It may be over three weeks since my last event at Zolder but it feels like I?ve had very little downtime since then; not that I?m complaining as I realise I am fortunate to be involved in motorsport, which happens to be my passion, full time.

So what have I been up to? Well as well as my usual day job helping out the guys at Project One Racing Kart Team, I was on duty at a BRDC track day at Silverstone, have arranged our own annual charity karting event for 2011 in aid of Haven House Children?s Hospice which is an extremely worthy cause and lot of fun as well and let me tell you it may be for charity but we have seen in previous years that everyone wants to win! We still have some places on the grid so get in touch if you are interested in entering a team. The event will be on the evening of 7^th September in Brentwood, Essex by the way.

I managed to squeeze in a very wet day of testing at Donington last week which unfortunately was interrupted by several red flags and then went straight from that to a sponsor meeting to discuss plans for next year and then straight to PF International Kart circuit in Lincolnshire to work at the prestigious Kartmasters Grand Prix Event. I returned from there late yesterday evening and am now on route to Zandvoort in Holland for our next Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and FF Euro Cup event. We have a test day tomorrow so it?s pretty flat out at the moment one way or another!

I am really looking forward to the Zandvoort Masters event at the weekend. I participated in this event last year and achieved some very good results so will be looking to emulate that. It was very much like a Festival atmosphere with a huge sized crowd attending to witness a packed weekend of action both on and off of the track.

It?s been an amazing season so far and I have I have done exactly what I set out to do and assert myself as the driver to beat in Formula Ford. Not that I am underestimating the opposition for a minute. This is a tough class of racing and that is why it has produced so many successful and legendary names in the sport through the years. I couldn?t do what I do without having a great team like Jamun Racing providing me with the tools to do the job and the valuable help of all my supporters and partners and I am extremely grateful to them for all of their assistance.

I?ll be blogging again soon

All the best

Scott

Photo by Jacob Ebrey

Zolder last weekend completed our back to back Belgian adventure in the Formula Ford Euro-Cup following on from Spa. This time we were supporting the spectacular Super-League Formula cars.

Once again we had a large entry combining drivers from the British, Dutch and Benelux championships. After my great results at Brands Hatch and Spa in the first two Euro-Cup events, I was naturally keen to maintain my record. Zolder is very different from Spa; it?s much tighter and much twistier so it was very important to qualify well for this one. As many of you know I suffered gearbox woes in qualifying at Spa and had to come through from the rear of the field each time. As much as I enjoyed proving to everyone that I could race through the pack as well as lead from the front I was keen to qualify well here and that is exactly what I did taking pole position for both races.

The record and race reports will show that I took lights to flag victories in both races so that may seem quite straight forward. But is it ever the way? My team mates Jeroen Slaghekke and Nick McBride definitely kept me honest over the weekend and the ever present Anti Burri was certainly very quick as well. Race two was made even more interesting by the fact that we had heavy rain which stopped shortly before the race and so we took a gamble and went for slick tyres whilst many others went for wets which were certainly quicker for the first few laps but faded from about half distance.

In the end it was a great weekend for my Jamun Racing Team locking out all three podium positions in both races so a big well done to my team mates Jeroen and Nick and another big thank you to the team for giving me a great car with a special mention for my mechanic Tom.

We have a four week sabbatical now before we complete the final installment of our 4 weekend European adventure with a great event at the Red Bull Masters at Zandvoort in Holland over the weekend of August 13-14^th. As this will also count for points for the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain it will be doubly important to get another great result.

Whilst we have a break in our schedule rest assured I will be far from idle and have a very busy few weeks ahead so will be blogging again to catch up on that in due course.

All the best for now

Scott

????????????????????????????????????????Photos by kind courtesy & permission of Jacob Ebrey Motorsport Photography

It certainly is a very busy time for me at the moment. I was off to Belgium last Wednesday for the 2^nd Formula Ford

Photo courtesy of Jacob Ebrey

Euro-Cup event at the awesome Spa circuit where I tested Thursday, qualified and raced on Friday and then raced twice more on Saturday before dashing back to England Saturday evening to be at the British Grand Prix on Sunday. I last went to Spa when I worked as a mechanic for Jamun Racing in 2008 and I remember thinking then how brilliant it would be to come back as a driver one day so I had to pinch myself a little to make sure that I wasn?t dreaming!

