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Last Thursday (02/07/09) I was testing a Formula Ford Duratec (MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain) with Enigma Motorsport at Snetterton. The day came about after a conversation with team owner Linton Stutely and I would like to thank both Linton and co-owner Tom Farquhar for the opportunity.

Whilst technically my second time in a Duratec (the first being a short session in the ex-Callum MacLeod Mygale at Silverstone in 2007), it was my first full day and also the first time in dry conditions.

The most interesting differences between a newer Duratec Formula Ford and the Kent-engined cars I am familiar with is the different driving style required and greater physical demands that the substantially faster cars place on the driver (braking at almost 150mph for the Esses at Snetterton).

The sticky slick tyres give more mechanical grip, as do the newer and stiffer chassis but with around 55 more horse power they require a driving style more similar to an aero car than a Kent Formula Ford. Essentially this means a different style of throttle application and initial corner phase.

The cars are also much more physically demanding than a Kent and place more emphasis on forearm and upper body strength than I am used to. The Mygale in particular has a reputation for this as its mono-shock front end insists on substantially more front caster and in turn, this produces a far heavier steering wheel.

Ultimately, if we were to race in the championship this weekend and we were able to use a new set of tyres and brake pads, I would expect to qualify somewhere around the top ten. In such a competitive championship and after the first day, I am more than happy with that.

Once again, I would like to thank Linton Stutely and Tom Farquhar of Enigma Motorsport for the opportunity and wish them all the best for the remainder of the year.

The 2010 British Grand Prix isn’t going to happen and somebody has to say it. The sooner we realise this the better we will all be. The 2010 season will go down in history as a dark year for the British as the once epicentre of world motorsport loses its Grand Prix after 62 years.

Let’s hope that my prophecy is wrong. Maybe Simon Gillett and his team will emerge as the saviours of the British Grand Prix. Maybe, but I don’t think so and this is why.

1. TunnelGate

Have you ever looked back with the benefit of hindsight and thought to yourself that something that happened along the way should have warned you of the outcome? Well, I have and I think this is good example of another.

Construction work on the tunnel between McLean’s and Coppice began on the weekend of February 7th and 8th. The rationale was simple: to stop construction traffic crossing the circuit and to keep the circuit operational whilst the extensive and elaborate circuit modifications were completed.

Copyright © Malcom Edeson.

Copyright © al_green.

The only problem was, nobody thought it through. Every single kid in the world knows how much easier it is to take something apart than it is to put it back together again.  And that was the problem. When they had finished constructing the tunnel, they neglected to reinstate the run-off, instead placing the barriers (also now part of the structural integrity of the tunnel) quite literally feet from the track.

Copyright © al_green.

It was the following weekend that I first had an opportunity to drive the new section of track. It took just one pass for me and my colleagues to know it wasn’t safe. Ultimately, I guess that what’s most disturbing about this whole episode. It is the fact that nobody involved in the construction, the circuit management, architects and builders thought so too.

Unsurprisingly, the Motor Sports Association (MSA) refused to grant Donington Park a license for 2009 on safety grounds until modifications were made to rectify the problem. This caused the first major casualty of the works and the British Formula Three and British GT meeting was postened until July.

None the less, by the time the British Tourng Car Championship round in May came around, the track was ammended and the MSA granted Donington Park the necessary permit for racing.

2. TunnelGate Returns

The most recent episode in the TunnelGate fiasco occurred last weekend when I was at the circuit for the BRSCC Midland South Formula Ford 1600 championship. It was raining, heavily, but not severely. I have raced in worse and what’s more, I have also worked at Donington Park in conditions just as bad.

The problems started around midday when track activities were postponed whilst the MSA Clerks assessed the flooding of the circuit between McLean’s and Coppice (the location of the new tunnel). The area of new track had become a large, two inch deep puddle. The organising club and the MSA officials did everything they could to get track activities resumed but after bringing in a pump to remove the standing water, the (reinstated) run-off subsided and the Clerks finally relented and cancelled the meeting.

The official line printed in Autosport magazine was that the build up of water was caused by a drainage pipe that had been crushed during the earlier construction works. Plausible, but I don’t think that’s the whole truth. Sources at the meeting hinted that the new surface was absolutely flat with no crown (and therefore provided no natural drainage) and that the tarmac used was of an unusually poor quality.

