Scott Malvern's blog

Well we have just returned from a hectic weekend at Silverstone. My weekend got off to a really good start when I found out that I had been invited to join the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) Rising Star scheme. This is a real boost my career and clear recognition that we have been doing a good job this year. I was of course delighted to accept the invitation and had my induction interview with the BRDC last Friday during a break from testing for rounds 13, 14 & 15 of the championship appropriately at the BRDC home circuit.

Testing went well and I was optimistic of a good performance in qualifying so was slightly disappointed to be down in 6th place. But I also knew that I had not been able to gain a tow as some of my rivals had so I wasn’t too concerned about the position and thought that if I make good starts then I would be in good shape for the races especially on the wide expanse of Silverstone where overtaking is maybe a little easier than many other tracks.

Race one was on Saturday afternoon, on a rapidly drying track after a heavy rain shower, and I did indeed make a good start and was quickly up to 2nd place all be it one a half seconds behind pole man Scott Pye. But I knew if I got my head down and worked hard I could have a good go at reeling him in especially as we had pulled clear of the raging battle for 3rd place. I was delighted to be on Pye’s gearbox by lap 6 and then set about pressurising him and looking for opportunities to pass. But inexplicably on the penultimate lap I lost power on the back straight. It literally felt as though the engine had cut momentarily and although it picked up again the car didn’t feel right and it was therefore a relief to bag a safe 2nd place. Behind me Josh Hill had won out in the battle for third.

Race Two on Sunday was dry and sunny. I again made a very good start and was able to snatch the lead on lap one and was pulling away from 2nd place driver Josh Hill on lap two when the safety car was called onto the circuit for two cars stranded in a dangerous position. To be honest this was the last thing I wanted as it bunches the field up again and I’d lost out in previous safety car situation when leading at Knockhill. For some reason it seemed to take a long time to clear the cars and all the debris which meant when finally cleared it would be a one lap dash over the 3 mile plus Grand Prix circuit. This could lead to some desperate manoeuvres but I timed my restart well and was able to maintain a comfortable but slender gap from Josh who was distracted by the attentions of third placed Dan Cammish. So it was fantastic to be standing on the top step of the podium again!

Race three was late on Sunday afternoon and this one was a real scrap. I wasn’t particularly happy with a driver ahead of me at the start who changed direction and edged me over towards the pit wall but I suppose when F1 drivers are seen to be doing this sort of thing it doesn’t help. But I gradually was able to make progress and in the closing stages was 2nd in a six car train close behind leader Josh Hill and felt that I had enough to pass him. But then on the final lap it all got a bit messy with cars cutting corners and making contact and I was forced back to 6th place but recovered to finish 4th at the chequered flag with Josh Hill taking the win by a healthy margin.

So all in all a pretty good weekend and what was most gratifying is that the problems that we were experiencing with the handling and performance of the car at Rockingham seem to have been rectified as we were in the mix in all 3 races at Silverstone and if luck and circumstances had gone our way we could potentially have bagged three victories instead of one. However I am happy with the performance and the fact that I maintained my championship lead.

The season gets very busy now with the remaining four events taking place in the space of just five weekends commencing in the weekend after next, with two rounds on August Bank Holiday Monday and the championship finale being the last weekend in September on the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch.

Well we have now reached the halfway point of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and if you had told me at the start of the season that I would be at the top of the championship table with a lead of over 30 points I’d have been delighted. Yet I cannot help but feel disappointed after a frustrating weekend. In all of the previous 4 events I’d stood on the podium at least twice. In fact I’d only missed out on a podium finish in one race of the previous ten and that was due to a mechanical problem. But this weekend I only managed 4th and 5th place finishes in the two rounds at Rockingham Motor Speedway and whilst that may not seem a terrible result it just shows the level of expectation that we have now set for ourselves.

If it is any consolation nearly all of the usual front runners seemed to struggle this weekend; many being unable to replicate good performances in recent practice sessions and for that reason we have to think of Rockingham as something of an enigma; not that that should take anything away from two excellent drives from Tio Elinas to achieve his first wins in the championship and of course the hard work of the JTR team who did of course take a win here last year with Josef Newgarden, so maybe we should not be so surprised.

My car just didn’t want to perform at all during the two races and I was something of a sitting duck on the long sweeping straight. This was incredibly puzzling. We had set good times in the first session of Friday practice and looked to be in good shape. But struggled a little in qualifying to be only 5th & 4th on the grids of the two races and whatever our problem was only seemed to get worse through the weekend despite making several big changes to the car between the Saturday and Sunday races. So all things considered it could have been a lot worse and whilst 4th and 5th is not what we want sometimes you have just to dig deep and do the best you can. I know that I worked harder for my two finishes this weekend than I have for any of my podiums.

