Formula Ford Festival

Here at Scalextric we love racing. Be that trucks, saloon cars, historic GTs around Goodwood or even some karting. As long as the racing is close, clean and competitive, we love it. Speaking of which, you really don’t get much better than the annual Formula Ford Festival, held at Brands Hatch.

Now, those readers whose only exposure to single seat racing is Formula One may be surprised to see that a single seat formula can produce such close action, but do not get the two series confused! Formula Ford has none of the aerodynamic trickery that so damages the closeness of Formula One, and indeed so many other slicks and wings formulas. Instead the cars are simple, 1600cc Ford Kent powered machines with treaded tyres. Moreover, at the festival there are a whole host of drivers eager to win the meeting and it’s one that I, personally, never miss.

Now today Formula Ford is more of a clubman’s series, but in the past, it was the stepping stone to Formula One stardom. The names of past winners include Johnny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Mark Webber and Jenson Button, while more recently Le Mans winner Nick Tandy also triumphed at the 2007 event.

But while the Formula One heroes of tomorrow may no longer grace the event, it is still the highlight of the domestic single seater calendar, and with returning winners and new contenders, 2018 proved to be a great year of racing.

Due to the number of entrants the festival is first divided up into three heats. Drawn at random, these are used to ascertain the starting grid for the semi-finals. With the pole sitter for each semi being the fastest and 2nd fastest winner from each heat, 2nd, 3rd and 4th etc are then decided in the same way. Following on, the top 12 from each semi go onto the final. The rest go into a thrilling 8 lap ‘last chance race’, where the top 6 join on the back of the final grid.

From the first heat it was obvious this year that Irishman Niall Murray was in no mood to hang around. A previous winner in both 2013 and 2017, he had talked about this season being his last in a Formula Ford machine and obviously intended to go out with a bang. He passed Josh Smith in the early part of his first heat and cruised to what looked to be a commanding victory. A gauntlet had most definitely been thrown down.

The second heat was a closer contest entirely, as a thrilling battle at the front saw Matthew Crowley cement his front row grid slot for the semi ahead of Neil MacLennan and Chris Middlehurst. Formula Ford Races are really like no others. The cars slip stream each other throughout the field and due to their small size overtaking can be achieved practically anywhere.

With racing as close as this accidents can and do happen, as occurred in the third and final heat. Following a lengthy period behind the safety car due to various incidents at Paddock and Clearways, Michael Eastwell emerged at the top, ahead of Olly White and another previous winner Joey Foster.

Sunday saw the real business end of the meeting, with Murray continuing from where he left off. Dominating the first semi-final in a performance that must have made his competitors nervous. Coming home in second was Josh Smith, keeping a watching brief on his Irish rival and Neil McLennan. Sadly, for the winner of the third heat, this semi saw disappointment, his car breaking towards the end. A bitter disappointment that with the cut and thrust of the festival weekend meant that it would be a mountain to climb to get a good result.

The second semi saw more disappointment, with contact coming up Hailwoods Hill eliminating both Chris Middlehurst and Rory Smith. The eventual winner of this rather chaotic race was Olly White, who sealed the win with a superb pass at Paddock Hill Bend to finish ahead of Matthew Crowley and Peter Dempsey.

The ‘last chance race’ is always superbly entertaining, with those whose luck has deserted them in the other races looking to prove a point in the eight-lap dash to the flag. Belgian BTCC star Vincent Radermecker was one such face who was looking to move up, but sadly for him it was not to be. Instead rising star Max Marzorati cemented his place in the final ahead of Ryan Campbell. The quick guys coming through meant that in eight laps we saw more overtaking than a whole season of F1, and most weekends of any other motorsport!

That just left the final to contend with. As ever this race saw plenty of drama. Murray was on pole, but Smith quickly moved up from third to sit behind him. But this was all for nothing when the red flag came out on lap 2 with two cars off in an unsafe position.

Once the race restarted Smith again made a good start and followed Murray closely. Again, we were set for a wonderful race until contact further back saw the reds come out.

Now whether this constant stopping and starting affected Murray I am unsure, but on this final and shortened race he finally let his guard down and Smith was past. Murray retook the lead, but Smith once again regained it, while fighting off an optimistic White who was attempting to pass them both coming out of Druids! Holding on till the flag he took an emotional victory.

Murray and Smith

To the victor...

Sadly, here at Scalextric we don’t make any Formula Ford cars. But luckily our F1 cars can scratch that single seater itch! Remember that in 1/32 scale it is all about driver skill, so why don’t you grab a couple and have a go at racing that would be at home at the Formula Ford Festival?

As ever a huge thanks to Gary Hawkins for the photos and I’ll see you again soon,

Simon

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