17-year-old racing driver and desperate for the new season to start. But that’s not until March, so how can I keep myself firing on all cylinders until then?!
Last year was my rookie ‘slicks and wings’ campaign, racing in the in the British Automobile Racing Club’s Dunlop
InterSteps Championship, (previously known as Formula BMW) from March through September. Despite severely restricted testing (I’d been in the car just twice compared to rival drivers, who had 10+ days testing) I notched up two wins, 11 podiums, two poles, and three fastest laps. My mind is now set on doing what it takes to be InterSteps Champion 2012, and progressing to GP3 in 2013.
But with the new season still 10 weeks away I’ve been chomping at the bit to get back in the car. Being out-of-season is like being in limbo: we use the time to get ourselves as fit as we can mentally and physically, and in my case I’ve also been revising for and taking my AS levels and furthering my courses for A Level exams later in the year, but it is a real frustration when all you want is to be out there racing.
So it was a major boost for me in the new year to learn that I had been chosen – for the second year running – by the Motor Sports Association to join its select MSA Academy Squad. This prestigious invite-only group sits within the MSA’s Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence programme (AASE), a government-funded, performance-enhancing course for 20 young drivers that aims to develop the most talented young competitors into elite athletes.
The benefits of this are immediate: this Saturday 21st January, I will be training with F1 Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber at the Porsche Human Performance Centre at Silverstone. I’m thrilled to be meeting him and I’ll be asking him all sorts of things, from mental preparation to what he eats for breakfast!
Last weekend I was at the Autosport International Show at the NEC, and there was definitely a new season buzz about it.
I was a host at the MSA Academy stand, but I also got time to meet some great people, such as 1964 Formula One World Champion John Surtees, who is taking the plight of grassroots motorsport very seriously, and is lobbying the FIA for funding for young drivers. Getting funding and sponsorship is really difficult for most of us, and we more than welcome all the help we can get, morally as well as financially.
I also caught up with triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx. The Priaulx’s have a charity – Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation, inspired by the fact that both of their children were born prematurely – as was I, five weeks before I was due, so it is a cause close to my heart.
So I’m keeping busy, but I can’t wait for March. And my exam results…
James
Well, it’s Monday morning and back to reality working in the NHS today, but what a fabulous weekend I’ve had at Autosport. Apart from winning races I can’t think of many better weekends.
As a nominee for the BWRDC Goldstars club award (there is also an Elite award) I was nervously hoping for the best on Friday morning when the announcement was to be made on the MSA stand by racing legend John Surtees OBE. Judge Ian Titchmarsh had made his decision after considering each of the nominee’s achievements in the previous season and in front of a Motors TV crew and many of the UK racing press the gold envelope revealed my name.
Wow! The last time I smiled so much was when I had a double win at Donington Park last year. What a great feeling, and many thanks to the BWRDC for creating such a great initiative for women in motorsport; thanks also to the various sponsors, including Donington Park (test day), Piers Dowell (bespoke helmet design), Stand 21 (flame proof bra – yes that’s correct!) Millers Oil (205 litres of oil), GPR (cash voucher), IWI (stopwatch), Lucas oil (cleaning products), Izone (simulator time) and not least Twenty-four seven who will be redesigning my web page.
On top of all that, highly successful ALMS racer Liz Halliday will be my mentor for the next twelve months. Could it get much better?
Well actually the weekend continued in a similar vein. At the Jaguar drivers awards dinner on Saturday my regular and valued sponsor, Jaguar Classic Parts, confirmed their support for next season competing in my classic Jaguar XJ-S and XJ saloon. In addition, back at ASI David Price of System Store Solutions (bespoke garage and storage design) also came on board and Jaguar World Monthly confirmed that my writing skills would be used again in 2012. That means I will certainly be competing on track this year and several other deals are still in negotiation so watch this space.
I can now concentrate of raising funds to compete in the GT Cup, where I can test my skills in some more modern machinery in what is a highly competitive and well supported series, covered by Motors TV. This is now my main goal and being such an affordable and sensibly priced series, GT Cup offers a great opportunity for companies to expand their media and brand presence, entertain clients, create incentives for employees and have a lot of fun in the process working with one of the UK’s most successful female racers.
In the meantime the V12 engine will be going back into the XJ-S and a bit of weight loss for the XJ saloon, and me, is in order.
Finally I would also like to congratulate Sarah Reader, my co-Goldstars winner, who took the Elite award for her exploits in Europe last year.
Gail Hill
I cannot believe how quickly 2011 passed by, but that is just a sign of being incredibly busy I guess. It really doesn’t seem that long ago that I was at the Autosport Show in a cold dark January and here we are again! I have to admit that when I was at the show I was incredibly uncertain about what my plans were going to be for the year. Due to the economic climate it had been very difficult to secure any funding and the prospect of doing not very much at all loomed large!
But then Jamun Racing offered me a lifeline and the return to Formula Ford proved to be a very good move as we swept the board and more than achieved our targets for the season. And although nothing is definitely in place yet for 2012 I am feeling a lot more positive about the following season than I was this time last year. I have been able to test GP3 and Formula 2 machinery in Barcelona which is not something that I was doing last year and we are making good progress with sorting out our plans for 2012.