The team and I will now look and analyze all of the data and work hard to ensure that we are back on the pace for the next championship rounds at Silverstone on the 14th & 15th August.

It’s been a few weeks since my last blog and things have been as busy as ever! We now approach the half way stage of the championship and despite one or two problems things have gone remarkably well to date and the whole team have done a fantastic job.

The next two rounds (11 & 12) take place at Rockingham next weekend and to prepare for this we tested there last Friday. Except for half a dozen shake down laps in a brand new Juno chassis, which the team had literally finished building at the track, last December in the wet I had not previously driven at Rockingham so we were inevitably going to play catch up against all those who had experience of the track and good data to rely on. But the team worked very hard on the day sorting out a couple of issues and I was very pleased that by the 5th and final session of the day, which was also a new tyre run, we were right on the pace so I am very much looking forward to the weekend.

I was back racing in a kart on Monday with my brother Jon and other Project One Karting Team personnel to participate in a fund raising event at Buckmore Park in memory of Henry Surtees who very sadly lost his life a year ago in a tragic accident. It was lovely to see his father John there who I have enormous respect for as one of the legendary greats of motorsport and it was great to be driving at Buckmore Park again. I have very fond memories of racing with Henry in cadets ten years ago at Buckmore when we actually used to have adjacent awning space in the paddock. Lots of famous names took part including Johnny Herbert, Barry McGuigan and Bradley Smith of 125cc Moto GP fame but the emphasis was very much on fun and raising funds for the Henry Surtees Foundation with the main beneficiary being the charity Headway which John and his family and friends have done fantastic work for over the last year. Bill Sisley and Buckmore Park also need to be commended for hosting such a terrific event. I’d love to see it run every year.

So next stop Rockingham! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Bye for now

Scott

Just two weeks after Zandvoort I was back in action and back in the UK at the ultra fast Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire.

Despite qualifying problems in Zandvoort I had two great results from the two rounds held there in very different conditions and had managed to further extend my championship lead. Legendary Formula Ford commentator Brian Jones began referring to me as “Mr Consistency” in his circuit commentary at Zandvoort and Brian used that same handle for me at Castle Combe last weekend.

Mr Consistency I may be but one consistent trait I’d like to break is having problems which only seem to manifest themselves when we begin qualifying. Once again at Castle Combe we had a niggling issue in qualifying, this time with fuel pick up, that we hadn’t experienced in practice and therefore saw me eight tenths behind pole man Scott Pye and down in 7th place on the starting grid. But despite this I was confident that if the team could cure the problem then I would be able to make good progress in the races.

The team obviously did resolve the problem because I made a flyer of a start in the warm sunshine late on Sunday morning and had moved up from 7th to 4th place by the end of lap one. In subsequent laps I was then able to capitalise on slight errors by Dan Cammish in 3rd and Josh Hill in 2nd place to overtake them both and move into 2nd place behind leader Scott Pye. By this time Pye had been able to build quite a considerable lead; almost two seconds in fact and I got my head down for a few laps to see if I could eat into it. I did in fact make some progress towards him; but not enough to put him under any real pressure and with the time rapidly running out and with me being in a secure 2nd place I decided to back off for the last couple of laps to help preserve my tyres for the 2nd race in the afternoon.

I didn’t make such a good start to race two but still had moved up to 5th by the end of lap one and was then at the rear of a five car train for the lead with Scott Pye, Josh Hill, Dan Cammish and Teo Elinas all ahead of me. We were all much closer this time and the two groups of team mates from Jamun and JTR were having quite a fierce battle and I therefore decided just to be patient for a few laps and see what developed rather than make any rash moves.

Unfortunately, just as we approached half distance in the race, Chrissy Palmer had a big off in his Juno burying it in the safety barrier and the race was red flagged soon afterwards with a break of about 30 minutes while they removed Chrissy and the car. Thankfully Chrissy was fine and walking about in the paddock afterwards all be it with his arm in a sling.

We were then re-gridded in the order that we were in when the race was stopped for a five minute dash to the chequered flag. With it being such a short race I knew that everyone would go for it. I made a very good start and was past the rapid Teo Elinas (who achieved the fastest lap of the weekend) by the 1st corner. I then overtook Cammish on the next lap and was quickly onto the gearbox of Hill who in turn was following his team mate Pye very closely. But Hill defended resolutely and with another podium in prospect I decided that a desperate manoeuvre wasn’t necessary. At the end just a second separated the three of us and I had achieved my 9th podium in 10 races justifying Mr Jones description of me.

