Back on track

Hi Gang,

Been ages since a post, update, or anything from my end, so I hope you all are doing very well.

It has been an exciting year in mostorsport thus far and last weekend was a personal highlight for my year! After spending a ton of time instructing, riding next to people helping them with their driving, on Saturday it was time to kick them out of and take the wheel myself to get back to work.

The race was at the track that I started my driving career at, North Texas Karters, in Denton, Texas. The opposition was some of the very top drivers in American kart racing including three time US Rotax team member Jordan Musser, recent IKF Grand Nationals winners Nick Lucido and Mike Jones, along with Skusa Supernationals winner Chris Jennings amongst other strong contenders and a big field.

My ride was my Arrow shifter kart which I will be using in my next project and it is propelled by a 40 bhp Honda CR125 engine. Six-speed sequential gearbox means it goes and in a hurry. Moreso it is really loud by karting standards and when the shifter karts launch everyone stops what they are doing to come watch the race. Pretty cool to do a kart race with thousands? hundreds of people looking on!

The racing went very well and irregardless of a lack of testing and sorting out the chassis I was able to finish in 4th. While 4th isn't the result I was looking for I was really pleased with the pace. Had a few breaks in traffic gone differently then it could have been a much better result.

The project that has been keeping me so busy is set in shifter kart program which I have more or less been burried in for the past few months. I never knew how much went into launching such a project but the final pieces are coming together (I believe) and you are welcome to check out the first draft here:

www.superkartchallenge.com

Hope you all enjoy and look forward to speaking soon.

Best wishes

Michael

California

Hi there!

Tomorrow morning bright and early I am going to be boarding a plane bound for the sunny left coast of America specifically to Buttonwillow raceway. This weekend I am going to be working with the North American Road Racing Association as a race instructor helping the owners in the 'pro' group get the most out of their automobiles. From what I know about NARRA is that it is a tiered track day company where novice drivers can get involved in performance driving. From the entry level it progresses up to a medium group, then an advanced - time attack style group who is entered into a fastest man competition. This concept seems to be popular in England and apparently generates a lot of excitment in this organization as well.

I am especially looking forward to the weekend since a number of my old colleagues are going to be there. My friend Josh Gilbert who went with me as my 'crief chief' on my last trip to California to be on a reality racing TV show which never took place. Additionally I will get to work with my friend Ruth and Kevin who run the organization who have enjoyed their own very interesting career in motorsport. Their speciality is safety and are a wealth of information which they have acrued from around the globe visiting different racing circuits and participating in the different events.

Hope you are all doing well, wishing you the best!

Cheers

Michael

Now on for something completely different

Dear Friends,

It has been ages! My appologies, especially to those of you in England who are probably wondering if I am still alive or not!

Things have wrapped up at the kart track in Houston. We made a lot of significant improvements in their factility, operations and program, now time to move on.

There is a lot taking place in American motorsport at the moment with the new season kicking off along with significant changes to the landscape of the international motorsport scene. The Grand Am championship started its season in Daytona a few weeks ago, and this week (15 February) will be the most prestigious stock car race in America, the Daytona 500. Internationally Formula 1 has gotten a swift kick upside the regulatory head and all of the teams are scrambeling like made right now to build new cars with the intent of lowering cost and improving the 'show.' The changes are certainly dramatic, we will see how it goes, and how the grid shakes out! I am very excited to see Formula Two unveiled in England this year as the newest feeder series to Formula 1. A brilliant series philosophy which brings costs down to a more reasonable level.

Now I am based in Dallas and have a few things up my sleeve for the 2009 year. I still have no idea when I will be able to get back to England but hopefully I will find out soon!

Hope all of you who occasionally check this are doing well. Would love to hear what you've been up to.

Kindest regards

Michael

Not sure how I ended up here!!

Dear Friends,

The past few weeks at the Houston MSR have been a bit of a blur. To be honest it has been fantastic, lots of driving (in karts) and the chance to create a racing program to my hearts desire. I have been entrusted with the strategic planning on the MSR Houston karting program for 2009 and beyond. It is a brand new kart circuit so there are not a lot of people set in their ways which gives me a good freedom to change things for the better of racing.

While I have been busy working on the karting project, there have been a lot of cool things happening around me. Last week I traveled to Texas World Speedway which is located in College Station, Texas (for you Brit's reading this, College Station is about as Texas as you can get). I had the change to meet an interesting gentleman who is the global director of a firm which is involved in international business. He also drives a fantastic Porsche GT3 RS which he took me for a tour of the TWS circuit before it promptly broke on the second lap... Only a $1,500 dollar pressure plate in the clutch. The fourth one he's done in the past year!

This week MSR Houston has been hoping. On Wednesday AJ Foyt's Indy car racing team arrived on the scene for a sponsor appreciate day and a test with their new driver, Vietor Miera. There were rumors Vietor might be going to Penske, but as it turns out Foyt was able to grab him. It was great fun to watch the VP's from their sponsor company ABC Supply company (a home building supply firm) having a go in a 700 horse power indy car. I am pretty sure none of them got out of first gear!

