Valuable Experience Gained at the British Formula Ford Festival – Pole & Race Win
October 20, 2011
After spending 6 days at the famous Brands Hatch circuit, Jack Le Brocq has walked away with a pole position, a race win and a bucket load of experience to take back to Australia with him. After completing close to 500 laps around the 1.9km circuit, Jack came to grips with the UK spec Formula Ford quite quickly being right on the pace on Tuesday’s 1st day of practice. Jack soon found out as the days went on just how technical the circuit can be and every lap has to be millimetre perfect to get a consistently good time out of it.
“I was very pleased with how testing went and it was a lot of seat time which was exactly what I was after to try and get the most out of the trip over to the UK. The cars are quite different with the tyres and this being the first time I had really completed any real laps on a slick tyre it was definitely an eye opener! It was totally different to what I was used to as with the grooved tyre used in Australia the cars are a lot more forgiving when the tyre lets go but with the slicks it really bites hard and it takes no prisoners as I found out a couple of times during the week. I was able to get my times down and very consistent by Friday and this left me in a very good position to attack it head on Saturday morning with Qualifying.”
During the weekend Jack raced in a qualifying session, a heat, quarter final, semi final and the final. It started very well for the 19 year old Australian when he secured pole position by 0.044 around the sub 50 second lap. Jack was then able to capitalise on this in Race 1 and lead from start to finish! Jack started from pole position in the Quarter final and in fine style Jack made a great start again on a track that had been covered in oil by an Historic Class prior to his race, to pull out a 3 second lead after 5 laps around the circuit. As he was entering the last couple of corners on lap 6 the differential broke taking all drive away from the car and tearing the side out of the gearbox housing. After a DNF in this race Jack would start from 9th position in the next race as half the field crashed out behind him in the previous race. After showing some very good pace this was the first time that he would have to do some passing around the technical Brands Hatch circuit. This was just as difficult for the young Aussie as he attempted many passing manoeuvres before being forced out of the way or onto the grass. Jack settled for 5th position but held the fastest lap for most of the race until he was pipped in the closing lap.
“I was rapt with Saturday and it couldn’t have gone any better! I was able to put my head down and lead from start to finish and we showed some really good pace. It was in very tricky conditions as the session before put down a lot of oil. As Sunday arrived I was feeling very confident after a very strong running on Saturday. I was able to get a handy margin on the field but as it goes sometimes Motorsport can bite back, and that it did when the differential broke. I was quite shattered by this but it goes like that sometimes and those kinds of things you just can’t help. In the semi final I was able to make up a few positions early on the colder tyres but as it got into the race more I was stuck behind the cars in front and I just couldn’t manage to get past until the last lap when I made up a position.”
The final soon came about and Jack would be starting from 10th position on the grid. The final would be run over 20 laps and with the history that the race has it was surely to be an exciting race. Jack made a good start but again with the very little overtaking opportunities around the circuit Jack was left to desperately try and get cleanly past the car in front. After Jack was severely blocked and pushed off onto the grass on several occasions during the opening 5 laps, he was eventually pushed off the track far enough to hit the wall on the exit of turn 2.
“The final didn’t go to plan as I was caught up with a couple of drivers back in the field and I tried pretty much everything to try and move past this car without making contact. I was forced off the track several times and eventually pushed off the track into the wall at the exit of turn 2. To make matters worse, my car was hit by another car on the last lap while sitting on the side of the track which destroyed the rear end of the vehicle. The car was feeling quite good and had some really good pace but it wasn’t to be. After a disappointing end to the weekend I think it was an awesome experience and I learnt a great deal and it has given me a very good idea of what I would like to do next year and in years to come.”
Jack is now back in Australia and has his focus firmly set on a Round Win at Round 7 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at the Gold Coast 600 in Surfers Paradise this weekend.
Jack was proudly supported at the Festival by JHB Shopfitters, Sensorsafe Electrical Contractors, Viking Windscreens and Strategic Solutions with track support from the Jamun Racing Team and ground support from Greg Woodrow – Mygale Australia.