Although I’d loved to have won another race this weekend, I think our qualifying position compromised us and therefore I have to be very happy with two more podiums and maintaining our advantage at the head of the championship. All things considered this has been a great season so far and I very much hope that we can find what we need to see it through to the end.

Bye for now

Scott

Rounds 7 & 8 of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain took place at the Zandvoort Masters event in Holland last weekend. The event is a fantastic 2 day festival of motor racing drawing very large crowds who populate the sand dunes on this great circuit right next to the sea.

The headline event is the F3 Masters which has many famous names amongst its past winners including Lewis Hamilton and David Coulthard. But there is a lot more besides this on the bill and the highlight for many would have been the demonstration laps in the Red Bull F1 car by Sebastian Vettel.

I arrived at the circuit in the middle of last week as we had two 40 minute test sessions on Thursday. I was very encouraged by my performance in these where I topped the time sheets and hoped for a similar performance in qualifying the following day. Therefore I was extremely disappointed to be only 8th fastest out of 34, four tenths off of the pole time set by Josh Hill and over a second slower than the time I had set in practice the previous day.

A look at my data showed a definite downturn in performance of my engine from the previous day and the decision was made to replace this with a spare from our supplier Scholar Engines and I really like to thank them for all their help with this.

It was sunny and extremely hot when we lined up on the grid for race one at around 11.30am on Saturday. We’ve been getting very good sized grids so far this season in the British Championship but with the added cars from the Benelux series contesting the concurrent Eurocup event it was a real sight to see over 30 cars waiting for the off.

Pole man Josh Hill stalled at the start and there were one or two other incidents which meant we very quickly had a pace car out. I had made a good start moving up from 8th to 6th. When the pace car went in I was quickly on the attack and passed one of the Benelux drivers and Emille Bernstorf in quick succession moving up to 4th and onto the gearbox of Dennis Lind. Dennis proved to be quite a tough customer putting his previous knowledge of the circuit to good use but I eventually out braked soon after a 2nd safety car period. I was now on the back of Cook in 2nd who was very close to Dan Cammish in the lead. They were battling quite hard and with the knowledge that I was quicker than the pair of them I did have one good opportunity to have a run at both of them; but this would be risky! Therefore knowing that championship rival Scott Pye was behind and I had a safe third place in the bag I decided to settle for what I had which meant I would further stretch my lead at the top of the championship.

Race two was the last event of the weekend and eventually got underway just after 6.30pm on Sunday. Conditions couldn’t have been more of a stark contrast to those from race one. A drop in temperature and really heavy rain meant that there was a lot of standing water on the circuit. The organizers decided to shorten the race by one lap and give us all an extra acclimatization lap as many of us hadn’t driven this circuit in the wet before.

Hill made a good start from pole but I made an even better one moving up from my grid 6 starting position to 2nd place within the first half a lap. Hill ahead of me was pushing really hard and I thought it was too much for the terrible conditions and I was right. On lap two he put two wheels onto the painted white line at the edge of the track and spun. I hung well back not knowing where he was going to end up and Dennis Lind behind was able to get a run on me which I didn’t bother trying to defend. Having driven here before Dennis was obviously well versed with the wet line and was giving it “ten tenths” which I wasn’t willing to with what was at stake. It paid off for him but you can see from the TV coverage that he has a couple of scary moments. I was in a safe 2nd place with Pye and Cammish well behind on the road and although I did come under pressure at times from the two leading Benelux runners as their finishing positions wouldn’t affect British Championship points I was not worried about this.

Eventually the race director put out a red flag at the end of the penultimate lap as several cars were stranded on the circuit having come to grief in the worsening track conditions. With over 75% of the race completed a result was declared. I for one wasn’t too sorry to see the end of this one. I was coming up on back markers at quite rapidly and this is always risky especially in the wet when visibility is poor.

So I didn’t get a win but a 3rd and then a 2nd place finish means that I have now had seven podium places in eight rounds contested and more importantly I have stretched my lead at the top of the championship table through consistency. But I know that there is still a long way to go and the competition is very good. We’ve now had five different winners and I’d like to congratulate both Dan Cammish (JTR) and Dennis Lind (Fluid) who added their names to that list this weekend and have proved how capable they are and of course I am sure that Jamun Racing will be eager to make amends for their disappointing weekend.

