Recently FF1600website.com launched a fundraising campaign to cover our expenses for our coverage of the two forthcoming Formula Ford end-of-season showpiece events: the aimshop.com Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy.
We did this via our GoFundMe page, this link for which is bit.ly/ff1600 and the hashtag #FUNDFF1600.
We are delighted to say that we have hit our target, indeed exceeded it with £540 raised at the time of writing. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed as well as to those who helped us promote the campaign! It is massively appreciated by us!
Your contributions mean that we will have an extensive reporting team in the paddock at the imminent 2019 Festival and Walter Hayes events, providing detailed coverage throughout each weekend including on-the-chequered-flag qualifying and race reports as well as the latest news from each event and in-depth features.
There will be changes to FF1600website between now and the aimshop.com Formula Ford Festival too, with a new website design set to be released shortly and a new form of coverage for UK FFord’s blue riband events: Festival Live and WHT Live.
In addition to race reports, news and features, FF1600website will run a live blog during both events, featuring as-they-happen updates from up and down the paddock from every garage, complementing the BRSCC’s live stream coverage of the on-track action.
And further ahead we will continue to produce top-class coverage of all Kent-engined Formula Ford action in the UK. With it we will also continue to provide great paddock opportunities to up-and-coming motorsport journalists.
We still welcome further contributions to the fundraiser, as we will put any amount we receive over and above our £500 target towards continuing our coverage of Formula Ford into 2020.
And sharing our page link, bit.ly/ff1600, and our hashtag, #FUNDFF1600, helps us a lot too!
2019 BRSCC Avon Tyres National FF1600 champion Ross Martin said his title success had “not sunk in”, while confirming that he will compete in this month’s Aimshop.com Formula Ford Festival.
Martin followed up his 2018 Scottish Formula Ford Championship success by winning the National title this year in his first full season in the category, driving for Team Dolan. Having led the standings since the second round at Oulton Park, Martin sealed the crown at Silverstone in September with one round to spare.
“It’s still not sunk in,” Martin told FF1600website. “I work Monday to Friday so, I see it in the papers, I see it on Facebook.
“It’s been an awesome year, I still can’t thank the team enough – Team Dolan. The guys and women have really given me an opportunity that I couldn’t have before.
“It just shows, that car has had a lot of history but you also need to drive it. It’s been an all-round great season and I’m glad to come away with the title.”
Martin started the season with three podium finishes at Snetterton, to sit second in the standings behind Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Spike Kohlbecker. He repeated the feat at the next round at Oulton Park, taking his first victory of the season in race three, elevating to the championship lead with it.
He followed up that success with another five wins from the next six races, including a clean sweep of three victories at Croft, to build a commanding championship advantage.
“I think I was the fifth winner [of the season] and then I’ve done the double after that at Anglesey and unfortunately a DNF but, after Oulton Park and I had that first win bedded, I thought we can go from here and get a lot more,” Martin continued.
“I didn’t think we’d go on to get another seven [wins], but eight victories at the end of the 2019 season without even coming here [to a full season in National FFord before] has been a good haul. Really can’t thank everybody enough, my sponsors, my family and Team Dolan especially.”
In addition to his eight victories, Martin only failed to finish once during the year, and only finished outside the top six once.
“Consistency was key,” he confirmed. “I’ve had a lot of podiums but I think Croft was the turning point in the championship – that was a strong weekend. I’d never been there before but, to come away with a triple victory and a full points haul was unbelievable and I think that really did turn the championship towards my side.
“Consistency to bring it home and make sure the car was safe was key. The guys have had great reliability in the car as well so I can’t thank them enough.”
With the title already secured, Martin sat out the final round of the season at Brands Hatch, although he still attended – and was given a lap of honour by the BRSCC to commemorate his championship success.
While confirming that he will be returning to Brands Hatch to compete in this month’s Festival, Martin says that the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone is “not on the cards”.
“I’m going to be doing the Festival. The car has been good around Brands in the past and want to try and make it go right in the future. Depending on how well we go at the Festival we will think about doing the Walter Hayes, but it’s not on the cards [at the moment].”
