Oct 14, 2008
\nBrands Hatch, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Team USA Scholarship winners Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden commenced their overseas racing careers today on the famed Brands Hatch \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d circuit in England.<\/p>\n
Both teenagers took to the tight but challenging 1.2-mile road circuit in a pair of Ray GRS06\/7 Formula Ford cars under the tutelage of former racer-turned-team owner Cliff Dempsey, who was immediately impressed.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m delighted with them. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a real credit to the Scholarship program,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Dempsey. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re great kids, really respectful, and clearly appreciate the opportunity they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been given.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not slow either,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added Dempsey with a chuckle. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A good (lap) time around Brands is in the 50-second range, and both boys were down within reach of that straight away. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be more pleased.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Daly, 16, from Noblesville, Ind., and Newgarden, 17, from Hendersonville, Tenn., arrived in England on Sunday and went directly to the Ray Race Cars factory in south London for seat-fittings and to oversee final preparation on their cars. They made the short trip to Brands Hatch, an hour or so from central London, yesterday and finally got a chance to drive their cars in a full-day test session today.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Driving at Brands today has been a real privilege for Conor and I after hearing about this circuit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s diverse history,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Newgarden. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The weather forecast shows rain for tomorrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s test, which should be challenging and provide good practice in case of rain during this weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s races. It has also been a real privilege working with Cliff Dempsey Racing and I feel we have a strong package for producing positive results.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really excited to get deeper into this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s schedule and see how we match up against our competitors. It will be a tough challenge for Conor and I to master Brands in just few days, but I feel our experience coupled with our strong chemistry within the team will guide us in the right direction.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The duo completed well over 100 laps each during the course of today, with no significant difficulties other than a slightly weak engine in Daly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s car. Cliff Dempsey and the crew were working this evening to install a fresh engine in time for two more days of testing leading up to official qualifying on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The most fun part of the day I think was taking Paddock Hill Bend for the first time at speed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Daly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It has such a steep descent which was incredible! But the best part is the rest of the track is almost just as much fun! The corners are very flowing and the track and track facilities are amazing as well.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We learned a lot from today that will help us out throughout the weekend,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d concluded Daly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the day was very successful.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The pair will contest this weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an event which was won by Conor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father, Derek, back in 1976 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and will continue their adventure with some more testing next week and visits to several top-quality racing organizations before contesting the Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford weekend at Silverstone on November 1\/2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oct 14, 2008 Brands Hatch, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Team USA Scholarship winners Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden commenced their overseas racing careers today on the famed Brands Hatch \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d circuit in England. Both teenagers took to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}