I’d like to say a massive thank you to Cliff Dempsey Racing and Scholar Engines for all their hard work on my behalf this weekend. Also thanks of course to Raysport and all of my sponsors including ScanDoc, Essex Gas, Bell Fruit Games, Baines Property Leasing, Miller Oils and Laserfiche who make all of this possible.

Next stop Castle Combe!

Scott

Rembrandt, Vincent Van Gogh, Johan Cruyff, Jan Lammers? All Dutch masters of a bygone age! Now myself and 33 other drivers have our own chance to become masters in our own right at the Zandvoort Masters this weekend which incorporates the Formula Ford Eurocup and rounds 7 & 8 of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.

Yes we are racing in the Formula Ford championship of Great Britain but the championship has always had a very International flavour, almost half of the grid this year is made up of overseas drivers, and having a continental round re-enforces that. I think it’s very good experience to have a round abroad and for me personally it makes up a little for the fact that I wasn’t able to pursue my successful karting career in Europe.

But in reality Zandvoort, which is in fact quite a bit nearer to my home than the venue we last raced at Knockhill, is just another new circuit that we have to go and learn and I am definitely relishing the challenge. Yes the Benelux drivers, who are scoring points for their own championship as well as the Eurocup, will initially have the upper hand in terms of circuit knowledge; I expect the top British championship drivers to be on the pace quite quickly. In fact Jamun Racing already demonstrated getting to grips with the circuit with both Scott Pye and Josh Hill running at the front when they took in a Dutch championship round at Zandvoort a couple of weekends ago.

On a personal note it the prevailing tough economic conditions have made it a real challenge for us to keep going in this championship but naturally as I am currently leading it I want to do my best to keep competing for as long as possible. I rely very heavily on the backing of my partners and that is why I am delighted to announce that we have a new name on board this weekend at Zandvoort; that of Bell Fruit Games. Bell Fruit Games are a long established leading brand in the leisure industry established in 1963 and supply some of the most popular gaming machines with titles such as the very popular “Deal or No Deal” throughout the UK. I’m very happy to be associated with them this season.

So that’s us ready to go now. By the time you read this I’ll be preparing for qualifying at Zandvoort this Friday. I’ll be blogging on here again next week to let you know how our trip to the land of the Dutch Masters went.

Bye for now
Scott

I’ve learnt over the years that in motorsport you can never take anything for granted. Time & time again when you think everything is looking good circumstances beyond your control can pull the rug from under you. I remember approx 10 years ago when I was racing in cadet karts at the Bayford Meadow circuit in Kent. I had a massive lead, probably getting on for half a lap; I was that far in front. It was the final lap of the race and I only had to negotiate one final bend (known as boot hill) and then I’d be on the start/finish straight chequered flag in sight. But mid corner my kart spluttered and died due to a faulty spark plug cap and I coasted to a halt and I could do nothing but watch the entire field pass me. That’s when I learned you never ever take anything for granted. But conversely no matter how bad things are you always try your very best to finish a race no matter what. Those valuable lessons stood me in very good stead last weekend at Knockhill and despite some bad luck I managed to emerge with exactly the same advantage in the championship that I had before the weekend commenced.

We arrived at Knockhill, in Scotland, on Tuesday evening and tested on Wednesday and Friday. With Knockhill being such a long journey for both myself and the Cliff Dempsey Race Team it made sense to take advantage of all of the testing available.

I was very happy with my pace in testing and very happy with the set up changes that we were able to run through on the car although as always there is never enough time to try absolutely everything! But I felt comfortable that we would be in very good shape for the qualifying and the racing no matter what the conditions and my quiet confidence proved to be justified as I recorded the two fastest laps in qualifying giving me pole position for races one and two. My third fastest lap was also good enough to give me a grid two slot for race three just behind championship rival Scott Pye.

Race one took place in cold but dry conditions on Saturday afternoon. I made a good start from pole and about a quarter of the way through the first lap I was unexpectedly pulling away when I expected 2nd placed man Scott Pye to be stuck to my gearbox.

It turned out Pye had a gear box problem and had coasted to a halt with less than a lap completed. My pit board were telling me I had a plus one second gap as I completed lap two and I was pulling away with Josh Hill and Dan Cammish fighting over 2nd place behind. Everything was looking very good! But then just the very thing I didn’t want to see, the safety car board! Scott Pye had made it about three quarters of the way around the very short lap of the tight twisty Knockhill track and was parked just off of the circuit. The clerk deemed that his car was in a dangerous position and whilst I have to say I think this was questionable, I do understand that the officials should always put safety first.