Martin also confirmed that he has no plans in place for next season, but says he would like to stay in single-seaters.
“I’d love to race more single-seater stuff. I think Formula Ford is the purest out there but I really don’t have a plan, nothing’s started yet. It’s still not the end of the season this year so you could sign a deal in March/April time [next year] and still have time to race so I’ve really not got anything planned.”
BRSCC Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford frontrunner Jack Wolfenden said his hopes of taking this season’s championship are “finished” following a dismal Oulton Park meeting last weekend.
The Myerscough College driver led the standings ahead of last Saturday’s penultimate round, but suffered car issues throughout the day, finishing 20th in race one, and he then failed to finish the second race.
With one round remaining this season, Wolfenden now trails B-M Racing’s Tom McArthur – who won both races at Oulton – by 22 points.
Wolfenden’s dramas began during Oulton’s qualifying session, with his Firman developing a misfire, leaving him due to start the first race from eighth on the grid.
But his car problems continued before that race’s start, leaving him stuck in the pits when the race got underway as the team tried to fix the problem. He eventually joined almost two laps down, leaving him with no chance of a good result.
With the car seemingly fixed for race two, Wolfenden stormed from the back of the 20-car grid to eighth place on the opening lap, but then fell back down the order after an off at Cascades.
With his radiators blocked with grass, Wolfenden later retired from the race when his engine overheated.
“It’s finished now I would say,” Wolfenden told FF1600website of his title hopes.
“Just bad luck”, he said of his Oulton meeting. “We’ve had some problems all day, never really resolved them.
“Then in the last race I went cutting grass, clogged the radiators up, and the engine overheated, so that’s about it.”
Given his unfavourable title picture, Wolfenden was also unsure whether he would now contest the final round of the season, at Anglesey on November 17.
“We’ll have to see [about Anglesey]. I think [the title outcome is] pretty much sorted now.
“To be fair, it would have been good to win it but we’ve just come out here to have a good time. We’re not devastated, it’s just one of those things.”
Wolfenden added that his Oulton issues also leave him uncertain as to whether he will compete at the imminent Aimshop.com Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy end-of-season events.
“Still to be decided yet [about Festival and Walter Hayes]. Depends if there is any damage to the engine,” he added.
Two-time BRSCC Avon Tyres National champion Niall Murray will return to FF1600 at next weekend’s Formula Ford Festival with Team Dolan.
Most of Murray’s major FF1600 achievements, including a Northern Irish title and wins in the Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, have come with Bernard Dolan’s eponymous squad.
Murray described his 2018 Festival loss at the time as “gutting” and “heartbreaking” to FF1600website.
“I am extremely excited to be racing in this year’s Formula Ford Festival and to be back with Bernard [Dolan] and the team,” Murray said of his forthcoming attempt at his latest Festival victory.
“Although I am enjoying drifting and racing in other categories my first love has always been Formula Ford racing.”
Murray has raced in British GT this year, but has primarily been focused on his Murray Motorsport team in his home country of Ireland.
The 24-year-old, also a champion in single-make touring cars, has raced in FF1600 since 2013. He won the Festival on his first attempt as a Team Ireland scholar, and been mostly present in FF1600 since, although did get a taste of other types of single-seaters in 2017 when he cameoed in USF2000.
BRSCC Avon Tyres National FF1600 race-winner Spike Kohlbecker has confirmed that he will not compete in this year’s end-of-season Aimshop.com Formula Ford Festival or Walter Hayes Trophy.
Kohlbecker this year competed in his first season in the National FF1600 Championship driving for Cliff Dempsey’s squad.
Kohlbecker has confirmed to FF1600website though that he will skip both of the two famous end-of-year Formula Ford events, the Festival at Brands Hatch on October 26 and 27 and Silverstone’s Walter Hayes Trophy on November 2 and 3.
“I will not be competing in either of the events,” said Kohlbecker.
“It has been a great time in Formula Ford and I have learned a lot.