On Thursday and Friday the course stayed hot with the arrival of Chip Ganassi's team. After the recent sacking of Dan Wheldon the team is doing some testing with their new driver Dario Franchetti a refuge from the Andretti Green racing team and failed (I suppose) convert to NASCAR world. Franchetti did probably 150 miles over the two days in the car doing short 3-5 lap test intervals.

This evening (Saturday) was absolutely wild!! One of the members of the kart track decided it would be well cool to set up a booth at the local fair. I haven't been to a local fair before, and quite frankly I haven't been to anything like it before! There was the widest assortment of people I have ever seen at one place at one time, however the majority of them leaned towards the cowboy side of things. During the fair they had a concert (country music) and there was a no B.S. rodeo taking place where I got to see a few riders go the whole 8 seconds and one unlucky chap who shunted with the ground after being pitched off his bull. Doesn't look like a good result as I saw a helicopter leaving the premesis.

I hope this message finds you doing very well. The slow trickle of news has been on account of staying so busy on this karting project! It might not be necessarily getting me any closer to Formula 1, but I feel like it is really going to help the program out at MSR and I hope to see it doing a lot of good for them in the future.

Wishing you the best

Michael

Setting up in Houston

Dear Friends and Family,

On at invitation from the circuit director, I have returned to MSR Houston to continue the work I was doing with their racing program before my travels to and from England.

I drove down to Houston last night and had dinner with my friend, motorsport artist Kevin Paige (www.kevinpaigeart.com). We weren't sure where to go for dinner but stopped at a place called Willie G's Seafood and Steakhouse. We certainly weren't dressed for the occasion but looked cool nonetheless in our racing inspired attire. Most people were wearing button up shirts and ties. On receiving the menu we realized we hadn't budgeted appropriately for the evening either! We managed to make a few thrify selections and ended up having a great meal!

Since I have been in Houston I have found a few reminiants of Hurricane Ike which blew threw here not much more than a few weeks ago. Many places appear that they were not even touched by the storm.

I borrowed a super cool 'tour bus' style motor home and I will be literally living at the track! I am going to be applying for a proper work visa so I can get back to England soon. In the meantime, I think this is a fantastic place to be!

Wishing you the best

Michael

MJDrive: New World Record - Back to Back Cross Atlantic flight - Also: British Government holds down American F1 contingency

Dear Friends,

As many of you know earlier this week I boarded a flight to take me back to England and get back to the effort of getting to Formula 1. Little did I know in this process I would set a new world record: fastest consecutive cross-atlantic flights.

My flight left from Dallas / Fort Worth International airport on Wednesday afternoon at 530 p.m. By my calculations 8 hours later I had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived over British soil and by 9 1/2 hours I had landed at Heathrow airport in London. Once on ground in the brand new, 'ultra modern' terminal five. We painstakingly slowly disembarker our plane and loaded onto a bus which took our flight to immigration/boarder crossing to get our passports stamped. Well, that was the plan atleast.

When I arrived at the immigration this lady who was on a mission to prove something took a look at my passport and immediately launched into 21 questions. Who are you? Why are you here?? What are you planning on doing??? After explaining my name was Michael, I am here on our countries mutually agreed upon tourist visa which allows us to visit the other country for up to six months, and I intend on watching some premiere league football, looking at castles, and enjoying some british weather, the lady decided she wasn't satisfied. She took me out of line and into an office where she repeated the same questions and asking why I was returning again to the country after so recently being here. These questions carried on for half an hour or so before she told me she thought I was lying and that I was in the country to work. (clealy my broad shoulders sold her on the construction worker type).

After a complete tear down and inspection of my bags this increasingly charming lady (not), repeated for the third time the same set of questions trying to get me to tell her I had came to the country for working. By this time four hours had passed and it was nearly noon. My friend Bradley Philpott who had came to the airport to pick me up was, I am sure, getting particularly pissed, especially after turning up at the airport at 8 a.m. to pick me up. With a further no explination the lady left only to return a couple of hours later to announce she had came to the conclusion that I had came to the country to work and I had been booked for a return flight to the United States on the next possible flight.

With no course to refute this decision I was stuck and my only option was to get on the flight back to the states. Thirteen hours of flying later I arrived back at Dallas / Forth Worth airport clenching the new world record for fastest consecutive cross atlantic flights. Now, while I am most pleased to receive an award for being the fastest at anything, you can be assured I am not one bit happy with this situation, and to say that is in fact a massive understatement.

After I got home I slept for about 13 hours. After waking up I spent most of the day thinking about the massive flow of east europeans who are currently overwhelming the british social benefits system and how damn awful fish and chips are. Now that I have spent sufficient time hating that immigration cow, I am going to start focusing my energies back where they belong on getting back to the top of motorsport.

Michael

How are things going?

Dear friends and family,

Just wanted to make a quick update to say hello and let everyone know what I have been up to. While I have been away from England I feel like a few of the projects I have been working on - with teams and sponsors have been unattended a bit. However since I left England I have remained fully emersed in motorsport, on account of Al Mitchell, the manager of MSR Houston (www.msrhouston.com) who was kind enough to extend an invitation to me to help out around his circuit while I was in the states.

