Jackson Lee: Set for the Hayes

It’s been an honor to carry the Team USA Scholarship colors (Gary Hawkins photos).

SILVERSTONE, England – Hello from Silverstone Circuit, the home of Formula One in the UK! I am currently preparing for this weekend’s Walter Hayes Trophy. This will be the final event of my stay in England, so I hope to end this amazing journey with a strong result. The past few events have all built up to this. I have been improving every session and I now have some experience running against the toughest Formula Ford competition in the world.

Brands Hatch is an amazing track.

Since my last update, I was thrown in the deep end at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. This was an incredible weekend. I got to take part a level of racing I have never experienced before. On top of that, I was able to be a part of an event with an atmosphere unlike any other I’ve been a part of. I knew the Festival was a big deal, but this event rivaled any INDYCAR race weekend from my perspective.

The racing at Brands Hatch was intense!

The Formula Ford Festival is at the top of everyone’s list to win, and it showed in their driving. I had never raced against drivers racing with this much passion and aggression before. Being a part of the Formula Ford Festival has truly changed me as a driver. On top of that, I was able to get some positive results. There were 50 cars entered and the field was broken into three groups for heat races. I finished third in my heat race! There were two groups for the semifinals, with the top 12 automatically advancing to the Grand Final (only 30 of 50 make it) and I was able to finish eighth. I started 15th in the Grand Final on the closest to a dry track all day, but still very damp, and ended up 10th! I think I was the only driver entered with no prior experience at Brands Hatch.

More changeable weather at Silverstone (Jordan Aron).

Now that I’ve got some experience with this style of racing, it’s time to try again. I have already had my first experience racing at Silverstone a few weeks ago. But, that was on the International configuration whereas this weekend’s layout will be the National configuration. So, I started from scratch to learn the layout used for the Walter Hayes Trophy. My first chance was on Wednesday. We got one dry session with most of the day in the wet. I am really starting to get comfortable in the rain, and I found this track quite fun to push the car in wet conditions. The cars were very quick thanks to Low Dempsey Racing. With two more days of testing before the official event starts, we will still have time to work on the cars and my driving. I hope for some dry conditions but I am almost guaranteed to get some wet weather racing this weekend. So, the more experience in the rain, the better.

Ready to go for the Walter Hayes Trophy.

I am very excited for this weekend. I have been waiting for it ever since the checkered flag flew at the Festival last Sunday. This is an opportunity to put everything I have learned to the test and bring home a good result in my final race in the Team USA Scholarship livery. The Scholarship has been the biggest opportunity of my career. To be able to finish strong and come home with good results would be the icing on the cake to this entire journey.

As always thank you for your continued support,
Jackson