“My advisors and sponsors wanted to make sure I had a great foundation for my motorsports career and that’s why I ran with three different teams, three different chassis in three different countries meaning I ran on 18 different tracks in 18 months – my experience in Formula Ford has been amazing.
“There is no better place than Formula Ford to learn and who knows I may run more Formula Ford races someday. It’s like go-karting in that there is good, close racing that will always be fun.”
Kohlbecker added that he felt he would have been a contender for victory in both the Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy, though it was never in his plans to participate in either event this year.
“Could I have won the final two events of the year? Yes, but it was not in our plan to run the races,” he told FF1600website. “Not this year anyway but maybe in the future.
“If you look at my record there are only two tracks that I have run on more than once in the last 18 months, Mosport in Canada and Brands Hatch. At Mosport I podiumed in my first race on the first weekend and when I came back to the track I won.
“If you look at Brands Hatch same thing – I podiumed in my first race weekend and in the second and third race weekends there I won. Silverstone, I podiumed in my first race there with some the best Formula Ford drivers in the world that had way more experience on the track than I had.
“So would I have won on my second trip to Silverstone? Why not? I think I could have won. I never bet against myself.”
Kohlbecker added that he had not yet finalised where he will race next year, but that the decision will be made “soon” and his destination will be a “big challenge”.
“What now? My advisors and sponsors will make that decision soon but you can bet I will be back on track next year,” Kohlbecker continued.
“As I told you in the beginning of the year I’m not chasing trophies, I’m playing the long game and challenging myself. You can bet whatever I do will be another big challenge. I don’t want it to be easy.
“Please add my thanks to the UK racing fans. It was great to race in the UK and I hope to be back there some day. The fans, the drivers and the race track were really solid. I loved racing there.”
Kohlbecker had confirmed at the National Brands Hatch meeting last month that he was unlikely to continue racing in FF1600 next year, and the American intimated then that his appearance at this year’s Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy was dependent on receiving the USA Scholarship.
“I can’t say yet, I’m waiting for [Team USA Scholarship Founder] Jeremy Shaw’s [press] release,” Kohlbecker told FF1600website then when asked about his plans for the season-ending events.
“I think this will be our last year of Formula Ford. To end it that way [taking victory in the last race] is great. It’s a shame we didn’t win the championship but you can’t win everything and I’m not upset. It was a really good season.”
Josh Green and Scott Huffaker were announced as the two winners of the 2019 Team USA Scholarship shortly after the Brands meeting – and with it receive an entry to the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy this year with Cliff Dempsey Racing
Green and Huffaker were awarded the USA Scholarship after a two-day shootout at Road America with the Lucas Oil School of Racing and Cooper Tires, beating four other finalists.
16-year-old Green finished second in America’s F1600 Championship Series this year.
Huffaker, who is 19 years old, has raced in the LMP3-based IMSA Prototype Challenge this season and is currently 25th overall in the table. He scored a second-place finish in the Mosport round.
B-M Racing’s Tom McArthur extended his BRSCC Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford Championship advantage after holding off Team Dolan’s Chris Middlehurst to win the second race at Oulton Park by a narrow margin.
With nearest rival Jack Wolfenden not finishing the race, McArthur also claimed Champion of Oulton honours.
McArthur led away from pole position, while Middlehurst dropped to third behind Douglas Crosbie after a rather average start.
Middlehurst quickly regained second from Crosbie, but contact between the pair during their exchange left the latter dropping down the order.
Once past, Middlehurst then gradually closed in on the back of McArthur, before the pair engaged in a close battle for the lead during the second half of the race.
Despite having to deal with huge pressure from Middehurst, McArthur clung on to win by just 0.1s- claiming his fifth victory of the season in the process.
Davide Meloni finished third for B-M Racing, 11s further behind, despite a last-lap collision with two-time Historic FF1600 Callum Grant as the pair contested the final podium place. Grant retired on the spot with suspension damage.
Cliff Dempsey Racing duo Scott Huffaker and Josh Green benefited from the incident to finish fourth and fifth respectively, the Team USA scholars again making impressive comebacks having started from the pitlane.
