15th & 16th July 2006
UK Formula Ford Championship rounds 5 and 6
Snetterton

My second meeting of the championship was held at my local track, Snetterton, in sunny Norfolk.

Testing on Thursday went well and I was looking forward to a successful weekend. But I was very disappointed after qualifying, having only managed 16th and 18th on the grid for the two races the following day. Although I wasn’t helped by a considerable lack of speed over the last two thirds of the straights, I didn’t drive brilliantly and I need to learn how to get the most out of new tyres.

Race one, first thing on Sunday morning, was better but still frustrating. Although quicker than the cars in front, I found it almost impossible to overtake due to the absence of straight line speed, even in the tow, and finished 15th. The second race was much more interesting as parts of it were complete chaos. I struggled to overtake once again, but finished 10th, a large part of which was due to avoiding the cars that seemed to be colliding and spinning at every opportunity!

Although my results weren’t ideal, I enjoyed the racing and am looking forward to solving the speed problem and finishing much higher next week at Brands Hatch. I also had fun on Saturday evening running in the Sport Relief Mile, which started on the Revett Straight and finished under the lights. I came second, behind F3 driver Stephen Jelly (who only beat me by a few centimetres – I’ll beat him next time!) I think all the drivers and officials who took part enjoyed it and it is something that should be repeated more often – a lap of every circuit we race at on the Saturday night of a race weekend?!

I will only be doing the first race at Brands next week because I have to be at Bedford on Sunday for the U20 AAA championships, which double up as the trials for the Worlds. I’ve now run the qualifying time, so if I win the race on Sunday I’ll be heading to Beijing in August!