7th October 2006
UK Formula Ford Championship rounds 19 & 20
Castle Combe

The last round of the championship was held at Castle Combe as part of the carnival meeting. And for one of the first times this year it stayed dry all day. Unfortunately for me I hadn’t driven Combe in the dry for two or three years before qualifying, and consequently I struggled, qualifying 17th and 22nd for the two races.

Two things I did get right were the starts. After struggling all year with my get-away I finally got it right and flew off the line in both races. In race one this good start was followed by a close race in which I finished 13th.

Starting 22nd for the second race wasn’t ideal but if anything I made an even better start than before, and after a good first lap was lying 17th. I gained a further place on lap two and was fighting to move higher when my race was ended by a snapped pin, which caused my left driveshaft to be ripped open.

Managing only one full lap of my final race of the season wasn’t the way I wanted to end the year but at least the race had been going well until then.

Considering my season as whole I am disappointed. Looking back we can easily say that we underestimated the difficulty of trying to run the car ourselves on a limited budget at this level of competition. We couldn’t compete with the big money teams and the drivers who tested every week. It has been a frustrating year and fighting for places in the second half of the grid is not what I hoped for or expected. However we have learnt that we have to do it properly in future, with the correct support. There’s no point in competing if you can’t test, and for that you need money, therefore my racing future depends on securing major sponsorship. So I’ll be busy between lectures working to find the support for next year!