Last month I took part in the two day FIA Formula 2 test at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, and was very pleased with my progress in the car. Of course the car wasn’t completely new to me: I had already driven it in the 2010 and 2011 McLaren AUTOPSPORT BRDC Young driver competitions and had a brief run in it at a promo day for MSV & Comma Oils during the May Bank Holiday Monday. But believe it or not this was the first time I was really able to drive the car for any length of time in dry conditions, so it was almost like beginning again. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and was pleased that I was able to set competitive times on both days against several championship regulars, running as high as third in the overall order of over 20 drivers and down to a quickest time of just three tenths off the pace. The only disappointment was, due to circumstances such as red flags falling at the wrong time, I was not able to make the most of my turbo boost runs at the end of the day on new rubber. But this wasn’t my fault or indeed anybody else’s – it was just plain bad luck. But I know that I had already done enough to show that the times were there.
Since returning I have been busy with the Project One Kart Team. As those of you who are involved in karting will know there isn’t really any sort of winter break: it just carries on right the way through, weather permitting. So the day after returning from a mild and sunny Barcelona I found myself putting up an awning in the snow at Buckmore Park!
This month we’ll be back at the Autosport Show – which is where I came in! Once again I will be on the main stage at regular intervals with the other five McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC finalists and taking part in the show in the Live Action Arena. It’s actually quite hard work but a lot of fun as well.
The only remaining thing I would like to do now is say a very big thank you to everyone that has supported me in any way at all this year. It’s actually a very long list but I think it’s very important to acknowledge everyone, because without your help I wouldn’t have been able to have had the absolutely incredible and fantastic year that I have. So a massive thank you in no particular order to: Allied Finance, Allied Tanks & Fabrications, SCANDOC Document Management (now Fortrus Ltd.), ncpi solutions, HW Baines Industrial Units, Harriott Plumbing Services, Johal Regan Property Services, Noel Scholey, Stratos Marcom, Paul Spensley, Essex Gas Utilities, The Selby family, The Baker Family, The Craig’s, Vanquish Developments, Lamberhurst Corporation, Adam Dennehey, Motors TV, Jacob Ebrey, Driver Database, BRSCC, BRDC, Jamun Racing Services, Scholar Engines, Racing Line, Ford Motorsport, Stephen Colbert, my brother Jon & everyone else that has wished me good luck through the year. I really hope that I haven’t missed anyone!
In closing, I hope you enjoyed a very merry Christmas and a safe, happy & prosperous New Year. See you all in 2012!
Scott
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
The FIA GT1 World Championship season finale in Argentina brought with it hopes of finishing my debut year with another podium or, better still, clinching my first series race win.
The Sumo Power GT team has been getting more and more competitive throughout the season. We arrived in Argentina not having seen the track before but straightaway I was quickest by quite a margin and we were in the top three in most sessions. The car just felt really good and that gave me a lot of confidence.
We qualified third and were by far the quickest in Saturday’s Qualifying Race. Unfortunately, we had a pit stop problem and a sticking wheel nut cost us 22 seconds, and we lost the race by 22 seconds. Jamie [Campbell-Walter] had a great first stint and pitted from fourth while pressurising the Lamborghini for third and we had really strong pace to win, so that was disappointing.
There wasn’t much to report from the Championship Race on Sunday other than I had a good start because my race ended shortly afterwards. There was an accident to my right off the line. Where we started from seventh on the left side of the track it was really dirty, so when I hit the brake I just slid.
I got hit from all directions and slammed into the wall before I came to a screeching halt with broken cars all around me. So that was the end of the race and the end of the season. Needless to say it was not the way we wanted it to end.
It was quite a heavy impact but I’m OK, just a bit stiff. I think that Lucas [Luhr] will have similar issues but I’m sure we’ll get ourselves sorted. I’ll see my chiropractor when I get back home and will be fine. It was a shame the car was badly damaged, pretty much on all sides.
It’s disappointing to finish the season without a win but, to be fair, I know from experience you only win when you are ready to win. Considering we were effectively a brand new team at the beginning of the year with such tough competition I think we did well to get four podiums.
This weekend was our strongest showing in terms of pace, particularly in the races where it mattered. We showed our potential, the Nissan GT-Rs have been quick all year but we’ve continued to improve as we developed the car.
It’s a tough championship and one I’ve enjoyed immensely. Each track suits different cars in different ways and that’s the great thing about FIA GT1 and the balance of performance. It’s a great series and I have really enjoyed racing in it.
I obviously have to say congratulations to Lucas and Michael [Krumm] in the JRM Racing Nissan for winning the Drivers’ title and it looks like Hexis Aston Martin won the Teams’ spoils, so well done to them. It was all very close at the end.It’s been a pleasure racing for Sumo Power GT and all the boys, my thanks go to the entire team, especially Jamie as I’ve really enjoyed being his teammate. It’s been a good year in many ways. We don’t need to be downhearted. We’ve got stronger but unfortunately we’ve had a few issues with wheel nuts and that has cost us dearly. In this series you’ve got to have a pretty perfect run but not many people have had that this year either.
Now it’s obviously time to start working on things for next year. I have a few options, at this stage I’m not really sure what lies ahead but I’m sure something will be sorted fairly soon.
Before I sign-off, I want to say a big thank you to my family for again supporting me throughout the year, like they do every year. It’s vital for me to have their backing and understanding to enable me to do what I do. Quite simply, I couldn’t do it without them.
DB