Taupo Supercars & Formula Open

This month we had all the action thrown at us - racing at the biggest NZ race event of the year alongside the V8 Supercars, and racing the fastest car I've driven, at Formula Open. Before I start, I'm incredibly grateful for the chance to drive Kenny Smith's FT-40 in the final round of Formula Open.

Taupo Supercars - Formula Ford

We were given two 20-minute sessions to get our setup dialled for Taupo, a very different track to most in the country. In Session 1 we went 4th fastest as I got to grips with the re-seals and curbing changes. We improved in Session 2 but were only 6th fastest. We had a risky tyre strategy lined up for qualifying - it hurt rolling out on old tyres knowing I'd volunteered a bad result - and we managed P10. But the rain was set to come down for Race 1.

Race 1

We'd have loved to be on track half an hour later for the rain to properly arrive; instead we got a semi-dry, semi-wet track. The car had also caught fire around an hour before the race after a fuel line was left undone following a carburettor jet change - we cleaned it up in time, but couldn't quite get a full setup on it. We fought from 10th to 6th before getting shuffled back in a battle, then turned on the last corner. As I tried to restart it the car became a flamethrower, and we dropped from 7th to 14th.

Race 2

Back at the track on Sunday, the ground was still damp, so we ran our same setup with the tweaks we'd wished for. The race started strong as I made my way from 10th to 5th, before the clutch pedal went to the floor. That made the wet downshifts difficult, but I kept the car running and only fell to P8 by the finish. We were the fastest car on track for a short time in all three races.

The track was dry for the last race, again starting P10. The car was fast early but went away as the dying left-rear shock got worse with temperature. We made it up to P6 before a mistake dropped us to P7 to round out the weekend.

Formula Open

Again, I'm very grateful to drive the FT-40 loaned to me by Kenny Smith. This was the final round of the FONZ championship at Taupo, with a record 16-car grid. I didn't expect the car to be as fast as it was - it felt like I was going Mach 1 on my opening laps. In practice I learned that downforce is, in fact, real, and that Michelin wets feel like driving in the dry.

Come qualifying I had to remember what fresh slicks felt like, unfortunately looping it early in the session. I ran around by myself to wear the tyres in and went P8. My spin brought out a red flag, which gave me a grid penalty for Race 1 - and that didn't help, as I got caught in an incident I'd have been ahead of without the penalty. That was us out for the weekend.

A big month. The weekend in the Ford left a lot to be desired, but we found the points of improvement for next season. We plan to run the FT-40 again, though that might be a little way away.

In the Press & Replays