?I?m now back home and have just a couple of days to catch up on work etc before going back over to Belgium on Thursday for the next Euro Cup event at Zolder. But it?s certainly been an amazing past few days and although very hectic and sometimes tiring also very enjoyable.

There are already comprehensive race reports for this event on various website?s so I won?t replicate them here but as you will read Spa certainly presented us with a mountain to climb when after being very quick in testing I had a gearbox problem as I went out for qualifying and I struggled to manage three fast laps which left me with qualification positions of 14^th, 16^th and 21^st for my three races which understandably had a few people writing me off. But ?nil desperandum? I say. I?ve been in this position several times in karting where you draw a rear, a middle and a front row grid position for your three heats so am well used to coming through traffic and I have to say that I really enjoyed myself; not that I want to make it this hard every time! But to come away with two wins and 2^nd place which was the closest it could to a third win as it possibly could and to get a new lap record on top and clinch my second Euro Cup crown from two events is amazing. I also of course stretched my unbroken win tally to ten races and my overall score to twelve wins from fifteen races this season. Not too bad at all!

Being at the British Grand Prix on Sunday within the British Racing Drivers Club was also a great experience. It was actually the first time I have been lucky enough to attend an F1 GP on race day and in fact the first one I have been at since I was eight years old! Damon Hill was driving for Arrows then and was the reigning World Champion and now he is about to stand down as BRDC President after securing the future of the event and helping to turn Silverstone into a fantastic world class facility. It was just a shame that we didn?t have a British driver on the podium but congratulations to Lewis Williamson on taking the GP3 victory on Sunday morning.

So now we have to prepare for Zolder at the weekend and rest assured we will be working really hard to continue our successful run. Just in closing I?d like to say a really big thank you to my supporters Lynne Baines and Shane Harriot of Baines Leasing and Harriot Plumbing for all their very valuable help at Spa not least actually giving me a lift there and back which was brilliant! Also thank you to all my other loyal supporters but particularly ScanDoc Document Management Services and Allied Tanks & Fabrications and Allied Financial Services for your great assistance that made it possible for me to go to Spa.

Bye for now. I?ll be blogging again soon.

All the best

Scott

www.scottmalvern.com

Photo courtesy of Adam Fill

Well what can I say? For once I?m almost lost for words by what we?ve managed to achieve so far this season. Getting a

Extremely wet on the Grand Prix Loop!

clean sweep of three race wins at Oulton Park at Easter was amazing. Repeating it just a few weeks later at Snetterton was incredible and now to do the same thing for the third meeting in a row at Brands Hatch & also take the lead of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and win the first Formula Ford Euro-Cup Trophy all in the same weekend is just unbelievable!

The incredible thing is that just a few months ago things were looking pretty bleak for this season and it was a real possibility that I would be sitting on the sidelines so right now all I want to do is thank everybody that has made this possible for me and that is Jamun Racing Services of course for giving me this opportunity, my great mechanic and friend Tom Huxtable, and all of my wonderful supporters and partners who make it possible for me to compete such as Allied Commercial Finance & Allied Tanks & Fabrications, ScanDoc, Essex Gas Utilities, ncpi solutions, Baines Leasing, Johal Regan Property Surveyors, P&S Harriot Plumbing & Heating, Roy & Brenda Craig, Rod & Jude Selby, David & Pam Baker & Vanquish Developments & Associates. And there are of course lots of other people without whom I wouldn?t have been able to make it this far and I thank them all very much as well.

It was certainly an eventful weekend and there are several excellent reports of the action and drama that occurred on the news pages of the many great websites that I cannot possible better so I won?t rewrite them here. But I will say that it was a weekend full of drama for one reason or another not least because of the very changeable weather and the problems associated with it. Luckily as a young 8 year old go-karter learning my trade at the Brentwood Raceway I spent the first few months of my fledgling driving career driving a kart in the wet on slicks! I knew it would come in handy one day!