Our races last 18 minutes and the safety car was on track for approximately four minutes so the race resumed around half distance. I was happy with the way I nailed the restart and felt I could pull away again. But this time Hill seemed to be able to keep in my tow as he wasn’t under any pressure from Cammish who had to keep the likes of Anti Buri at bay. The safety car had certainly changed the complexion of the race.

A couple of laps later I slid just a little wide at the hair pin onto the straight. There wasn’t much of a gap but it was just enough for Hill to get alongside and I elected to give him room having more to lose in this circumstance than he did after his problems at the first meeting at Oulton Park.

To be honest there was no panic. I knew Pye was already out of the race and Cammish whilst third didn’t seem to have just enough pace; perhaps he was struggling with handling problems? So if Josh was quick it would be best to follow him for a few laps to break away from the pack which was exactly what we did. I was actually impressed with Josh’s pace in this race but I still felt comfortable behind him and with a few laps still to go I allowed myself the luxury of dropping back just a couple of car lengths to get a good tow and try for fastest lap which is worth an extra championship point. Not only did I set fastest lap but I also created a new lap record. But as we approached the final laps I decided to wind things up. I noticed the odd mistake creeping into Josh’s driving and I began to pile on the pressure. But to his credit Josh soaked it up and with good points at stake I wasn’t willing to try a do or die manoeuvre, on an unforgiving circuit like Knockhill, when I had a safe 2nd place in the bag.

So not so bad so far; 4 championship rounds completed. One win, 3 2nd place finishes, 2 fastest laps, a new lap record, pole for the next race and an increased championship lead. Things were looking good. But as I said at the start of this blog; never take anything for granted!

Race two was on Sunday morning and whilst dry there was a hint of a few spits of rain in the air. I again made an excellent start and held the lead with Pye behind and Hill third. They were having their own private squabble over 2nd place which took the pressure off of me somewhat. But then Hill got through and he began to pressurise me a lot even running into the back of me at the hair pin and lifting my car off of the track. Then as went over the start finish line I held the lead with Hill almost attached to my gear box. But I didn’t defend into the first corner (Scotsman) as there was a clearly a marshal waving a yellow flag for a car off of the circuit. To my surprise Hill overtook me! I thought to myself this must have been seen and will be dealt with appropriately. But I had other things to worry about. My car began to lose power on the straights and I succumbed to the very fat Scott Pye. But the problem I was having was intermittent and I was able to stay in Pye’s tow as we caught Hill back up to create a 3 way dice for the lead. But then Hill began to slow as well as he had sustained a slow puncture and this is when the carnage really began with some drivers resorting to really dubious driving standards. Many cars began to crash off of the circuit including the unlucky Dan Cammish who was airborne and upside at one point! But with my power loss problem worsening by the lap it was all I could do to keep circulating and I was a complete sitting duck on the straights. With just a few laps to go I was down in 5th place but I was sure they would have to deploy the safety car again as so may cars were now stranded around the circuit including Josh Hill’s which was stuck on the curb at Carlube corner and certainly in a more dangerous position than Scott Pye’s was in race one the previous day. But incredibly it didn’t come out and the race ran to its normal conclusion with an amazing 12 of the 24 cars not taking the chequered flag at the finish! I limped home last on the road just pipped on the line by Tristan Mingay in a photo finish. But at least I had saved a few vital championship points. Scott Pye took the win and the fastest lap although this wasn’t under my new lap record.

The team worked frantically to diagnose the power loss problem before race three in the early afternoon. There was definitely a severe drop in fuel pressure so components were changed that would hopefully resolve this. Thankfully all of their hard work paid off and they gave me a very good car for race three.

I started this one from grid two behind Scott Pye on pole, Josh Hill 3rd and Dan Cammish 4th. I was happy with my start but got caught out a couple of laps later when Pye braked much earlier than expected into Scotsman and I locked up trying not to run into the back of him. This gave Hill an opportunity to force his way alongside and I had no option but to yield. This had worked out well for the two Jamun team mates and perhaps it was something they had discussed before hand but this is motor racing and to be fully expected!

Shortly after this a pace car was deployed to deal with the other two Jamun team cars which seemed to have taken each other off so definitely no team orders or tactics on that side of the team! Off of the restart I retained third spot although I rarely missed a gear at Carlube corner allowing Cammish to get alongside on the outside of the hairpin. But I resolutely defended the inside line and resisted his attempt. Once this was dealt with I got my head down and set about closing the gap to the leading pair of Pye and Hill which had opened up considerably. My team manager Cliff Dempsey later described this effort as 5 qualifying laps as not only did I close the gap but I broke my own new lap record set just the previous day and on older tyres!