3. The Recession and an Ambiguous Business Model

Pitpass has published a series of great articles on the business of chief executive Simon Gillett and his company, Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd. (DVL). Upon it’s announcement, the £100 million redevelopment was to be funded by an anonymous, private investor. It later emerged that a proposed deal with sports marketing giant IMG and investment bank Goldman Sachs was withdrawn when the bank was unable to justify the £100 million investment in the current economic climate - despite Gilletts optmisitic projections of a £175 million return over 10 years.

Since that time Gillett claims he has another individual debenture scheme with predictions worth £140 million. The bottom line is that if Gillett and DVL can’t raise the necessary funds within the next month, construction work will cease and ultimately, the British Grand Prix will be lost.

4. Welsh Local Motorsport Centre of Excellence

Simon Gillett’s previous venture was an attempt to establish a Local Motorsport Centre of Excellence in South Wales on disused mining land around Garn-yr-Erw. The “world class” facility would have created around 200 local jobs and included a 60-room hotel, conference centre and off-road facilities.

However, after his Innovate Motorsport (note that this company is now in liquidation) failed to secure the necessary planning permission (sound familiar?), Gillett vowed to move the programme to a site in the Midlands (Donington Park) with £30 million of investment. A year later and six months after Gillett sold his share in the company Innovate Motorsport went bust owing £200,000 to its creditors.

My own sources close to event security firm Mckenzie Arnold, who recently pulled their staff from operating at the facility, confirm allegations of unpaid bills related back as far as 2008. Taken in the context of fresh BBC allegations that contract catering firm Eclipse Catering are currently owed £46,000 by DVL (having been involved with Donington Park for almost eight years) and rent arrears with the landowners,  it does little to calm fears that Donington Ventures Leisure wont share the same fate as its predecessor.

5. Local Infrastructure

In 2002, a £56 million pound investment was made to improve the main arterial route to Silverstone - the A43. With four lanes of dual carriage-way traffic leading to its gate, Silverstone is better equipped than any other circuit in the country to deal with the influx of traffic that a Grand Prix creates.

Donington Park on the other hand, is not. Whilst DVL will tell you Donington Park lies central between the M1, A42, A50 and not far from the M42, the fact remains that it requires miles of single carriage way road to reach the circuits gate.

Should Gillett and his team defy the odds and the 2010 British Grand Prix actually goes ahead,  it could well be 2011 before anybody actually gets out.

6. Timescales

Even if the required investment is made in time for construction to begin, my final reservations lie in whether or not there is in fact enough time for construction to be completed before the Grand Prix in twelve months time. Bernie Ecclestone recently imposed a September deadline for the inspection of progress and as somebody who visits Donington Park regularly, with the exception of the new Tunnel and the removal of the iconic Dunlop bridge, nothing much has changed. And given the FIA deadline for track inspection of April 1st, necessary to grant Donington Park the type of license required to host a Grand Prix, the chances of completing the elaborate redevelopments seems increasingly slim.

Time until FIA Donington Park Deadline:
in 8 months, 27 days, 18 hours, 42 minutes, 45 seconds

The Bottom Line

Honestly, I hope I am wrong. If Gillett and his team deliver on their promises then the British Grand Prix will continue to prosper for years to come. However, the alternative is bleak and I fear that in out manoeuvring Silverstone and the BRDC, Mr Ecclestone may well inadvertantly deprive Britain of our blue ribband event and ultimately damage the motorsport industry.

Motor sport contributes an estimated £5 billion annually to the UK economy and much of that depends on the Formula One teams and ancillary suppliers which are based here. Without a Grand Prix and despite the potential of two different British World Champions in succession, it seems unlikely that Britain can sustain its position as the centre of motor sports technology, innovation and culture.

Shortly after the last National Formula Ford round at Snetterton, we took the decision to withdraw our entry to the next round at Pembrey which takes place this weekend (16-17 May).

Our rationale for doing so is this. As it stands, I do not think we have a car to win a National round under normal circumstances. I think we are about at the point where we are probably capable of consistently challenging for podiums (even if our weekend at Snetterton did not suggest so).

Pembrey is an incredibly long distance for me to travel and distance equals expense. I would surmise that for me to include travel, accommodation, testing, entry fees, tyres and other running costs, it would cost something in the region of £1700 for the weekend. To spend this amount of money when I do not believe I can win (yet) does not seem sensible.

Instead, we will concentrate on the next round of the Midland South Formula Ford championship at Donington Park (June 7th) and continue to concentrate on the development of our car. We have two or three more changes to try and I am confident they will yield a further reduction in lap time.