I also want to say how much I enjoyed driving the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch. It?s not a circuit that we get a chance to drive on very often and although conditions were quite treacherous in the wet it was still enormous fun.

Now it?s back down to earth and to the day job and to the ongoing challenge of trying to ensure that we can continue this great season. The next scheduled event is the next Eurocup meeting at Spa and I very hope that I am able to compete there.

Great weekend at Brands Hatch

We may have a five week lull between rounds of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain but that doesn?t mean things have been quiet for me; in fact just the opposite, but I?m certainly not complaining!

Just two days after our great weekend at Snetterton on the 17^th May I was privileged, as a BRDC Rising Star, to be an invited guest at the official opening of the new wing complex at Silverstone. This really is a state of the art facility that puts Silverstone right up there with the best motorsport venues in the world and combined with the great improvements made to the track it?s arguably the top purpose built motor racing circuit out there right now. I love the connection with the past though as Silverstone being a former aerodrome the ?wing? is obviously very appropriate. The legendary Murray Walker who was also in attendance on the day affectionately described it as corrugated Concorde Airplane. Murray was just one of the VIP guests that we were able to rub Shoulders with. Five of Britain?s former F1 World Champions were also in attendance these being Jenson Button, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, Sir Jackie Stewart and John Surtees (who I? think should also be knighted!) as well other great drivers like Sir Stirling Moss, Derek Warwick and Mark Webber. ?In the afternoon we were treated to watching Valentino Rossi lapping the circuit on a Ducati Superbike. What an amazing day!

I then had a couple of busy weekends helping the kart team and the younger drivers including Sam Brabham who is the son of former F1 driver, Le Mans winner and current GT star David Brabham . While we were at the Three Sisters circuit Wigan at a Kart Stars event we had news that Sam?s cousin Matthew had won two Australian Formula Ford events and may now look to follow many of his other countrymen to race in the UK. I will have to keep an eye on him!

Last week my other Jamun Team mates and I made a quick trip over the channel to Spa to test in preparation for the forthcoming Formula Ford Euro Cup round in July. What a fantastic venue Spa is! I had of course been there before in 2008 but unfortunately not as a driver but a mechanic when I was working for Jamun Team driver Tim Blanchard (another Australian!). It was great to finally get to drive this awesome circuit and I am really looking forward to the races there in July which take place on the Friday and Saturday before the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone so I will be having an extremely busy weekend as I will be attending the Grand Prix on the Sunday as well.

I also had a brilliant day last Monday at Bedford Autodrome. Motorsport News asked me if I could attend a media launch day for a new product and ticket promotion between MSV circuits and Comma Oils. As the day would involve me having to give hot rides in a new Caterham Supersport, do some demo laps in the MSV Formula Two car, which of course Comma are?championship sponsors for and have a ride and drive in a 1000bhp race truck who was I to say no? Yes I know it?s a tough job but someone has to do it!

Although the weather wasn?t very kind to us on the day it was still very enjoyable. It was great to get reacquainted with the F2 car which of course I last drove at the McLaren Autosport BRDC competition at Silverstone last November. Although it was only ten laps and it was very wet I was still able to put on a show and keep it pointing in the right direction. Great Fun!

I also did quite a few passenger rides in the Caterham Super Sport which is great to drive and had a ride as a passenger myself in the truck which was surprisingly nimble. The only sad thing was I didn?t get to drive the truck myself as planned as the run had to be curtailed due to noise restrictions. But still a very enjoyable day and I met some very nice people as well including Mike and Noel from Comma. Thank you very much to Motorsport News, MSVR, Comma and all the guys at Bedford Autodrome who it was great to see again.

We still have just over two weeks until my next Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain rounds at Brands Hatch but I don?t have to wait that long for my next race action. I have actually secured a late entry to this weekend?s Champion of Brands Bert Ray Trophy event on the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch and I am really looking forward to it and want to say a very big thank you to Andrew Jones for making his Ray GR07 available to me.