But Pye and Hill whilst still racing were sensible about it and although I had one final attempt into the hairpin on the final lap in case either slipped up the order remained the same but you could have almost thrown a blanket over the three of us at the chequered flag.

However I was very happy to take another podium. Five podiums in six races is pretty good going and a point’s finish in the other race adds to the consistency. When you add to this 2 pole’s, three fastest laps and a lap record broken (twice) and a retained lead in the championship it’s not too bad at all.

Congratulations to Scott Pye and Josh Hill on taking their race wins (Josh’s first in FF) and also very well done to my team mate Cormac O’Neil for achieving three very respectable finishes at the weekend. A big thank you to the Cliff Dempsey Race Team for doing a sterling job once again and to Raysport and Scholar Engines for all of their help.

Finally a big thank you to my supporters Lynne Baines, Shane Harriott, Stephen Donaldson and Gaynor Robertson for all of their help and making the journey to Knockhill to cheer me along.
I just hope now that we can keep this adventure going!

Well it’s been 4 weeks since Oulton Park and it’s almost time to hit the road for the very long journey to Knockhill. But those 4 weeks have absolutely flown by and I have in fact had only 2 days off since Oulton Park Easter weekend; and for one of those I was testing at Silverstone!

The Silverstone test on the 21st April gave us a chance to have a run on the new Arena Grand Prix circuit over a week before its official opening by the Duke of Kent and the BRDC. We had three half hour exclusive sessions which were very good because it meant there were only other Formula Ford championship cars and drivers out on the circuit with the exception of the very experienced Nick Tandy who was having a run in one of his own JTR team cars and making the most of an opportunity to learn the new layout prior to his drive in July in the Porsche Super Cup at the British Grand Prix.

It was great to get back into the car again; any seat time wherever it is, is always very welcome and although we could have done with at least one more session to try out everything that we wanted to, I was still very happy with the progress that we made. It’s difficult to juggle testing with having to earn a living to help pay for my racing so I will make the most of all and any opportunities to gain data.

Talking of earning a living I had a very lucky escape whilst setting up the awning for the kart team at Whilton Mill the weekend before last. My brother Jon and I had literally just finished putting the awning up when without warning and totally unexpectedly on what was a beautiful and bright sunny day a huge tornado like gust of wind blew up lifting the whole awning off of the ground and swept me up with it! I was carried some twenty foot up into the air over the top of the team van and came crashing down on another team van before landing firmly on terra firma feet first! Yes I said in an earlier report you couldn’t make up some of the things that have been happening to me lately and I also now completely understand what is meant by the phrase “ the truth is stranger than fiction!”

I spent the next few hours in Northampton General Hospital being checked over and luckily apart from badly bruised feet and ankles was completely unscathed. I’d certainly had a lucky escape and whilst it is said that bad things happen in three’s and I’ve certainly had three setbacks with the pre-season hand problem, the car getting badly damaged in a freak accident at Oulton Park and now this, perhaps it’s also true that my guardian angel is looking out for me! Let’s hope so!!

I was initially worried that an ankle injury would prevent me from competing at Knockhill but everything seems to be recovering very well and I have driven my road car and indeed the team van again since without problems. In fact as soon as I was discharged from hospital I returned immediately to the circuit to help my brother clear up an incredible amount of mess and damage that had been caused by the mini cyclone that had lasted less than two minutes!

So now we have our sights very firmly set on Knockhill and whilst we made a great start to the year at Oulton Park I’m not for a second taking anything for granted; and I expect things to be extremely tough but the team and I will continue to work very hard to do the very best job that we possibly can.

Finally the amount of media attention that we have received recently via the websites and motorsport press such as Motorsport News and Autosport and of course the fantastic TV coverage of the opening rounds at Oulton Park is a real boon to us. We rely very much on raising the majority of our budget to race through our partners and for them to see that we are in the spotlight and being recognised by the media certainly helps our cause.

So we are off for the next of our next two races which are in other countries as immediately following rounds 4 to 6 at Knockhill we have rounds 7 & 8 at the fantastic Zandvoort Masters event in Holland in early June but I hope to be on here blogging again before then!

