Some were surprised to see me taking part in the final championship rounds at Silverstone last weekend. With the championship already wrapped up there was no need to be there except for the fact that it was a very welcome opportunity to race on the Arena Grand Prix layout and to add to my tally of victories for the season. To be honest I want to race at every possible opportunity so championship or no championship I wasn’t going to pass up the chance.
Before the weekend had even begun though I had another reason to celebrate when I learned that for the 2nd year running I had been picked as a finalist for the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award. This is a great honour and vindicates my decision to return to the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain for a 2nd season. I had to put in a dominant performance with my level of experience and I think it’s fair to say that I did with the help of a great team behind me of course. But I wasn’t taking anything for granted and knew that I was taking a big risk especially after coming very close to winning the championship in 2010. I very much put my reputation on the line and if things hadn’t gone my way this year then that reputation could now be in tatters.
I am really looking forward to the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award competition. Of course there will be pressure but also a lot of enjoyment as well. I know from last year what a great experience this was for me personally and how much I gained from it and whilst I will draw on this experience I am not complacent enough to think that I know exactly what’s coming because I am sure that the organisers will rightly have one or two surprises for us up their sleeves.
So Silverstone at the weekend very much had an end of term feel about it. With the championship won I could certainly relax a little but not too much as I still wanted to win and if possible help my Jamun team mates Nick McBride & Jeroen Slaghekke to secure 2nd & 3rd places in the championship for the team.
I’m sure by now you have read the race reports already published so I won’t rewrite those, but race one on Saturday produced my third DNF of the season, ironically at the same venue (but different circuit) where I had the previous two non-finishes at the start of the season. But I’m not going to get a complex about it. I love coming to Silverstone and have to accept it was one of those things.
This time my non finish occurred when my engine decided to expire on lap six which was a shame as I was in the thick of a highly enjoyable six car battle for the lead. To be honest though I can’t grumble at all. The Duratec engine is usually fantastically reliable and if I was to have some more bad luck this season then this was definitely the time to have it with the championship already won. It made for an interesting talking point for the commentary team though as the engine actually caught fire and I quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher from a marshal’s post to put out the flames.
Massive credit has to go to the Jamun Team and especially my mechanic and friend Tom Huxtable who worked late into the evening on Saturday and to Scholar engines for all their efforts to get me out for Sundays two races the first of which allowed me to record my 18th British Championship victory of the season and my 22nd in total. I was very pleased to rack that one up as it gives me a 75% victory ratio in the championship. Not bad by anyone’s standards. Although I led from lights to flag it was far from easy. A downpour shortly before the start of our race made it a close call between wets and slicks. I went for slicks although a couple of my team mates were on wets. Conditions were very tricky at first and my team mate Jeroen was certainly keeping me honest in his bid to secure the runner up position in the championship so it was a hard earned win.
With the meeting running behind schedule race three late on Sunday afternoon was staged in twilight. We should have fitted headlights! This was a typical last race of the season with everyone just going for it which was great. I found myself shuffled back to sixth with a lot of ground to make up early in the race but make it up I did as I set fastest lap in my bid to get on terms with Geoff & Jeroen at the front. It was a great final lap and I almost stole it as the three of us were almost inseparable at the chequered flag but in the end I had to settle for third. Great drive by Jeroen to take the win and well done on securing the runner up spot in the championship and also really well done to Nick McBride for taking third place to make it a fantastic 1-2-3 in the title race for the Jamun Team.
After Silverstone we now head straight to Brands Hatch for the Formula Ford Festival and it’s very special one this year being the 40th anniversary and one that I would definitely love to win. Whilst I would give myself a great chance I realise you also need a bit of good luck to win this type of event so I’m hoping that mine doesn’t desert me this time out. Either way I expect it to be very close and very competitive on the tight Brands Hatch Indy circuit amongst all the front runners. Bring it on!
All the best
Scott
