{"id":982,"date":"2011-09-23T04:08:16","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T04:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manifestclients.com\/teamusa\/?p=982"},"modified":"2012-09-13T04:09:44","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T04:09:44","slug":"spencer-pigot-pre-trip-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/?p=982","title":{"rendered":"Spencer Pigot – Pre-Trip Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Orlando, Fla. (September 23, 2011) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c For the second year in a row I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be making a trip over to England to race a Formula Ford car at Silverstone and Brands Hatch as a part of the Team USA Scholarship. This year is going to be a bit different to my time there in 2010. First off, being nominated for a Scholarship came as a complete surprise; it was only toward the end of summer when Jeremy told me about his plan to introduce a third prize for the Duratec class. I was extremely excited to know that I was a candidate and possibly get a chance to go back to the UK. It was announced in Baltimore that I had won the Duratec prize and that two good friends of mine, Trent Hindman and Neil Alberico, had won the Kent class prizes.<\/p>\n

Going back over to England, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m definitely more prepared than I was in 2010. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what to expect last year. I learned how different the European driving style is. I had heard about the high level of aggression but in order to really understand it you have to experience it for yourself. The rules are a lot different over there \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and sometimes it seems like there are no rules! I got the chance to drive a Duratec Formula Ford last year in between our two race weekends so I have a taste of what to expect in regards to how the car will handle and the driving style I will have to use to get the most out of it. Last year we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the results the car was capable of after being involved in incidents at both the Festival (where we finished fourth) and the Walter Hayes (finished seventh) so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m even more determined to do well. <\/p>\n

I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait to get in the car at Brands Hatch. I really enjoyed the track last year, especially Paddock Hill Bend. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no doubt one of the best corners in the world; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fast third gear corner that feels like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re falling off a cliff at the exit (above right, photo courtesy of Jeff Bloxham). This time my first race will be at Silverstone for the final rounds of the MSA British Formula Ford Championship and it will be on the full Grand Prix circuit. Last year we only did the national course so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really looking forward to doing some laps around there; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fantastic track.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m leaving at the beginning of October for England and my first race is the weekend of the 8th and 9th. My grandparents live not too far from Silverstone in Manchester so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll spend a few days with them while I get over the jet-lag and then off to the Cliff Dempsey Racing shop to get fitted for the practice sessions on Friday. It seems like forever ago since my last USF2000 race in Baltimore, not being around racing for over a month is never a nice feeling!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orlando, Fla. (September 23, 2011) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c For the second year in a row I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be making a trip over to England to race a Formula Ford car at Silverstone and Brands Hatch as a part…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982"}],"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=982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":984,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions\/984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}