Since I have been down here I have been helping them get their karting operation up and running. They recently built an incredible eight-tenths of a mile kart circuit and they are looking forward to getting a full rental and competition race program up and running. I have been helping get those things up and running and in the process have gotten to do a bit of driving myself!

MSR Houston is absolutely fantastic and a blast to be around. I can only begin to tell you about the facilities they have set up for the members of the track. My favorite thing on site, which I have not done yet, but agree fully to in principle and plan to try out soon is a shotgun shooting range. My friends in England will not believe it, since guns are prohibited (without a special license). However here in Texas we have lots of guns and naturally a clay targets range at the racing track is a fundamental piece of the puzzle. There is also a work out facility which I have been spending some time in while I haven't been working.

Additionally there is a lake on site for fishing. I must say, I don't think having a lake is that special, because PalmerSport has a lake as well. As you might remember PalmerSport has a special tradition of throwing lucky birthday people into the lake. In the lake they have here in Houston there is a real, live, honest-to-god Aligator. I was able to take a few pictures of it and I will have to upload them to prove it to all of you soon. I thing getting a birthday treat of being thrown in the pond would be less than optimal.

As many of you might have heard the weather is getting a bit dodgy around here. The last I heard there was a level 3, (read: 120 mile per hour wind) hurricane called Ike bearing down on my present local. I haven't ever been in a hurricane before and in fact never in any major disaster for that matter. A lot of people around the coast of Houston have evacuated along with many others throughout the city. Since we are not in an evacuation area we are going to hold up as the hurricane passes. I'm not sure if I will get a chance, but I will try to take a picture to show you what it looks like. We were considering opening up some of the garages (two doors at booth end of building) putting a race car on scales and doing some aerodynamic wind tunnel testing. Sounds a whole heck of a lot cheaper than buying our own wind tunnel!

Hope all of you are doing well. I am enjoying things down here (bar hurricane) and am looking to getting back to Europe soon!

Warmest regards

Michael

Stateside

Dear Friends and Family,

This week I have made a temporary return stateside, back to Texas.

The reason I have returned is on account of my British visa which expired this week. I am applying for a new visa which will be a long term visa. At this moment I am not excactly sure how long it is going to take for my new long term visa I have applied for, but once it comes through, I will be able to go back to England on a long term basis.

In the mean time I have a few projects in the works which I will be able to announce in short accord!

I arrived back in Texas on Tuesday and I have been 'indulging' in a few of my favorite things from Texas first of which was hot weather, mexican food, and a bit of karting. This past weekend I went to MSR Houston, a new racing circuit in Houston, Texas and drove with the owner of the track on his brand new karting circuit. Unfortunantely I didn't get any photos or videos of the track, but it is a fantastic circuit! The track is .7 tenths of a mile, featuring a variety of low, medium, high speed corners and the ultra American NASCAR turn. The 180' turn is at the end of a straight and features four levels of banking, MEGA!

Hope this message finds you doing well, I am happy to be back in Texas to see my family, but am looking forward to getting back to England as soon as possible and getting back on with my program.

Wishing you the best.

Michael

Inside Honda F1

It’s hard to explain what the inside of a Formula 1 team’s headquarters looks like, but I will do my very best. In all fairness a Formula 1 team headquarters isn’t exactly a race shop, its not exactly a NASA workshop either, perhaps a cross of these two things with a high tech medical lab thrown in for flavor is the best way to describe an F1 teams headquarter.

Last week I had the chance to not only visit one of these facilities, but also to go inside the heart of the engineering section and see what goes on behind the closed doors at a Formula 1 teams racing facilities. The team I had the chance to visit was Honda Formula 1 team which is based near Silverstone in the United Kingdom Midlands. When approaching the facility from the motorway you won’t realize you are approaching it, and unless you know where to look it would be quite easy to pass by. That is of course, unless you know what you are looking for, then the industrial estate, transformed racing stratofortress is impossible to miss.

The purpose for my visit was to return a misplaced intercom system which had went missing a few weeks earlier at PalmerSport. One of the Honda’s F1 engineers had came to our facility and had been doing a driver evaluation for an F3 driver they are considering for their development program. As one of the ‘new’ instructors on the beat, I was asked if I could drive halfway across England and return the misplaced intercom (a half hour drive).

I was more than happy to make the trip and take the opportunity to see inside the Honda workshop. When I arrived on the scene I parked outside the perimeter of the facility and was instructed by the security officer to “head in, cross the bridge (you have a bridge at your raceshop?), past the lake, and go into building on your right.”

As I headed down the road with intercom in hand I had a chance to see some of the various buildings on site. There must have been six or seven large buildings, one appeared to have a Formula 1 car hanging from the ceiling, a nice bit of decorate kit I think.

Once I walked into the primary Honda engineering building I was greeted by a secretary who had a lanyard with my name already printed on it. I was met by the engineer who offered to show me around the facility. As we walked inside the medical laboratory feel became evident, everything was painfully clean, I felt as if I should clean my shoes! At this point the photography stopped for obvious reasons.

