Well the race season may be over but the so called ?silly season? is now well under way and I have to say I have been incredibly busy these past few weeks! My schedule recently has included Dunlop tyre testing in Formula Ford Duratec for Raysport at Snetterton and shake down testing again in Formula Ford Duratec for the Juno Team at Rockingham. Component testing for Project One karts at Whilton Mill and at PF International kart circuits and taking part in the annual Johnny Herbert Karting challenge in London at the end of November. Phew! But I?m not complaining, it?s great to be in demand and. I love any opportunity to get out on a race track whether it is in a car or a kart.
But motorsport certainly can have its ups & downs and the euphoria of the great season we have had winning championships and big events was certainly tempered by the news that we had been excluded from the Formula Ford Festival runner up spot owing to a technical infringement. The unfortunate circumstances that brought this about have been well documented elsewhere so I?m not going to through it again chapter and verse here. But suffice to say although my carburettor was correctly ruled to be illegal neither the team nor I knew that this was the case and the engine builder in question has apologised unreservedly and publicly for his mistake. The carb in question was a replacement carb only used for that event and had recently been rebuilt by the tuner. Although illegal it did not offer any performance advantage to me in the Festival or Patrick McKenna in the Walter Hayes Trophy when he used the same car 2 weeks later. While we are all naturally very disappointed that this has happened we fully agree that it is justified and fully support more rigorous checks on components in motor racing.
Many professional drivers are excluded during their careers at least once due to a breach of technical regulations. It doesn?t mean that there is anything deliberately underhand going on. More often than not it is a simple mistake or miscalculation or sometimes a misinterpretation of the rule book. But rules are rules and have to be upheld with no grey areas and we all have to accept that.
Ironically my exclusion means that USA Scholarship driver Brett Smrz, who was driving the very same car in the Festival that I had driven throughout 2009 will now be elevated to third place and a podium and I am delighted for him so congratulations Brett!
After all the serious and heavy business we have had to go through lately it was great to go and have some fun at the annual Johnny Herbert Karting challenge. This is a 4 hour team endurance event that I have been competing in since 2004 thanks to my very good friends and sponsors Lynne Baines (Baines Leasing) and Shane Harriot (Harriot Plumbing Services). A good cause, chosen by Johnny, always benefits from the event and this year in excess of ?18,000 was raised for the Harry Birrell Scholarship Trust. Our team consisted of Lynne and Shane, my younger (& some would say better looking) brother Jon and a young karting friend of ours Jack Marshall and of course yours truly!. I am delighted to say that we finished in an excellent 2nd place out of 24 teams entered and some very good drivers; just check out the names of those entered on the website http://johnnyherbertkarting.co.uk/?p=378#more-378
So for now the focus continues to be on securing a competitive drive in the MSA British Formula Ford championship for 2010. This is not going to an easy task as we have to raise the budget but I am determined to further prove my ability against the best drivers possible. As soon as I have any further news I will let you know what we are up to!
Thank you all for your continued interest and support
Bye for now
Scott
