Well the weekend didn?t go quite as planned. Up until late last week I thought I would be competing in rounds five & six of the Webcon UK National Formula Ford Championship. However with the BRSCC forced to cancel these rounds due to the low number of entries we suddenly found ourselves with a weekend off.

I know that organising championships is a thankless task but when the schedule was first announced late last year, Pembrey wasn?t part of the championship and clearly in these harsh economic times many of the drivers felt it was a trip too far for the already far flung series which had already visited Wales with a double header at Anglesey; and also takes in Knockhill in Scotland and Mondello Park in Ireland. It?s great to able to race at these venues but when you are watching the pennies, as we are, it can also be very expensive.

Luckily I wasn?t at a loose end. My former kart team Project One Racing had a very busy weekend at Buckmore Park kart circuit and I was only too pleased to help them out. I have a lot of affection for Buckmore, it was where I made my own race debut as a 9 year old just over a decade ago and also in attendance that day was a 14 year old Lewis Hamilton, along with his younger brother Nick and dad Tony, and it was great to meet all of them. I went on to have a lot of success at Buckmore Park winning several club championships at cadet, junior and senior level Karting and in 2005 won the prestigious Renault Champion of Champions title there in the blue riband Formula Super Libre class. I received my championship trophy that day from one of my heroes Perry McCarthy who of course was the original Stig for BBC?s popular Top Gear television show. Perry wrote a great book that I would recommend any aspiring race driver to read called ?Flat Out, Flat Broke?.

So now we have a little break in our schedule. Our next scheduled championship event is Silverstone in June but then it gets very busy with Oulton Park and Knockhill following soon after. The BRSCC also hope to reschedule the cancelled 5th & 6th rounds, from Pembrey, at Brands Hatch in August. I hope this happens as Brands is my local circuit and I?d love to drive there.

Some of you have pointed out that I?m driving a white car with number 22 on it just like another British driver currently leading the Formula One World championship. Jenson of course was also a successful kart racer and then went onto to make a great start to his car racing career in Formula Ford. Maybe, just maybe it?s a good omen?

Look forward to blogging again soon?? all the best, Scott.

It?s often said that anything can happen in motorsport and once again I saw just how true that statement is at the weekend we have just had at Snetterton in rounds 3 & 4 of the Webcon UK National Formula Ford Championship.

Not that I am not delighted with the result. As with rounds one & two in Anglesey I have come away with a 1st and a 2nd place in the two rounds. But for a safety car it could easily have been a double win! But as I said ?anything can happen in motorsport!?

All the action took place on Sunday although we had tested along with the other leading contenders on Friday. Once again Rory Butcher and David Grady showed very good pace along with our car and I suspected that the three of us would be going for it once gain come race day.

As we went out for the 25 minute qualifying session on Sunday morning a few spots of rain began to appear. We decided to put in some early banker laps in case the heavens opened and we were happy to set provisional pole position. But then the threatened rain never materialised and Rory Butcher and I began swapping fastest laps at a pace well under the lap record. In the end he just pipped me to pole position; I think helped ever so slightly by a tow on his fastest lap from yours truly!

So I would line up on the front row, on grid two, for the first of two 25 minute races with Rory Butcher on pole and David Grady third. As well as this being round three of the championship this race had also been designated the British Racing and Sports Car Club Henry Rilett Trophy so a very nice one to win.

Unfortunately Grady had a problem and didn?t make the start which was very unlucky for him. More drama was to follow! As the lights went out Rory got a flyer. I got away cleanly but my car felt sluggish and I had to vigorously defend 2nd place from Ian Gough down the long Rivett straight as Rory made his get away in front of us. For some reason my engine wasn?t running cleanly and it was ?gurgling? like mad every time I nailed the accelerator. I thought I had a fuel starvation problem. I could do absolutely nothing about Rory opening a gap in front of me and I had my work cut out keeping the baying pack behind me at bay.

Then on lap three all of a sudden my engine thankfully cleared and I had full power again. I was able to make clear air on the battle behind me and set off after Rory who was now more than two seconds down the road. I wasn?t panicking. I knew this was a long race and most racing drivers will tell you it?s always preferable to chase rather than be chased.