The first thing we came to was a primary engineering room. There were probably fifty members of the Honda team in the open office. The room was comprised of work stations where computer monitors faced outwards from the center creating a very ‘open’ work environment. We didn’t go into the room but I could see cad schematics lining the screens which were facing the hallway. As we rounded a corner we headed downstairs to a bay containing the teams test cars, the engineer explained to me they used the 2007 race models.

Beyond the test team bays there were two autoclaves in an open shop area, machines used for baking and putting a vacuum on carbon fiber components. The first autoclave was massive, perhaps 8 feet in height by ten feet long which could house an entire Formula 1 cars chassis. The second was smaller for aero components, suspension pieces, and other miscellaneous pieces. In the room beyond the area housing the autoclaves was a machine which cut the carbon fiber fabric before it went into the autoclaves.

The engineer then brought me to a room which housed the teams SEVEN CNC machines. The CNC machines can cut a chunk of metal, either aluminum, steel, titanium, or something even more exotic into almost any imaginable shape. These shapes are used as hubs, gearbox components, and other parts around the racing car. Between the CNC machine and the carbon fiber capacity the Honda team has the ability to engineer and create a completely new working part in less than three weeks.

At this point the engineer had to excuse himself and brought me back to the reception area. The tour through the Honda formula 1 facility was fantastic, although it was only a short tour it was really cool to see first hand the technology and resources which go towards engineering, building, and preparing a working modern formula 1 car!

unfortunate turn of events

Dear Friends,

On account of a problem with the insurance provider for the car, we have been forced to withdraw the entry.

I think a few of you were planning on coming out tomorrow, of course you are still welcome to head out for the meeting, but I will not be racing.

Shame! I was really looking forward to driving the Cooper!!

Hope you are having a better weekend than mine!

Michael

On the cover for Team USA

Hey Gang!

Just wanted to send you a quick note and pass on something that recently caught my eye. It is a re-print of the article from motorsport.com, but it was picked up on the opening page of the A1GP Team USA website. You have probably already read the article, but I was really happy to see my name on the opening page of the teams site!! Hopefully it will something to look forward to more of in the future!

You can see the article and check out the A1GP Team USA site at: www.a1teamusatv.com/

It is Friday so I think most of you will be very pleased that it is the weekend! I am getting ready for the Formula Junior race at Mallory Park on Sunday. From what I understand there are going to be 22 cars in the field with a number of different makes, models, and constructors being represented. I am not fully clued in as to the performance of these different models, so I am just preparing to push the car as rapidly as it will go!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend, check back on Monday and I will have some photos up from the race meeting.

All the best

Michael

My first British Motor Car Race

Dear Friends and family,

This weekend I will be doing my first motor car race in the United Kingdom. If the year were 1961 I would literally be on the clasp of Formula 1, the car I will be running is from the category called Formula Junior and was the final step for many drivers on their way to Formula 1. In fact, with a few minor modifications, the car I am driving could easily be prepared to Formula 1 spec, of well, 1961.

The particular machine I will be driving is owned by a gentleman named Peter Jackson and is one of three cars that were originally raced by the Cooper Works team during 1961. If anyone asks you the specifics of the machine it is a 1961 Cooper Mk2 Formula Junior T56. The engine for the car is a Ford Cosworth which puts out approximately 110 brake horse power. If you see a picture of the car by modern terms it is very ‘retro’ and looks like one of the truly fantastic machines that were seen in the famous movie Grand Prix.

Since I was young I have always been fascinated with this type of racing cars, knowing it was a design from the days of old I never thought I would have the chance to drive one. When Mr. Jackson offered me the drive, I was elated to accept the opportunity. At the end of the day I don’t expect McLaren F1 to ring me up on account of the spectacular performance I will be putting in, but an opportunity to drive something like this is simply too good to pass up.
The circuit I will be racing at is Mallory Park, an infamous circuit in the United Kingdom. While the circuit is short in length, just around one mile, it has both the longest and tightest corners in the country. From an overhead map you will see there are only five corners on the circuit, however Gerards the corner at the end of the main straight goes on for about two days and three weeks, and I am told it actually has more than one apex! On the opposite end of the course is a corner where the cars must brake down to about 30 miles per hour.

The race will be taking place on Sunday the 17th of August. For the race meeting I will have a single twenty minute warm up/reconnaissance/practice/ testing/ qualify session followed by a 12 lap race. Mr Jackson, who I met with last weekend to help in preparing the car, is clearly becoming a bit ‘nerved’ to entrusting someone else with his pride and joy. He has reassured me (about 350 times) that it won’t be necessary for me to push the car to the limits as I would do in a modern car. He would prefer me to enjoy the opportunity to drive the machine, which I intend to do, while driving the ever living b’jesus out of it. (just kidding Peter!)

In all fairness to Peter I am going to really enjoy the opportunity and not push beyond what I feel is 100% completely safe. I will try to mount an onboard camera on the machine as well, so you can ride along with me.

Although its not a Formula 3 car, but I can assure you I am completely excited about this opportunity. Mr. Jackson is a fantastic guy for entrusting me with his baby, so I will be first and foremost focused on bringing it home in one piece, but if the car were to get a bit sideways, there will certainly be a big smile on my face!