This will be the first time I have driven a Kent engine Formula Ford car since the 2009 Festival and it?s appropriate that I am back in a Ray for the Bert Ray Trophy. I really wanted to do this event last year but circumstances prevented it in the end so I am very happy to have a chance now. But it?s also great because as a non championship race there is no pressure on me so it is just pure enjoyment and what will be will be! We are not doing any pre-event testing we are just turning up and going for it in qualifying so as long as the car starts (& I?m sure it will) we are in business! But it?s also brilliant because it?s on the rarely used Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit so it?s great to get the opportunity to experience that. James Beckett is to be commended for reviving the Champion of Brands series and I hope it?s a success. If you are reading this and you have a car or access to one, ?and you fancy giving me and the other entrants, including former winner Jordan Skinner, some competition then it will be great to see you and it?s not too late. Just get in touch with James Becket and he will get the ball rolling! He will even put you in touch with people that have cars available to hire if you have a current competition license. ?There James; that?s my plug for you!

I look forward to blogging again soon!

All the best

Scott

www.scottmalvern.com

Well after the great weekend I had at Oulton Park three weeks ago where I achieved the perfect score with three pole positions, three wins and three fastest laps I expected the opposition to fight back. That?s exactly what they did! Australian driver Geoff Uhrhane took a clean sweep of three pole positions after recording the three fastest laps in qualifying but I was happy to be alongside him on the front row on grid two for all three rounds with my team mate and championship leader Jeroen Slaghekke just behind in third place.

To be honest while disappointed to miss out on pole I wasn?t too concerned as I knew that it wasn?t as critical as Oulton Park where overtaking is much harder. I was confident that as long as I made a good start I would be able to challenge for wins in the races and make a good start I did in all three races although there was still some excitement in all three. Goff and I had a good battle at the start of race one. I made the better start and took the lead but he overtook at the end of the start finish straight with me managing to repay the compliment at the end of the back straight; both of us demonstrating what a great new circuit for racing the Snetterton 300 layout is. In fact there were some very good battles throughout the field which I hope was captured by the TV cameras.

I began to edge away from Geoff setting a number of fastest laps including the new lap record but Geoff in turn was also edging away from my team mates Jeroen Slaghekke and Nick McBride who were having a fair old tussle for third place; no team orders at Jamun Racing unlike another well-known single seater team that also has red cars!

In the end the race one win was by a very comfortable margin. I managed to pull almost a two second gap on Geoff by the penultimate lap when all of a sudden he unfortunately slowed with an ignition problem leaving me to take a five second win over Jeroen and Nick for a Jamun Racing clean sweep. I was delighted to record a 4^th consecutive win but commiserations to Geoff Uhrhane who had driven a good race but as I know from experience motor racing can be cruel sometimes and things can just break and nobody is to blame it?s just bad luck.

Race Two was all action at the start. I led the first lap but then Anti Burri made a very daring overtaking bid at the end of lap. I think he may actually have been on the grass but the result was that we all moved out of the way to avoid any collision with the order reshuffling?? with Geoff in the lead, Jeroen 2^nd, Anti third and me down in 4^th! But I didn?t panic, I knew I had the car and the race craft and the time to fight my way back and that is exactly what I did regaining the lead a lap later and once again gradually edging away from Geoff to take another win with Jeroen taking third and fastest lap.

So onto race three; was a back to back hat trick possible? Well I certainly intended to give it my best shot but knew that it wouldn?t be easy. But I once again made a very good start and had begun to gap Geoff on lap one who had his mirrors full of my team mate Jeroen. But unfortunately the safety car was brought out to deal with an incident further down the field which to be honest was the last thing I wanted as it interrupted my flow and bunched up the field again. But luckily it only did one tour before switching off its lights and I as leader chose my moment to nail the throttle and pull away. But it was all going on behind me with Geoff Uhrhane unfortunately spinning and my team mate Jeroen taking avoiding action and dropping well down the order as a result.