By lap six (of 20) I had opened up a comfortable gap on the chasing pack whilst the gap in front to Rory hadn?t got any bigger and I was confident that my car would be strong in the latter stages of the race. Then as we got onto the long Rivett straight again Rory?s car slowed ahead of me. I thought he had perhaps missed a gear because he then picked up speed again. But as I found out later he was struggling with gear selection problems and was to unfortunately retire. In motor racing everything is put under such a strain as you try to ring the maximum performance out of your equipment. Obviously Rory had seen his chance to make a break from me and was really going for it as I would do in the same situation but his car let him down this time. That?s motor racing which can be horribly cruel sometimes as I?ve already found out.

Despite the circumstances, I was naturally delighted with the win. As my team manager Cliff Dempsey said ?you have to take what you are given in this sport?

So onto race two later in the day. I had pole position. As the grid was decided on the finishing order of the previous race both Rory Butcher and David Grady would start on the last row of the grid. But I knew that both of them would be very quick and with a 25 minute race anything was possible. I would have to maximise my advantage out front to build a gap.

I didn?t make a bad start but Ian Gough alongside made a better one. So he led the first lap. But no panic; I just settled down, got my tyres up to temperature and then out braked him at the end of the straight on lap two to grab the lead. I began to pull away comfortably but I could see from my pit signals that Rory was, as expected, on a charge through the field and now up to third place but I was very happy to have a five second gap on Gough in 2nd as we approached the half way stage. Then as I?ve already said a few times ?anything can happen in motorsport!? What looked like being a comfortable victory was blown wide open when the pace car was called onto the track; ironically because my own team mate Cormack O?Neill had been involved in an incident. As you will have seen from Watching Formula One everybody queues up behind the pace car and any advantage built by the leader is negated. This was not what the doctor ordered, especially as I knew that Rory?s tyres would be fresher than mine having covered far less distance in the first race.

We towed around behind the pace car for about 3 laps, all weaving to try to retain heat in our tyres, you get a real concept of the difference in performance between a high performance road car and my single seater. The pace car a BMW M3 was flat through the esses complex while I was barely feathering the accelerator behind him so as I didn?t run into the back of him!

As the pace car came in I nailed it but Rory as expected, didn?t waste anytime in getting past Gough and now I knew it would be a straight fight between the two of us for the final ten minutes. It was like d?j? vu from rounds one & two at Anglesey! Initially I managed to build a gap of about two seconds but as I said before most drivers prefer to chase rather than be chased because you can use the car in front as a guide and just leave your braking slightly later to make up time. Of course you have to be a good driver to do this!

But with 4 laps to go Rory had towed up to the back of me but again I didn?t panic. Another thing all drivers will tell you is that catching is one thing and passing is another. I made my car as wide as possible and defended everywhere to keep Rory back in 2nd. I actually thought I had the job done then on the penultimate lap more drama! Going under the bridge at the end of the Rivett Straight some oil had been deposited by a back marker and with no warning flags I found it first! I fought desperately to retain control as my car slid all over the place. Rory to his credit not only avoided hitting me (thank you) which must have given him a scare but was able to nip past. Once I?d gathered everything up I set off again after him but with only a lap left I didn?t have enough time to mount a counter attack and had to be satisfied with 2nd place. Never take anything for granted in motorsport!

To be fair I couldn?t begrudge Rory his victory after his bad luck in race one and if you had offered me a repeat result of Anglesey at the start of this event I would definitely have taken it! Remember I still had novice plates on for this event!

Thanks to all my brilliant sponsors including Baines of Ripon who were present at this event; and I know really enjoyed themselves. Thanks guys and of course the same goes for Lamberhurst Corporation, ScanDoc and Essex Gas Utilities. I really wouldn?t be doing this without your support.

Finally a big thank you again to my team Cliff Dempsey Racing who did a brilliant job and very appropriate as we are with an Irish team big congratulations to A1 GP Team Ireland and the very talented Adam Carroll on winning the World Championship! Congratulations also of course to Peter Dempsey who won his Star Mazda event at Virginia USA last week.

I will next be in action at rounds five and six of the Webcon UK Formula Ford championship at Pembrey in Wales in two weekends time.