Hope you are having a great week, I’m counting down the days until Sunday!

Cheers

Michael

Adriano's Radical Race

Dear Friends,

Last week I had the pleasure of being the guests of one of my good friends from PalmerSport Adriano Medeiros, who is known around the office as Gringo during his Radical race meeting. There was nothing ‘radical’ about the race, however the manufacture of the car he drives is called ‘radical’ so it has thus claimed the title of this post.
Adriano and I got to know each other quite quickly when I came to PalmerSport because we share a common background. Adriano and I are both Americans, mind you, he comes from a different part of America, a bit further south, called Brazil, but none the less we are both ‘Americans.’ Along with coming from America we both share similar motorsport aspirations, while mine is Formula 1, Adriano is most keen to become a professional racing driver, which he has recently taken a major step towards through his association with PalmerSport and being in the United Kingdom.

For Adriano his break came when he met a gentleman named Charles Loughran whose lifelong dream has been to race. While Charles did not set off at a young age with the fire and ambition it takes to go racing, Charles did set off in the commercial world with the same passion and has became a successful entrepreneur with a number of products and brands. On account of this success it has permitted him to indulge himself in funding a racing car as well as enlisting the services of Adriano as his co-driver (the radical championship is an endurance series where two drivers pilot the cars), who also has the ability to instruct him and help bring him up to speed.
For this particular race meeting I arrived at Adriano’s house bright and early (before 7AM!!!) where his wife Ana had prepared breakfast for us. After breakfast we jumped in Adriano’s road car and headed off towards Donington Park the location of the Radical Cup Race Meeting and the 2010 British round of the Formula 1 World Championship (which should be an interesting affair). Donington Park seems like a fantastic circuit to drive, however quite short, just under 1 minute to complete. However from what I sat, if Silverstone isn’t up to scratch for Bernie Ecclestone’s expectations, Donington Park and the one lane country road leading into it, are going to need some serious development before the circus that is Formula 1 and the hundreds of thousands of rabid British motorsport fans descend upon it.
Once we arrived at the paddock we were greeted by Charles and the team they have employed to run their Radical racing car. The radical is sports racer modeled after a Le Mans prototype, and powered by a 1500cc race prepped Suzuki Hyabusa engine. Although the car does have a second seat in the cockpit the chassis is not too far removed from a single-seater, with the engine fitted behind the driver. Their particular car is primarily blue and adorned with their sponsors logos: Bauer, Alpine Star, and Airflow. Sitting stationary in the paddock the car looks rapid.
For the days competition there would be two race events, both an hour in length and would feature a compulsory pit stop and driver change at mid-distance. For the first race Adriano would start on the pit wall and Charles would take the driving responsibilities for the initial stint. It was Charles first time to start the race so nerves were certainly on the rev limiter, the least of which were Charles’, who knew a good start would be key if he wanted to return the car to the ‘hired gun’ in any sort of position to mount an attack on the leaders. For the best viewing point on the circuit I went to a corner known as ‘the old hairpin.’ From my vantage point the cars came blasting downhill through Crane curve (a flat right, then left hand section, which sends the cars hurdling towards the old hairpin in top gear), then hard on the brakes to slow the car before the old hairpin. As the race got under way Charles was behind the wheel for the first stint. It was easy to tell, even from the side of the circuit he was working very hard in the car, maximum effort! Although his times were slightly off the pace, it wasn’t on an account of lack of trying, a few drivers were getting around him, but they certainly had to work hard to take the position. At around 25 minutes into the race Charles was hovering just outside the top ten before he darted into the pits and handed the Radical and driving duties over for Adriano.
The first time Adriano came through crane curve it was clear the driver change had been made. While Charles himself had been working very hard in the car, the scream of the engine, pulling more RPM’s and a higher corner speed let me know Adriano was making the car work hard for him. Over the next few laps the engine pitch increased progressively lap after lap as Adriano pushed the car closer to the limit. The blue Radical’s course for the race had changed and forward was the new buzz word. While he was well back in the field at the driver change Adriano began carving his way towards the front, by the time the checkered flag came out, the blue radical had moved up into the top ten and was showing promise for race two.

After the race I went to speak with Adriano and Charles, and to listen in on a de-briefing session between the two. Adriano had noticed a few places where they could improve their speed on the track and make some improvements for the final race.

The next race would be similar in distance, one hour, but for this one Adriano would start behind the wheel. As the cars rolled out onto track I was excited to see what Adriano could do from the get go, although qualifying had not been good, starting outside the top 10, he would have the leaders directly ahead of him. When the lights went out Adriano had a good start, but not a great one He was boxed out as they made the run into the first curve, a fast right hander. The cars that he had initially passed were able to get back under him putting him back where he started. My vantage point for this race was very different, from a VIP suite overlooking the chicane coming into the main straight. Although not as critical for the overall lap time as was the crucial old hairpin, this is where a great deal of overtaking would take place as drivers out braked and lunged to the inside of their opponents.