To be honest from that point I was able to run a pretty untroubled race pulling away from a real battle that was going on for the other podium places although I did have a moment at Corum when a huge gust of wind caught me and the car didn?t want to seem to go in the direction that I wanted it to! I had pulled a gap of more than five seconds by the time the Safety car was called out again on the penultimate lap so as the Marshalls could deal with the fire raging in the back of Philip Layacs car who was thankfully unhurt.

So I took the chequered flag behind the Safety? car and my back to back hat trick was complete and I had the great bonus of another fastest lap so I had missed the absolute perfect score by just one point as I missed out on fastest lap in race two but one mustn?t be greedy! Well done to my team mate Nick McBride who took a great 2^nd place in race three and also to Jeroen Slaghekke for a very good recovery which enabled him to finish in 4^th place.

We have a gap of five weeks now until Brands Hatch which is also the first Euro Cup event but I will be very busy during those five weeks and I?ll be blogging again soon updating you on my activity.

All the best

Scott

Photo by kind permission and courtesy of Jacob Ebrey Motorsport Photography

?

Well they say a week is a long time in show business so what does that make a fortnight in motorsport? A fortnight ago I probably endured one of my most difficult weekends since beginning my motor racing career in 2009 recording two DNF?s at Silverstone. There was however a chink of light in this darkness as I also recorded a victory and it was that victory that I was able to build on at the weekend just gone at Oulton Park. Despite the non finishes I maintained faith in my ability, in the team capabilities and most of all my mind set and resolve stayed strong. I knew that three victories at Silverstone were possible but circumstances had conspired against us. Therefore I was determined to put things right at Oulton Park and that is exactly what I did. Not that it was completely plain sailing.

In qualifying my Jamun team mate Jake Cook had unfortunately rolled his car at Island bend after setting the third fastest lap so far. This halted the session with approximately eight minutes to go and that stage I had recorded only one flying lap which was good enough to make me fastest but I need two more or I would be well down the order for races two & three. When the session was restarted the time was reduced to just six minutes. Considering my fastest lap was in the 1.40?s that didn?t give me long to bring my tyres in, find some track space among the 20 odd other cars and record two? more flying laps before the chequred flag came out. But I kept my cool and stayed focused in the knowledge of what I had to do and by the time the chequred flag was shown I had rattled off three laps all in the 1.39?s which were good enough to give the pole position for all three heats. Better still my Jamun team mates Jeroen Slaghekke and Nick McBride were 2^nd & 3^rd and Jake would have been 4^th had his car not come back on the back of a lorry in almost kit form for which you had to feel sorry for him for. Amazingly the team was able to repair this at the circuit in time for him to compete in both Monday races.

I have to say that the three races, one on Saturday and two on Monday were probably the most uneventful I have ever taken part in as I led from lights to flag in all three, winning by a comfortable margin in all three and recording the fastest lap in all three. Pretty much a perfect weekend! However there was plenty of action going on behind as the other podium places were being fiercely fought over and other battles going on all down the field. Unfortunately one of these battles resulted in Luke Williams?s car crashing heavily at Druids near the end of the final race bringing it to a slightly premature end with a red flag. It?s never nice to see a fellow driver hurt and I?m pleased to say that we heard that Luke was generally ok but very sore and bruised. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope that he is back out racing again soon.

So we have definitely put our season back on track and re-ignited our championship bid. But as I said a few posts ago I am not taking anything for granted or under estimating any of the opposition. They will all will re-group I?m sure but I have a point to prove and intend to go on proving it! Our next event is at the new Snetterton 300 circuit in just under three weeks time and I?m very much looking forward to it.

I?d just like to close by saying a very big thank you to the Jamun team with a special; mention for my mechanic Tom and of course to my partners ScanDoc Fortrus UK, ncpi solutions, Johal Regan, Essex Gas Utilities and Baines Leasing who make it possible for me to compete and to all of you for your continued interest.

All the Best

Scott

Photo’s by kind courtsey and permission of Ebrey Motorsport Photography