Talking to Teams

Dear Friends and Family,

The last few weeks have been very busy, and I have fallen behind in my writing. However do not thing for one second it is because I have slowed down, in fact, I can assure you it is just the opposite! I have been so busy I haven't had much time to transcribe what is going on.

For the last few weeks I have been meeting with teams from a couple of different racing categories which I want to get involved with. However because I feel each of the teams deserves their own mention, over the next few days I will go into detail about their operations and the key people responsible for making them such potent competitors.

For now I will briefly mention the categories which I am investingating for the 2009 championship season.

The first series is the British Formula Ford championship. This is a single-seater category which possibly carries an incredible heritage for launching the careers of many famous racing drivers over the past thirty plus years. The cars are relatively simple as well as relatively ugly. They use a steel tube frame chassis, a ford manufactured racing engine, slick racing tyres, and are known for NOT having any wings to generate downforce. In the world of single-seater racing this is a bit unusual but teaches drivers valuable lessons for setting up the racing car to maximize mechanical grip (as opposed to aerodynamic grip, which comes from the use of wings and other aerodynamic devices). Over the course of the years this championship has been a part of the careers of nearly all world-class racing drivers and while not as compulsary as kart racing, was still choosen by the likes of the Senna's and Schumachers of the world.

The second category I am researching is the British Formula Renault Championship. These cars are modeled in appearance after a modern Formula 1 car, simply staged down with less power and less technology. Over the past ten years this series has emerged as one of the most competitve proving grounds for drivers on the way to Formula 1. Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Lewis Hamilton all did battle in Formula Renault only years before getting the call to go to Formula 1. When I raced in New Zealand in the Toyota Racing Series I actually drove the same chassis which is used in Formula Renault, however it simply utilized a Toyota powerplant. These cars are very fast and because they do use wings are notorious for taking to 'get up to speed' as a driver must get used to the downforce which is created in high speed corners allowing the driver to carry higher than would seem natural speeds through the corners.

Each of the teams I spoke with are championship contending teams and their drivers are all in a fighting position to win the championship. As I mentioned earlier, each of them deserves their own mention and I will write at more length about them over the next few days. However team teams I met with for Formula Ford are Jamun and Joe Tandy Racing, Fortec in the Formula Renault, and Carlin Motorsport who operates a number of different teams in everything from F3 to the World Series by Renault.

Although at the end of the day it is the driver who makes or breaks a race, the team is equally important in creating a platform for the driver to win on. Without the best team you are simply fighting for second place (or worse!). This is ever apparent in Formula 1 were teams like Ferrari and McLaren dominate but it can also be noticed in every other category down to kart racing.

I hope you are all enjoying a fantastic week and are looking forward to a fun weekend. I will heading to Brands Hatch on Sunday for the World Touring Car Championship where they will be doing a Formula 1 demonstration lap around the circuit.

All the best

Michael