As the race got started Adriano held position for the first few laps as his car got acclimated with the conditions. Soon however he started building up a speed that could only be matched by a few drivers on the circuit. Moving up the field, Adriano had the pace, however the passes did not come easily as he found himself getting caught in battles with a number of drivers who were reluctant to give up their positions to the charging Brazilian. On one occasion he made a pass into the chicane just before me, only to out brake himself the following lap and re-allow the driver through! Regardless of this, Adriano was turning good lap times and moving forward with a certain determination.
He only had twenty five minutes and his starting position had not been brilliant but when Adriano came into the pits for the driver change the official timing and scoring monitor read “P1. Adriano Medeiros.”

This however would be the best news for the race as the bad news immediately began to set in. The drivers change went smooth, Charles climbing behind the wheel, however when he went to re-fire the car (it must be shut off for the drivers change) the response was an uninspiring ‘click.’ For some mechanical reason that I simply cannot be bothered to write about the car’s starter engine failed to ignite the flame of the 1500cc engine and the car sat motionless unable to bring itself back to life. Immediately, Adriano who had just finished his stint at the wheel was behind the car pushing it in an attempt to re-fire the machine. Over the next :45 seconds in relations to the cars on track the car sat near motionless as they pushed it forward, then painstakingly pulled it back, and then re-pushed it until it finally fired. Those :45 second I am sure took hours in Adriano’s mind, the longest of the weekend without question, perhaps the longest ever. The damage had been done and on the account of a simple problem with the starter engine the race and Adriano’s efforts were cast into oblivion.

By the end of the weekend the final race results put a major damper on the excitement created by the driver in the first stint of the race. Charles carried on, gaining valuable track time necessary to his development as a driver. However for me there was something special about the weekend, a quiet victory, as I was satisfied to see a driver from America with ambition and grit getting his chance. Although it took him a little while, it proves to me in the motorsport world of ‘hard cuts soft’ where money is apparently more valuable than talent, a guy from America with a head on his shoulder can make it.

I intend on writing soon about my chance to get getting behind the wheel of a racing car myself, I think I will do it tomorrow.

Hope you are having a fantastic week.

Best regards from a sunny UK.

Michael

In the news: motorsport.com

Dear Friends and Family,

Believe it or not I have managed to make it in the world-wide motorsport media! Well, sort of! After meeting with A1GP Team USA owner Rick Weidinger at Brands Hatch I wrote an article which was picked up by motorsport.com about the team and the A1GP series.

If you would like to check out the article you can view it at: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=302345

For the next day or so it will also be available on the sites homepage at www.motorsport.com

Hope you are all doing very well! You won't believe what I have been able to see today!

Warmest regards

Michael (from a very very wet UK!)

Fortec Motorsport

Dear Friends and Family,

A couple of weeks ago I was able to meet with a few teams from the two championships I have been exploring and determining the viability of me participating in; Formula Renault and Formula Ford. Both of these series offer very valuable learning platforms which would serve as a fantastic place for me to move towards Formula 1.

The first team I visited is one of the top junior formula car teams in Europe Fortec Motorsport. The team is truly outstanding in both performance and size. In total there are 18 drivers for the team competing in five different championships.

When I arrived on the Fortec motorsport premises, which is located in an industrial estate in the British mid-lands, I found not one but two warehouses which house the team and all of the necessary equipment to run these cars. Between the two buildings a fleet of immaculate white transporters which haul the cars to the track were parked, impressive stuff.

After heading in to the front office I was met by the team director and owner Richard Dutton. Richard has been involved in the motorsport scene since for a number of years. I can't recall specifically how many at this moment, but close to as my lifetime, with the exception of a few years he 'escaped' to do real estate. Eddie Jordan personally asked him to return to run a driver he was bringing up through the ranks in the 90's.

One of Dutton's recent accomplishments, aside from championships in nearly every class his team enters, is that he is responsible for bringing along Formula 1's newest winner, Heikki Kovelainen through the junior series ranks. He told me he had been impressed with Kovelainen and his perseveirence even though he didn't have any money for racing, even relating one story where he raced at the karting world finals in Japan and sent his chassis with another teams van and had to carry his engine as carry on luggage his flight.

During my meeting with Dutton he showed me around their facilities and introduced me to the Formula Renault team manager. We had a chance to speak about the details of the program and there are certainly some details! Dutton was quite pleased with my previous racing experience and expressed an interest in running me in a car for the winter championship a set of two rounds which he uses to evaluate drivers for the 2009 championship. In order to run the two race winter championship and do a few days of testing I will need to come up with around 42,000 United States Dollars. While the word motorsport has this funny word 'sport' in it, what it really means is motor business. I am going to be hard on the case of finding the sponsors to help me secure this seat for the winter championship as well as the entire 2009 championship!

Today I am going to be doing some private instructing with a journalist by the name Will Powell and perhaps even the famous photographer Stuart Price from the magazine Autocar, the worlds older automotive publication. Wish you all the best for a great week, i'm going to be busy!!!!

Cheers

Michael

World Touring Car Championship

Dear Friends and Family,

This weekend I was back at one of my favorite circuits in the world Brands Hatch for the British round of the World Touring Car Championship. Along with the WTCC, many of my colleagues from Palmer Sport were on display in the Formula Palmer Audi Championship. On top of all this racing action, BMW was kind enough to bring one of their 2006 Formula 1 machines for a demonstration lap that was driven by their touring car pilot Andy Priaulx.

