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!