What’s more, it would seem I am not alone. As it stands there are currently five cars entered for the weekend (yes, five). That leaves the two Cliff Dempsey cars, Rory Butcher and David Grady plus one other. Personally, even if I could afford to compete this weekend, I would probably withdraw my entry because I have no intention of ever racing in a field with four other cars. I would even argue that this brings serious questions about the validity of the championship and I hope that those in charge question the reason for this. After all, I called it first, way back in Janurary.

Snetterton is probably my home circuit. Although I am actually equidistant between Brands Hatch and Snetterton, the Norfolk circuit offers me greater sentiment as my home track. Ultimately, we had one of the most frustrating weekends possible but I think overall, we learnt enough during the to be much clearer about what we do next.

Going into qualifying, I was pretty confident that pole position would be a high 1 minute 14. The Formula Ford lap record (held by Peter Dempsey) was a 1 minute 14.8 and after dominating FF1600 in 2005, I think he is quite a reliable benchmark for performance. After the long 25 minute qualification session, I posted a 1 minute 15.1. This lap, my fastest lap, I set on my own and without a tow (slipstream or draft).

I have to say I was somewhat surprised that this was only good enough for sixth on the grid, roughly a tenth off Matt Shawyer and just under two tenths off Gough in fourth. Rory Butcher posted an astonishing pole position time of 1 minute 13.7 which is indecently fast for a Kent-engined Formula Ford and faster than slowest of last years Duratec Formula Ford’s (with 150BHP and slicks)!

So I’ve been trying to work out why this was the case. Firstly, conditions for qualifying and indeed the entire day were very good - there was an immensely strong tail wind down the long back straight. So much, in fact, that I was on the rev limiter over 100m prior to my braking point. Despite running what is considered a “Snetterton top gear” (21:24), if I was geared longer, I would have benefited from this tail wind. Second, my fastest lap in qualifying was set on my own, without the tow of another car. And for what ever reason that was, I find it hard to believe many others were also set on their own (and the fact these times were not replicated in the race would also suggest this).

Starting sixth on the grid, I was expecting to have a fight for a podium in the race. If Rory could indeed do 1 minute 13s or anything close, it is hard to imagine anyone staying with him. However, with only a few tenths separating 2nd to 6th, there was definitely a battle to be had there.

However, I never got the chance because after increasing the rev limit after qualifying (owing to the tail wind), it was incorrectly reset and cutting in at 6000RPM (about 1200RPM short of normal). So I pulled into the pits after the first lap. We reset the limiter and I went back out on track, albeit four laps down on the leaders. As the grid for race two was determined from the finishing order of race one, if I was classified as a finisher, I would at least start ahead of those who were not.

And here is where it gets interesting. During the race, the only person who was consistently faster than me (and not by much) was the eventual race winner, Scott Malvern. Consider the following five laps as an example:

I think that suggests a potential race that never was, considering I was again on my own and not pushing 100%.

Come race two, I was starting on the penultimate row of the grid after being classified as the last finisher in race one.

I made a decent start and got up into the top ten in the first lap. After battling it out in the “train” for one or two laps, I lost of few positions at Sear corner after my foot got caught under the bulkhead in the pedal box. Soon after this the safety car was deployed for an incident involving two cars which collided as I went around the outside of them into Richies.

After the restart I got stuck behind the train of cars which led all the way up to 3rd position and I struggled to make any real impact for the remainder of the race, eventually finishing 7th behind Matt Shawyer in 6th position.

This weekend was the first time I have properly raced wheel-to-wheel with other cars this year. And I think that what it did was highlight the deficiencies and relative strengths with our own car. Despite lapping as fast as I can on my own, caught in traffic, I was stuck, half a second to a second slower than normal. When I was behind another car, I simply did not have the straight line speed to pass, no matter how quickly I exited the preceding corner. I could pull out from the tow, only to have to pull back in shortly after. This tells me that our next focus for improvement has to be engine and I will start that tomorrow with a phone call to Scholar.

Chassis-wise, I think it is fair to say we have improved the car thus far and my outright pace relative to the winner in comparison to Anglesey is telling. I still do not think we have reached the optimum yet, the car continues to squat under power more than is ideal and is similarly dives under heavy braking (read: too much load transfer) but it is much closer than we have ever been before.

I like to be honest about my racing. When it came off the dyno after being rebuilt two months ago, my engine had 106BHP at 5800RPM. As it stands, I honestly do not think that is enough to win a) a national championship round and b) a one-off trophy event. And as both of these are my ambition, I now need to work out what can be done to rectify this situation.

Thanks to Dave Kilburn at Elite Photography for the photographs!