Please enjoy the weekend from view through my photographs and the video of the F1 car taking paddock hill bend and druids. (turn the volume to maximum for most realistic effect)

Cheers

Michael

v10 Formula 1 engine through Paddock Hill bend! On the cars first (and only) flying lap he was about .5 seconds per lap quicker than the A1GP cars fastest time.

This guy on the right speaking with Jonathan Palmer is actually the stig from Top Gear.

This is one of my colleagues from PalmerSport, he is a South African guy named Armand. He is the master mechanic on our fleet of Clio Cup Racers which is possibly the toughest job in the entire outfit!!

This Seat EuroCup car has one of the coolest paint schemes I have seen!

William Zollo decided his FPA race was getting boring so he parked the car by us and joined us for a coke!

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

Dinner with the wizard

Dear friends and family,

A few nights ago I met up again for dinner with racing coach extraordinare Rob Wilson. Rob has been staying very busy working with drivers from around the world none the least of which are with Formula 1 drivers from McLaren and Williams.

When speaking with Rob it is truly phenomenal his depth of knowledge and understand of the art and science of racing driver. I cannot say just the art or just the science of racing driver becuase he looks at racing driver in such a way that both are very much involved. Aside from his racing Rob is also a musician and one cannot help but make the comparison to the way he describes racing driving, because many times it relates to the tempo and harmony one would think of when describing music.

During our conversation Rob gave me a number of ideas to continue going forward and finding ways to get in racing seats. He also shared with me a number of ideas and philosophies on driving. It is simply phenomenal the level at which he breaks down the most simple acts in driving. When speaking with Rob he explains complex properties of a racing car in a simple way which makes you almost think you realized it on your own. In the end I believe my conversation with him is worth atleast .3 tenths of a second!

My next mission is to get on the track and start putting into practice some of the lessons he suggested!

Hope you are all doing well, I am looking forward to the week and hopefully by the end of the week will be closer to finding a sponsor!

Best regards

Michael

Getting into Formula 1

If you have ever been to a grand prix you will understand when I say it is near impossible to get into the paddock. I say near impossible because there are always the footballers (soccer players for the American's reading this), super models, and movie stars who find a way to get into the paddock. For the rest of us, there is simply no way to get in. The paddock, is maintained at the highest level of security. It would probably be easier to get into Fort Knox.

When you arrive on the scene you will notice there is an 8 foot tall fence lining the entire paddock. To the dismay of GP2 driver Bruno Senna, it was easier for a dog to find its way onto the circuit in the path of his car, than it would have been to get into the paddock. There are only a few entry portal's into the paddock and those are guarded by a team of no fewer than five gate officials and two police officers. Unlike other entry points a human does not read your credentials to make sure you can get in, on the contrary it is a mechanised system derived from the Starship enterprise which scans the barcode on your credentials. The wrong credentials and a red light comes on along with a buzzing sound to alert the security officials you need to be escorted somewhere. The proper credentials means a green light comes on and the turnsty unlocks allowing one human being to pass through.

Around this military style gate system are hordes of onlookers milling around to see if perhaps their hero Lewis Hamilton will come through or perhaps a glimpse of the FIA's very own villian Presidente Max Mosely. The only people who get in or out of the F1 paddock are those who are meant to be going in or out of the F1 paddock.

Around the entire fence lining the paddock is is a chain link fence which has guards standing at the critical intervals. Occasionally onlookers will peer through the fence and try to see what lies within the confines of the F1 statofortress. For those willing to peer over the fence they are met with glimmering colours of F1 teams in an incredible array of team and sponsor hospitality areas.

While the entire weekend at the Silverstone Grand Prix was truly a fantastic one, the only thing left for me to do was to get into the paddock (aside from of course racing an F1 car). I had no idea how I was going in and when I tried my British Racing Drivers Club pass the red light signalled I would not to be proceeding. A heck of a system which won't even permit the 'owners' of the ground the paddock is built on entrance!

After a chat with the security officer who then arrived on the scene it was made well clear the access gates were not my way in. Not to be detered I continued my single-minded mission to get in to F1. The process took quite some time but I recognized a weakness in the system. There was a way in and I was going to make use of it. Although I certainly will not reveal the weakness in the system otherwise it might be fixed by next years race! It has been an age old battle since the inception of motor racing cars between organizers and racers of who can get the better of the rules and this particular day would be mine.

As I climbed down from the fence the world of Formula 1 unfolded before me. The F1 paddock emerged as a 'whose who' of business and sport united in to one by the most amazing extravegence of money I have ever witnessed in my life. Apparently from an unseen crevass in the earth the McLaren, Ferrari, and other team's hospitality suites rose up (which most likely by happen chance were excactly the width of three or four lorries parked next to each other) and then grew to three levels in heigth. The construction of each building was different but the materials ranged from mirrored glass to space aged plastics as well as a number of composites of unobtanium (a technical term used to describe materials which can only be created in a workshop on the planet Uranus).

