Crazy Days

Corby, England (October 30, 2013) – What a crazy few days it’s been! Joey and I have returned to the Dempseys’ house after finishing the Formula Ford Festival – a weekend which was filled with ups and downs. It all started with qualifying which for the most part went very well…up until the end. Qualifying was held in the morning with a damp but drying track. I knew that the fastest lap times were going to come towards the end and sure enough, they did. I held the fastest lap time for most of the session and each lap was getting quicker then the one before. I knew my last lap was going to be the quickest but unfortunately I got caught up in some traffic at the last turn and had to settle for third fastest lap time. Once I came into the pits I was told to visit the track stewards’ office, which is never a good thing. They told me that I wasn’t obeying the track limits by going four wheels off several times and I was given a five-grid-place penalty. I was a little upset but still knew that we were in good shape going into the heat race because I knew that I was faster then most of the cars in front of me. Right before the heat race it started to rain a bit which I was glad about because I knew the Ray F1600 car was good in the rain. On top of that we did a lot of testing at Brands Hatch in wet conditions. I started the race in eighth position and lap after lap I kept passing each car in front of me. Before I knew it I was behind the leader and setting him up for a pass going into Clearways (the last turn). We were side by side coming onto the front straight and I was able to clear the pass going into Turn One. After a few laps, I was able to pull a gap and win the heat race!

Jake and Joey side by side into Druid’s (photo courtesy of Jeff Bloxham)

Sunday morning was the Semi Final which was a Team USA Scholarship front row for the start with Joey in P2 and me on pole. The Semi Final didn’t go as well as I would have hoped as I fell back from P1 to P5. This didn’t put us in great position for the final as I would have to start in P9. For the final race I had a bad start and fell back from P9 to P12, but I put my head down and kept picking off positions just as I did in the heat race. Throughout the entire race, I had some great battles even with Joey at one point. By the end of the race I made a pass on last year’s winner Ivor McCullough for P5 and had reeled in the top four drivers but just didn’t have enough laps to battle for any top positions. Overall I was very pleased with my performance during the Formula Ford Festival, to come back from P12 and finish P5. I learned a lot at Brands Hatch, which I can apply at Silverstone for the Walter Hayes Trophy.

After Joey and I got back from Brands Hatch, the next day we had a visit to the RML factory which works on Touring Car, GT, Prototype, Rally Cars, and a variety of other projects. The factory was absolutely amazing! To see how much goes into developing these cars is unreal. During the tour, we got to see how they fabricate the cars, where they design all the parts, where the engines are manufactured and assembled. We also got to see the LMP 2 car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008 as well as the Nissan DeltaWing show car. To see how much goes into these projects is quite amazing and I had a great time. I want to thank Michael Mallock for giving Joey and I the tour of the factory and Jeremy Shaw for arranging it.

Thanks for reading!

Jake