Spencer Pigot – Testing Done, Now Onto the Races!

Brands Hatch, England (October 15, 2010) – Today was the final day of testing before the race weekend begins. We only did a few sessions because it’s not necessary to wear out the equipment for the weekend. Yesterday we were able to find a little bit more speed in the car, which was really encouraging because we thought we had gotten all that we could. Today we didn’t get to do much more development on the car because the first session was damp. It was good in a way because it gave us a chance to learn about the car and the track in difficult conditions just in case it is like that for the race even though it is supposed to be sunny for the rest of the weekend. The second session wasn’t very beneficial either because there was a lot of traffic and a lot of red flags due to other cars being stuck in the gravel traps.

The experience outside the car is just as good as what has been happening on-track. I’m having a lot of fun and everyone at Cliff Dempsey Racing is great to hang out with and we’re always having a laugh. They’re teaching me a lot of British words and sayings, which I probably can’t repeat here! It’s also cool to see that a lot of people remember my dad [Barry]. He raced Formula Ford back in the late 1970s and there are still people that are involved with the races now that were around then. Several people have come up and asked me if he was my dad and told me that he was actually pretty quick. I never thought he was!

This week is also my first time really working with an engineer, which is a really cool process. When I get out of the car we go over data and talk about what exactly the car is doing and how we can make it better for the next session. We have strategies for every session to accomplish a certain time or work on a specific area of the circuit.

On Saturday we have one qualifying session and one heat race. Felix and I have both been assigned the same qualifying and heat group along with a lot of other fast drivers. I’m very confident for qualifying; we are both very competitive compared to all of the other drivers.