Inside the paddock were all the faces you are used to seeing on TV, but simply assume don't exist in real life. David Coulthard and Kazuki Nakajima were hanging about while Ferrari Star Felipe Massa was hidden deeper in the confines of the Ferrari hospitality area, certainly a complex I would not dare push my luck on any further. Outside in the main walkway Speed TV commentator Peter Windsor was in the middle of a broadcast. Once the tape had gone off I stopped by to have a quick chat and introduce myself. Shortly thereafter one of the green and greener clad Honda team members stopped by to have an intimate chat where by the look on Peter's face I am sure the ingredients of McDonald's secret sauce was revealed or perhaps an explination for Ruben's podium finish.

After a few more minutes of checking about I had to devise my exit, because just as the entrances are monitored the exits are monitored as well. I found a hardly guarded bridge which passed over the front straight as my escape points. With only a few guards manning the exit I waited until their attention was diverted and I made a hard line for the exit. By the time they looked up and saw me passing through the "I'm not messing around" look on my face quelled any questions I am quite sure!

So many people have told me it is impossible to get into Formula 1. I say, it might be not be easy, it certainly might not be a smooth path, but it is possible.

Wishing you all the best!

Michael

Inside Formula 1: British Grand Prix

Dear Friends and Family,

On Sunday morning I woke up bright and early, even before my alarm went off at 530AM, to get an early start towards Silverstone to see my first ever grand prix in person. Since I was a child I have been fascinated with Formula 1 and to now see my first grand prix in person I simply could not wait.

As I arrived at Silverstone at around 630 the traffic was already building up. With my trusty British Racing Driver's Club pass in hand I headed towards the infield. With plenty of time on my hand before the Formula 1 cars hit the track I started mozying around to see what was going on around the circuit.

The helicopter terminal was in full swing and I was told that there were over 900 helicopter take off's and landing on race day.

Near the paddock a few interesting cars were parked up apparently with special access none the least of which was a Bugatti Veyron, the 1,001 Horse Power road car capable of over 200 miles per hour. The ultra fast Mercedes safety car paled in comparison.

Around 9AM some of the support races started to kick off along with an onslaught of rain which didn't slow down until after the final race had concluded. With rain tyres fitted the Formula BMW, Porsche Super Cup, and GP2 cars headed to the track. While I was certainly keen to watch the GP2 race the rain dampened by interest in the other support races. As the morning carried on the British racing fans began turning up in full force despite the poor conditions. By noon Silverstone was bursting at the gills with avid racing fans, many of which were sporting the bright red the British McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team and their national hero Lewis Hamilton.

Just after lunch time the steady drone of support race engines was shoved to the side as the crack of the first Formula 1 engines came to life. As the cars were sent out on their reconassiance lap I headed for what I was told was the best viewing spot in all of Silverstone. The section of the course I staked out as my own was just between the fast right hand Stowe curve where the cars would then blast through vale and then into the left, right chicane and then right bend of Club.

While I could not see the start from my position when the cars got to my parts of the track the feeling which came from the cars and the fans on their feet was absolutely sensational. You must keep in mind I have been at the race track literally my entire life and to feel this kind of buzz at the racing track (while not in a car) was something truly phenomenal!

As the race got under weigh the rain only got heavier which would certainly make things tricky for the drivers. From last season since the regulation changes mandated the removal of the cars traction control systems. Too much, or too fast application of the throttle and the cars would be facing backwards faster than the drivers could say "I hate the rain." The first driver to fall victim to the appauling conditions from my vantage point was Adrian Sutil whose Force India car came unstuck as he attempted to overtake another driver. His car eventually came to rest only a few meters from my position and I had a chance to watch (and laugh) as the poor corner marshals dragged, pulled, and shoved his multi-million dollar car out of the gravel. No sooner had this happened than the car naturally caught on fire which had to be extinguished with fire bottles.

As the race progressed a clear leader emerged in the form of local hero Lewis Hamilton and his silver and red McLaren Mercedes. All the other's potential winners had fallen to some sort of mishap including Ferrari's Felipe Massa who started spinning around 1pm and didn't seem to stop until around 2.30pm. Honda's token Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello, however was making the drive of his life as he took his Honda to the front and managed to maintain a podium position to the end of the race. As the race wound down Hamilton's lead increased to over a minute, an unhead of advantage in today's world of Formula 1. With five laps to go the jumbo tron's covering the race began to broadcast "It is an offence to invade the circuit." Clearly the organizers thought a Britain's win at Silverstone would bring the fans excitement to a climax that the circuit barriers simply would not be able to handle. They were right! As Hamilton crossed the finish line the fans around the circuit went hysterical. Some headed towards the fence, others ran towards the start/finish line to see the post race celebration.

After the race I got into my own mischief, but I am going to have to write about that another time. The past week has been a whirwind, I have visited with a number of Formula Ford, Formnula Renault, and F3 teams, been at PalmerSport, and I have moved. As soon as I have a chance I will get a few more posts up.

I hope you are all doing well and since yesterday is my brothers birthday I just want to wish him a special happy birthday from England!

Michael