Hi everyone

A lot of people have asked me over the last few days if things are back to normal now following the great first weekend we had in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and to all of them my answer has been the same. Things were very much normal again from the moment I left the circuit on Easter Monday. Firstly I haven’t had time to think about it all too much because I’ve been very busy. I was only back home for a day and then I was off to Rowrah in Cumbria for five days working with the Project One Kart team who took part in some testing and a club race meeting there in preparation for the Rotax Super One Kart Championship round this weekend. So now I’m back for just a couple of days and in the Project One workshop as I write as we prepare to head back up to Rowrah tomorrow! Busy, busy, busy!!

It was strange because while I was at Rowrah most of last week I was pretty much cut off from the outside world such is the remoteness of the location. The mobile phone signal is almost non-existent, there was no internet and not even anywhere nearby selling newspapers so no Motorsport Press either! So I had to wait until yesterday to read all the reports from the previous weekend. But this is very much my life at the moment. Through necessity I work in one branch of motorsport which is karting while I try to pursue my goals in motor racing at the same time.

It’s interesting that some of my peers state their profession as Professional Racing Drivers. Well that is their prerogative but to my mind to be a professional someone has to pay you for practicing a particular task and so therefore until someone starts paying me to drive a racing car (what a great way to make a living that would be) I cannot regard myself as a professional driver. My time between races is very much occupied either earning or trying to raise the funding to keep racing myself. I do not have the luxury of a personal trainer, fitness guru, nutrionist or mind coach like some others I know; nor do I have a professional manager representing me. I take responsibility for my own decisions and stand by them and so far haven’t done too bad. I’m very happy with the working relationship that I have with the race team, the car manufacturer, the engine supplier and of course the sponsors. We are all in this together and all want the same thing.

Talking of sponsors I cannot thank them enough and right now would just like to record a big thank you to ScanDoc, Essex Gas Utilities, Baines Property Leasing and Laserfiche Software for their assistance to date which has made all of this possible. But as brilliant as they all are I still very much have to work on finding the shortfall in budget that we have to complete the season which is extremely hard in these harsh economic times but I will keep at it as I believe we have a great chance to achieve something special in this year if we all continue to work as hard as we have been doing.

So next up will be Knockhill in Scotland for rounds 4, 5 & 6 of the championship being held over the 2nd weekend in May; but before that we hope to be able to do some testing somewhere so I will keep you posted when that happens and how we get on.

All the best for now

Scott

You couldn’t make it up! That’s the story of my 2010 Dunlop MSA British Formula Ford Championship campaign so far but incredibly we have come away from the opening three rounds with the championship lead and whilst we very much realise there is still a very long way to go we are nevertheless very pleased with how things have turned out.

I feel like I have lived at Oulton Park for ages as we arrived last Tuesday evening ready for testing on Wednesday. To save on the hotel bill we mainly stay at the track in Cliff’s very nice truck and its good fun as I get to relax with the mechanics and team mate Cormac O’Neill and we never have to worry about getting to the circuit on time in the morning. Mind you Cormac always seems to have a problem with getting out of his bed in the morning!

Weather wise Wednesday was probably one of the worst days I have ever experienced at a UK circuit. A combination of freezing temperatures, bitterly cold winds and either sleet or heavy rain bombarded us all day and it is now officially British Summer Time!

Unfortunately this meant that track time was severely compromised as you’d barely get a lap completed without a red flag being brought out due to an incident. So in the end very little testing miles were completed which was very frustrating.

Thursday we had a day off to work on the cars and do tasks such as getting sponsorship stickers onto the bodywork. Annoyingly it was mostly a bright and dry day but the track was closed to testing.

For Friday we had two 40 minute sessions booked. The first of these in the morning was largely hampered by red flags in the difficult conditions but we did at last get some good running in the afternoon session all be it in the wet. Although being testing I wasn’t pushing to anywhere near the limit the engine didn’t seem to be performing as well as I knew it could.

We checked lots of things Friday afternoon and evening and eventually found the problem so were feeling confident ahead of qualifying Saturday lunchtime.

Qualifying was dry and I was very happy with my pace and getting quicker when all of a sudden I couldn’t engage any gears and was forced to retire just over half way through the session.

Getting the car back to the awning we traced the problem to a broken differential most likely a legacy of the shunt the car had suffered the week before which would have been more apparent had we been able to do more testing after the repair work had been completed.

Worryingly we didn’t have a replacement available but Cliff was able to call on the services of his very good friend Dave Hart and one was duly delivered to the circuit. It was then a case of all hands to the pump to get it fitted in time for the first race later that afternoon but Cliff and mechanics Francie and Bob did a fantastic job!

