Motorsport talent-spotters will be keeping a keen eye on the Formula Ford Festival in England this weekend – with Australian Daniel Erickson expected to be among the frontrunners.
Now in its 37th year at the Brands Hatch ‘Indy’ circuit, the Festival is the sport’s longest running and most prestigious stand-alone tournament for aspiring Formula 1 drivers.
The Festival honour roll includes current Formula 1 pointscore leader Jenson Button, Australian Formula 1 ace Mark Webber, V8 Supercar champion Russel Ingall, and a host of international motor racing stars.
Erickson, from Orangeville in western Sydney, goes into this year’s Festival as the highest-ranked debutant in British Formula Ford racing.
He finished fifth in the British national championship, the highest ranked driver who’d never raced previously at any of the series’ nine venues.
His results included one outright win, several podiums, three pole positions and a fastest race lap.
However, rivals with prior knowledge of each circuit’s idiosyncrasies sometimes outsmarted the talented rookie.
Crucially, the Festival marks Erickson’s first racing return visit to a British track.
The Australian Motor Sport Foundation ‘International Rising Star’ contested the British championship rounds on the ‘Indy’ circuit last month.
He was among the pre-meeting test day pace-setters, and his qualifying lap time was less than a tenth of a second off pole position and only eight thousands of a second behind 2009 British Champion James Cole.
His 4th, 5th and 10th placings in the weekend’s three championship rounds partly reflected his lack of racing laps around the short but demanding 1.9km ‘Indy’ layout.
Another factor was a tyre degradation problem that caused his Australian-built Spectrum 011c race car to lose its edge during the championship races.
But with that racing experience under his belt, and three pre-meeting test days this week to fix the tyre issue, Erickson is determined to prove he’s ready to move up to the next rung on the motorsport ladder.
“I’m really excited to be competing at the Festival – it’s something I’ve dreamt about since I started racing karts as a teenager,” Erickson said.
“Obviously every driver’s goal is to win the Final, and I’m no exception, but realistically I’d be pleased to finish in the top three.
“Anything shy of that would be disappointing.
“I’m confident that I can qualify well, and from then on it’ll be a matter of working with my Kevin Mills Racing engineer to make things happen in the races.”
Erickson said he’d take a step-by-step approach to the Festival, which has a different format from the British Championship.
Entries always exceed the circuit’s capacity by far, so the organisers split the field for qualifying and then cull the numbers via preliminary heats and semi-finals for the 25-lap, 47.5km Final.
“My first target is to be at the pointy end of the field in my qualifying session on Saturday morning,” he said.
“Next, I want to finish in the top three of my heat later that afternoon, with the same result in my semi-final on Sunday.
“It’s important to finish high in every race, because the finishers in each semi-final line up down one side of the Final starting grid.
“Every position down the finishing order of your semi-final effectively costs you two positions on the Final grid.
“Overtaking is so difficult on the ‘Indy’ circuit that you can’t afford to give away a single position all weekend.”
Erickson is expecting more on-track contact than during the British Championship, because there’s so much at stake with no second chances.
“I’m anticipating more pushing and shoving this weekend, although there wasn’t as much of it in the championship as I’d expected,” he said.
“The officials were saying that it’s been one of Formula Ford’s cleaner years in terms of crashes and damage – although maybe the Festival will change all that!”
Tyre strategy comes into play at the Festival, unlike at British championship race meetings, according to Erickson.
“We’re allowed to use two new sets this weekend instead of the usual one set,” he said.
“Everyone will qualify on their first new set, then try to reserve their second set for the Final, but anyone who has a problem during qualifying, their heat or their semi-final will be tempted to sacrifice the second new set just to get into the Final.
“Of course that strategy goes down the drain if it rains – which is always on the cards in England! – and we end up driving on wet weather tyres,” he said.
Erickson has one other ace up his Festival sleeve: Mike Borland, whose Melbourne company designs and builds the Spectrum racing cars that have taken it right up to the European chassis for the past few Formula Ford seasons.
Borland has flown to England to oversee Erickson’s car, as well as the two other Kevin Mills Racing Spectrums of Australian Scott Pye and Briton Steve Robertson at the Festival.
“Having Mike here at the circuit, just like when I was racing Spectrums in Australia, will be a great help, especially during the test days,” Erickson said.
“We have three full days to make sure the car is fast from the first lap of qualifying until the last lap of the Final, and no-one knows more about making Spectrums go fast than Mike Borland.
”It’s flattering that Mike‘s come here just for the Festival, because he wouldn’t have gone to the trouble if he didn’t think there was a chance of a Spectrum victory.
“I’ll be trying my hardest to justify his trip, as well as the additional financial support from the Australian Motor Sport Foundation that has enabled me to compete in the Festival.”
2009 BRITISH FORMULA FORD FESTIVAL TIMETABLE
Wednesday/Thursday/Friday October 14/15/16 – Testing
Saturday, October 17
10.50-11.10am UK time (8.50-9.10pm AEDT) – Qualifying (Group 1)
12.20-12.40pm UK time (10.20-10.40pm AEDT) – Qualifying (Group 2)
4.30pm UK time (2.30am Sunday AEDT) – Heat (Group 1), 15 laps/28.5km
5.35pm UK time (3.35am Sunday AEDT) – Heat (Group 2), 15 laps/28.5km
Sunday, October 18
11.40am UK time (9.40pm AEDT) – Semi-final (Group 1), 18 laps/34.2km
12.15pm UK time (10.15pm AEDT) – Semi-final (Group 2), 18 laps/34.2km
3.35pm UK time (1.35am Monday AEDT) – Last chance (non-qualifiers’) race, 5 laps/9.5km
5.10pm UK time (3.10am Monday AEDT) – Final, 25 laps/47.5km
