Result of the Formula Ford Festival

In a Royale RP21 with Shaws Motorsport.

Started the weekend on Thursday arriving at the track to get setup with the team. Due to saving for the Walter Hayes , we weren't able to test in the week so i helped the team on the Thursday and Friday setting up and teammates testing.

On Saturday morning qualifying was the first time i had driven the track in the Royale RP21, it proved difficult as my rivals had done a weeks testing so they were dialled in. Nevertheless I pushed on trying to get on the pace as soon as possible. We ended up 19th on qualifying which was a disappointing result yet i kept my head held high and pushed on to the Pre 82 qualifying.

Battling through Paddock Hill

Here i was able to dial myself into the track setting a 53.1 and qualifying 9th out of 22 i was much happier with this result yet still felt i had more pace in myself and the car needed a few adjustments, even so a top 10 qualifying was impressive against cars of the same era.

After lunch break i had my first race of the day , a knock out heat. Here i started 19th on the inside yet i made a critical mistake on the start and fell to 21st by the 1st corner. This set the tone for a comeback drive where i needed consistent laps to get back to the pack. I was able to make it up to 18th yet my lack of testing seemed to be hindering me against my rivals as i struggled to beat my fastest lap from qualifying.

Nevertheless i cleared my head and focused on my next race , the 1st pre 82 race. I was feeling very confident going into this race as i believed i could move a couple positions up. Starting 9th i had a good start and moved up a couple positions yet found myself in a 3 way battle and finished 10th , less than impressed as i knew i had the pace to be further up, that was it for Saturday.

Moving onto Sunday morning i felt well rested as i had stayed at the track to ensure plenty of hours of sleep. My first race was a progression race for the festival where i started 11th. I had a couple good battles through the pack , making it up to 8th in the end. My setup tweaks and resilience had paid of as i was able to get into the 52.5s after being stuck in the 53s all Saturday.

Next was the 2nd pre 82 race where i started 10th and had an action packed race. I had a decent start to the race but on lap 2 on the exit of druids i had lost 2nd gear , causing me to drop from 8th all the way to 15th. Yet i cleared my head and got to work catching up to the pack and making my way through lap by lap consistently setting impressive times whilst weaving my way through the traffic. In the end i was able to make it up to 6th after a sensational comeback drive. Least to say i was incredibly happy to have comeback from the lap 2 disaster and almost get into the top 5. To watch the race on YouTube click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKpfRbn-T1Q&t=700s

My next race of the day was the 1st Semi final of the Festival , i was a reserve so i had to hope a crash on the opening lap would let me join the race and luckily there was a crash at druids letting me join the back of the pack. The race was a slow burner as i had to focus on lapping consistently and staying out of trouble. In the end i had managed to make it up to 24th out of 30 cars.

The Royale RP21 sparking on the exit of Paddock Hill

My final race of the weekend was the historic final where i started 30th. Least to say i was on a mission to get through the pack as i had a long race staying out of incidents and overtaking as many cars as i could. In the end i made it up to 13th with a 0.054s gap to 12th. I was most pleased with this result as i was able to show i had the pace to move through the pack and almost contest for a top 10.

Overall as a first Formula Ford Festival i think it was tough and a hard weekend but very enjoyable and definitely still a lot to improve onto next years Festival and season but i left the track content with my performance as i showed i had the pace to be there just needed some more testing in the week before the weekend.