Green, who claimed pole in qualifying, repeated his race one feat by setting the fastest lap of the race.
Historic racer Simon Hadfield took Super Classic honours, finishing sixth overall in his Van Diemen.
Crosbie recovered from his early incident to finish seventh, 1.3s ahead of B-M Racing’s Neil McArthur.
Andrew Thomas finished ninth in his Mygale, while Nick Barnes took the chequered flag just 0.2s behind in his Swift to round out the top ten.
Title-contender Wolfenden’s miserable day continued following his issues in race one.
The Myerscough College driver recovered from the back of the field to run eighth early on, but an off at Cascades dropped him back down the order and later forced him to retire after his Firman overheated due to a blocked radiator as a result of the incident.
Newly-crowned Super Classic champion Ian Schofield retired from the race with a flat battery, while David McArthur did not start the race of a result of the clutch issues that hampered his Medina earlier in the day.
A last-lap pass resulted in B-M Racing’s Tom McArthur snatching victory from long-time leader Chris Middlehurst in the first BRSCC Avon Tyres Northern Formula race at Oulton Park.
McArthur took the lead in the title-race with his win, as previous championship-leader Jack Wolfenden could only manage 20th following issues with his Firman before the start that resulted in him having to start the race almost two-laps down.
McArthur spent most of the race on the tail of Team Dolan’s Middlehurst, who led from the start after Cliff Dempey’s Racing’s Josh Green and Scott Huffaker – who had qualified first and third – opted to start the race from the pitlane due to their lack of standing start experience.
Simon Hadfield and Callum Grant ran behind Middlehurst on the opening lap, with McArthur down in fourth. After struggling in the damp conditions in qualifying, McArthur found his set-up more suited to the drier conditions in the race, soon picking off Grant and Hadfield, before closing onto the tail of Middlehurst.
In the closing stages, McArthur got a run on the outside of Middlehurst approaching Hislops, but lost time after dipping a wheel on the grass.
McArthur quickly closed back in on Middlehurst though, and he made a move up the inside into Island bend with a only few corners remaining to take the win by a slender 0.5s from Middlehurst.
Douglas Crosbie impressed in his first race of the year, taking Super Classic honours with third place overall, having remained in touch with the lead pair until the closing stages having passed both Grant and Hadfield earlier on, eventually finishing 3s behind in a Van Diemen.
Grant finished in fourth, 0.7s ahead of B-M Racing’s Davide Meloni, with Julian Van der Watt a further 2s behind in sixth.
Despite running second early on Hadfield faded in the latter stages of the contest, crossing the line seventh in his first outing in his Van Diemen.
After starting from the pitlane, Team USA scholars Scott Huffaker and Josh Green finished eighth and ninth respectively, having consistently been the quickest two drivers throughout the race.
Neil McArthur closed out the top ten for B-M Racing, but his son David suffered a re-occurrence of the clutch issues with his Medina from qualifying, retiring halfway through the race, having recovered from the back of the grid to 11th.
Ian Schofield sealed the Super Classic title with three races of the season to spare after finishing 11th overall, one place ahead of nearest rival Nick Barnes, while Stuart Jones did not start the race following a brake issue.
Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Josh Green qualified on pole position at a damp Oulton Park for the BRSCC Avon Tyres Formula Ford Northern Championship, as Team USA Scholarship drivers shone.
Green deposed fellow USA Scholar and CDR team-mate Scott Huffaker at the head of the timesheets after an early red flag – caused by Ian Schofield and Andrew Thomas both spinning into the gravel – before setting a best time of 2m05.560s in the closing minutes.
Huffaker, who had led the session early on, ended up third fastest after a late effort from Team Dolan’s Chris Middlehurst secured him a front row spot, 0.5s behind Green.
Historic racer and car preparer Simon Hadfield secured Super Classic pole by setting the fourth fastest time overall in his Van Diemen.
Tom McArthur, who lies third in the championship, was fifth fastest for B-M Racing ahead of two-time Historic FF1600 champion Callum Grant and fellow Van Diemen driver Douglas Crosbie.