So off we went to the grid for race one and although we hadn’t been able to do the full session we’d still qualified 4th and in 2nd place for races two and three. Australian Scott Pye driving for Jamun Racing had claimed pole for all three races. I must admit it feels a little strange to be competing against the team that I used to work for (as a mechanic) but once you are out on the track you just want to beat everyone anyway.

I made a great start to race one and was quickly past third placed Josh Hill by the first corner. But 2nd placed Tio Ellinas proved to be quite a tough cookie to pass and I had to put him under a fair bit of pressure before forcing a mistake from him on lap five but fair play to him so far he’s done a pretty good job here and we did of course expect him to be quick as one of the two winners of the Grand Prix Shootout competition.

But by the time I’d overtaken Tio, Scott Pye had a cushion of over 5 seconds so realistically I knew that I was unlikely to catch him even if I drove at eleven tenths. But as this would only put the car under more strain and of course work the tyres very hard. We knew if it were dry we would have to use them again for two further races on Monday, so I settled for a comfortable 2nd place in a race which was shortened anyway due to a red flag during the earlier GT qualifying.

To be perfectly honest after all of the trials and tribulations we had suffered recently to be on the podium first time out felt fantastic. Unfortunately it was mixed fortunes for Cliff Dempsey Racing as my team mate Cormac O’Neil’s car was damaged badly in an incident which was almost a carbon copy of the one I’d suffered the week before. Cormac had retired his car out on the circuit when another car lost control and crashed into it. Would you believe this could happen twice to the same team in a little over a week?

Another day of downtime followed on Sunday so I watched the Malaysian Grand Prix and then looked at data and discussed set up etc with Cliff ready for Monday.

Our first race was just after 10am Monday morning following the F3 20 minute race. The track had barely dried from overnight rain and was still damp in places off of the racing line but slicks were definitely the way to go so I was glad that I hadn’t worked mine too hard on Saturday.

This time I would be starting from grid two alongside Pye. He spun his wheels at the start while I made a clean get away and although he did his best to cut me off I had the lead of the race. Much to my surprise it was soon the white Spectrum car of Dan Cammish that appeared in my mirrors rather than a red Jamun Mygale. I was to later find out that a start of race collision between Jamun team mates Josh Hill and Scott Pye had caused them both to retire very early.

It soon became apparent my car wasn’t quite as fast as it needed to be on the straights and I had an engine problem. But around the rest of the circuit it was fine so by driving in a careful calm, concentrated and controlled manner I was able to defend my line resolutely where I needed to and break clear to give myself a breather on the slower sectors of the track. It wasn’t easy but I was pleased when Finnish driver Antti Buri made a bid for 2nd place and distracted Dan Cammish somewhat. I had just enough of a gap on the last lap to take 1st place at the chequered flag from Anti. Incredibly this was the first victory for a Ray car since Nick Tandy won in 2007 and with all the help and assistance that Gavin Ray has given to me recently I was delighted to reward him with this victory especially as it was his birthday!

With two great results in the bag we were now thinking about consolidation for race three. The team again worked very hard to cure the power loss problem that I suffered from in race two and I cannot thank them enough for how much they and Gavin have all risen to the task this weekend.

I again made a good start in race three but this time Scott Pye did just enough to hold onto his lead. But to be honest this suited me. He was running at a good pace and I found that I was comfortably able to stay with him so we soon drew well clear of the battle for third place.

I think both Scott and I were conscious of what was at stake here so whilst we raced each other very hard we also gave each other a lot of respect. Incredibly we both set an identical joint fastest lap of the race on the same lap (lap 9); yes I said you couldn’t make this up!

At the end I’m sure Scott Pye likes to think he had enough in hand to hold me off and likewise I feel that I could have mounted a serious attack if I’d really needed to? But both of us needed to finish this race for different reasons so neither of us was going to do anything stupid. Of course I put Scott (Pye) under as much pressure as I possibly could and tried to force a mistake from him but he is an experienced racer with as good CV and as I expected he was able to soak it up this time. But I very much enjoyed a great and very clean dice with him and I hope that he enjoyed it too.

Three podiums from three races, a win and two second places, is a great start to our campaign and although its very early days gives us the championship lead. Co-incidentally the last time a non Jamun Mygale car and driver led this championship was way back in 2006 when Cliff Dempsey Racing did so with son Peter Dempsey in the cockpit. Jamun have done such a fantastic and admirable job these past five years and they are very much the benchmark in this series; but with the greatest of respect for them (which we most definitely have) we intend to do our very best to ensure they don’t have it so easy this year!