Kieran Vernon's blog

Having made a great start in the Formula Ford UK championship, it was time to go and have fun in a Ginetta G50!

A G50 with 300hp,?six Speed Sequential box, big and heavy was something I wasn’t used to after a whole season in Formula Ford. More power than anything?I had ever driven, and more gears! However the car felt great, and?I want to have another go!!

Testing went very well, considering it was my first run in the car, I managed 7th fastest. This ended up being my qualifying position on Saturday, after a good qualifying session, however I wasn’t able to get the maximum from the tyres as it was the first new set I had for the weekend.

Race one, a good start saw me 6th into turn one, and then 5th into turn two. I managed to roll up to the back of Benji Heatherington and Chris Dittman by the end of lap 3, andstarted making a challenge shortly before they safety car was brought out. Once back underway I made good use of the restart to pull alongside Chris into turn one, thew move seemed done, but as I went to turn in, I got hit by Matt Bell who had come storming down the inside with all wheels locked up. He took the front and mine, and Dittmans car out, forcing all three of us to retire, which was hugely disappointing!

Because of the DNF in race one, it meant I was to start 18th for race two! The finishing positions of race one determined race two’s grid, much to my disappointment! The race was the first in the morning, and was damp and very slippery. Another mountain for me to climb as i tried to get the hang of driving a G50 and a wet Rockingham for the first time! I made another good start, picking off two places, however the safety car weas deployed twice before racing really got underway. Having climbed to 12th from 18th the safety car helped bunch the pack up, giving me the chance to get on the back of the top 10. This proved very helpful, as I managed to take three cars on one lap, then another three on another! I was now right up there for a top 5 finish, and with the race drawing into a close?I found myself in 5thposition with Tom Sharp in front. Going through the turn 1 banking for the final time i managed to?outbreak?Sharp into turn 2. Now in 4thposition i thought about the podium! however my team mate Adam Morgan was too far up the road with only one lap remaining. However 18th to 4th, was a proud drive from me, earning me the name ‘Vernonator’ from Jonny in the team!

4th position meant?my grid position would be drawn for race three, andit turned out?I was selected for P2 on the grid! A great chance to get on the podium for the final race of the weekend, which right from the word go in race one,?I really felt was possible, even in my first race in a G50. Another good start chasing?Julian Draper through turn 1′s banking and into turn two, where?I made the mistake of leaving the?door only just open enough for my team mate and championship leader Frank Wrathall to sneak down the inside. Ending the lap in 3rd, ?Frank and I were hot on Drapers heels, and into Dean, Frank made his move for the lead, in which I followed through to move up to 2nd position on lap two. Frank and I then set about pulling a gap to 3rd, and were running strong at the front. I was pleasantly surprisedto find myself in a very comfortable position in P2 keeping Frank honest, that was until lap 4 when the bottom of the hub failed forcing me into retirement. This seemed a result of the incident in race one, weakened by the collision. A very disappointing end to the weekend, as a podium was almost certain.

However performing this well, on such a great package?withthe British Touring cars, has really filled me with confidence, andI hope has gone down noticed of what?I can do, even with limited testing. Team DynojetUK were a fantastic team to work withall weekend long, and I must thank the whole team especially Mark and Charlotte who worked very hard to get my car back out for Sunday! A big thanks also to Lawrence Tomlinson of Ginetta Cars for giving me the opportunity to be out there! I had a great time, learnt a huge amount, and I vow to sort my unfinished business one day!

Next round of the MSA Formula Ford Championship at Knockhill in Scottland, be sure not to miss it!

KV

With much publicity and promise from articles over the winter, and the opportunity to drive for Fluid Motorsport in the works Van Diemen was huge for me this weekend. I was kean to deliver, even with limited testing, with a big winter break?!

Testing was all wet in preparation for the weekend, however the team and I worked well finding a good setup, and we ended the test very fast and confident of our pace in the wet. It was looking good for a weekend, predicted by all the weather forecasts to be a wash out!

However this was not the case! And for the first qualifying session of the season it was dry. I had mixed feelings about this, i was confident in the car i had and in myself, however it was my first proper dry run on the new Dunlop slicks for this season. It proved to be a difficult session, learning how the tyres performed during qualifying wasn’t ideal, and we ended up 9th on the grid.

It seemed it was going to stay dry for race one. My aim was to get to the top 5! I got a great start off the line, passing two cars into turn 1. I then managed to pass Anti Burri by the end of lap 2, leaving myself in 6th position. A spin by Josh Hill promoted me to 5th position. I could see the spectrum of Daniel Cammish in front, however i could not make any attack? on closing the gap, the car had a lot of understeer, and i was still finding my feet with the new dunlop tyres. However 5th is where i finished which was a great result for the first race of the season.

Race two was a hard chase. I got another great start, passing two cars again before turn 1, then promoted to 4thwhen Josh Hill made contact with Scott Pye, out of turn 1 missing the incident, I found myself with a huge gap where the top 3 had got away from the incident. We had made a very big change to the car for this race, to try and get rid of the understeer from race one. The car was hugely different and required me to re think how?I was driving the car. By half distance?I had really got my head around it and was closing down on the top 3, which were all battling for the lead. It wasnt until the last lap until?I managed to reach them, and coming out of druids I managed to overtake Daniel Cammish taking 3rd spot and my first podium in Formula Ford!

Race three was a huge battle between my two team mates Jesse Antilla, James Tucker and Anti Burri in the Enigma Mygale. A race long battle of swapping places lap after lap allowed the top 2 to get away, however?I was?determined to make the podium once again! However on the last lap, a nudge at the end of the straight from my team mate James Tucker into Island send me wide and onto the grass, resulting in a huge off, however luckily only propping up against the tyre barrier. It could have been a big one! The car was beached on the wet grass and mud, resulting in a DNF, which was hugely disappointing.

Overall however the first round of this years championship was very promising, with the limited testing done before the season?I did not expect a podium, and the aim was to get through the first round with good results to work on gaining the budget of the whole season. I feel we have achieved a huge amount and?I am very hopeful that we will be able to gain the funding to compete for the full season. A big thanks to everyone supporting me and everyone who has helped to get me this far. Sitting on the grid in a TKM 5 years ago,?I never would have imagined being a podium finisher in UK Formula Ford!