Championship leader Jack Wolfenden could only qualify in eighth position after suffering a misfire in his Firman with Julian Van Der Watt ninth in a Spectrum.
Davide Meloni rounded out the top ten for B-M Racing, while team-mate David McArthur ended up bottom of the timesheets after failing to post a lap time after his Medina suffered a clutch issue.
Super Classic points leader Schofield ended up 16th fastest after his early spin.
New Zealand Formula Ford race winner Callum Crawley will compete in this month’s Aimshop.com FFord Festival at Brands Hatch for Kevin Mills Racing, landing a seat in its four-car line-up.
After winning the 2017-18 New Zealand Formula First Championship, Crawley moved into FF1600 racing, driving a Spectrum in the 2018-19 New Zealand Formula 1600 Championship, finishing third in the overall table with three wins, and was named Rookie of the Year.
He also finished second overall in the 2019 Formula Ford Manfeild Winter Series in his native country, taking five victories.
With KMR running a Spectrum for him, Crawley will continue his association with the Australian marque at the Festival, and he says he is looking to learn from his team-mates given their FF1600 experience in the UK.
“Kevin Mills Racing supports Spectrum in the UK and I will be one of four drivers,” Crawley said.
“My team-mates all race in the UK so I will be looking to learn from them.
“Going to a new track and an entirely different atmosphere on the other side of the world is not going to be easy.
“I’m truly looking forward to taking it to the best the Festival has to offer. It’s an amazing opportunity. I cannot wait to have a go.”
“So my family, friends and fans back home can check out my progress – though, of course, with the time difference it’ll be late-night weekend viewing at home,” he added.
Formula Ford Festival organiser BRSCC has confirmed a new title sponsor for this year’s event in Aimshop.com, and that a drivers’ prize draw will be added to each Festival heat.
Aimshop.com provides equipment to various competitors in Formula Ford and other motorsport categories, and its range includes onboard cameras, steering wheels, data loggers and lap timers.
“It’s really exciting,” BRSCC chairman Peter Day told FF1600website. “I personally am a user of an Aim system, their systems are really really great for improving driver performance, and getting them onboard to help us has been a really really great win for BRSCC and all Formula Ford racers.
“They [Aimshop.com] want to be aligned with BRSCC, they want to aligned with drivers who are making a career of motor racing or very serious hobby drivers where they can embrace the Aim technology and take it into other categories all the way through.”
“We’ve always been involved in Formula Ford supplying all of the equipment,” added Aimshop.com’s James Mulley, “so our EVO4S, our GS-Dash and our Formula Wheel, they’re all really popular items that Formula Ford cars use and have done for years.
“Also our Smarty camera which overlays a lot of footage, takes the data from the EVO4. [It] is really good for teaching the drivers. The BRSCC, we’re a sponsor on their website, so it was quite an easy choice and hopefully a productive choice to sponsor the Festival.
“We haven’t released what we’re going to give out as a prize as of yet. We want it to be quite special, so we’re having a little think about it. [It] might include some of the new stuff that we’re bringing out.”
It also is planned that the hardware will be presented to the Festival winner on the podium. “That may change but as far as I’m aware that’s what’s happening,” Mulley said.
While in another addition to the 2019 Festival later this month there will be a drivers’ prize draw in each of the three heats. All drivers will be entered into their relevant draw and one fortunate driver in each heat will be selected at random to receive a prize.
In heat one the prize draw winner will receive a Headtec crash helmet, in heat two they will get a Wiz Wheels set of Formula Ford wheels, and in heat three the winner gets a £500 Raceparts voucher. This follows from a similar feature in BRSCC’s ClubSport Trophy mini-endurance race this year.
“We looked into this and thought ‘is it just the winner who is always going to walk away with the prize?’,” Daly explained. “And we thought ‘why don’t we open this up? If you entered the race give everybody a reasonable chance.’
“We’ll have a list of numbers, each driver is allocated a number, their signing-on number on the sheet, and we will draw it out and hey presto someone’s going to walk out the briefing with a smile on their face!”
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