I spent over six hours yesterday afternoon & evening (12th Nov) in the HQ of Motorsport Ireland, in Dublin, at a hearing that would ultimately decide whether Rory Butcher or I would be the 2009 Webcon UK Formula Ford National Champion.

I have to be perfectly honest in that it is not an experience that I would be keen to repeat but unfortunately in this case it was totally necessary. It was brought about by an on track incident early on in the final championship round at Mondello Park in September. Rory?s car made contact with my car and the damage that my car sustained caused me to retire from the race soon afterwards. If you read my earlier blog concerning this incident you will know that this is a race I?m certain I would have won. After the race, the Clerk of the Course examined CCTV footage of the incident along with other evidence and made the decision to exclude Rory from the result of the race. Rory subsequently appealed this decision to the Steward of the meeting making this hearing necessary.

After a very long hearing yesterday the Motorsport Ireland officials retired to deliberate making known their final decision this morning (13th Nov). I am very pleased that Motorsport Ireland agreed with the Clerk of the Course decision and found in my favour. Rory?s exclusion means that I am now 2009 Webcon UK National Formula Ford Champion.

Of course this is not the way I wanted the championship to be decided. However there was unfortunately no alternative and I owed it to all the people that have helped me this year to pursue justice. I have no personal animosity towards Rory Butcher of whom I have said on a number of occasions I have enjoyed battling against this season. I sincerely hope that both he and I can now put this episode behind us and get on with our respective motorsport careers whatever they may be.

I would very much like to record my thanks to everyone who has helped me with this matter not least the whole of the Cliff Dempsey Race Team and all of my fantastic sponsors. Special mentions must go to Motorsport Ireland, Tom O?Neil, Brian Grogan and my brother Jon for supporting me.

My focus now turns towards 2010 and I very much hope that I will be able to continue racing although I realise this in itself will be an achievement! I hope to be testing a Duratec Formula Ford car at Snetterton next week and if it happens I?ll be telling you how it went in my next blog.

All the best for now
Scott

Well racing may be over for this year but there is still a lot going on!

Firstly I was very sorry to have to miss what should have been the final meeting of the year for me, the Sir Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone. Unfortunately in the end we were just overcome by circumstances and had to admit defeat. This was a shame, particularly as the meeting was predominantly wet and I?d won comprehensively on the same circuit, in the wet, back in June. But every cloud as they say has a silver lining and it was a great to see another Cliff Dempsey driver take the win; Connor DePhillippi who was over here for the Formula Ford Festival & the Sir Walter Hayes Trophy, with fellow American Brett Smrz, as part of the USA Driver Scholarship programme. Both drivers did a great job and made many friends on their trip over here and Jeremy Shaw is to be applauded for setting up this great initiative. Its only a great shame that there isn?t someone on our side of the pond running an equivalent scheme that could send two promising drivers over to the USA for a couple of events!

I spent the weekend helping out my former kart team Project One Racing at PFI International circuit in Lincolnshire. I?ve been doing quite a lot with them lately including helping young Sam Brabham trough his first few karting events. Sam is the son of former F1 driver and Le Mans winner and ALMS champion David Brabham which of course also makes him the grandson of three times F1 World Champion, the great Sir Jack Brabham. It?s very early days but Sam really is showing a lot of promise and natural ability, and completely the right attitude and I think he could have a great career ahead of him if he chooses to pursue it seriously.

Talking of karting I cannot wait for my next race which will see me get back into a kart! It?s the annual charity fundraiser organised by Johnny Herbert in London at the end of this month. I?ve been taking part in this event since 2004 thanks to my sponsors Lynne Baines & Shane Herriot of Baines Leasing and Herriot Plumbing services and it?s a really fun event which has raised a considerable amount of money for good causes. Some very renowned names from the world of motor racing and entertainment take part and over the years there has been Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Allan McNish, and Ricardo Patrese amongst many others. If you would like to know more about the event then please check out http://johnnyherbertkarting.co.uk/

Aside from this my focus is very much on next year and making a big effort to secure a deal to keep on racing. I very much hope to be competing in the MSA British Formula Ford Championship but of course I have to get the funding in place to do this and I know that it?s not going to be easy. But then, of course, neither was this year and I am definitely not one to be put off by a challenge. I?ve learnt that the things you really want in life rarely come to you easily so if I am not racing next year it will definitely not be through any lack of hard work or application on my part!

I do hope to at least be testing a car or two in the coming weeks and if and when that happens I will update you here via my blog as to my progress.

All the best for now and thank you for your continued interest

Scott