Walter Hayes Formula Ford Festival Silverstone
2nd / 3rd November 2024 testing from 29th October
Castle Combe Circuit
1st April
6th May
Howards Day
May Day Madness
Campaign Aborted through lack of funds
2024 BRSCC Formula Ford Festival 2024
19th / 20th October
Click on the Event Organiser’s Icon for more information
More information and updates on good old Facebook. Click on the icon to visit Sam Street’s Racing Facebook page
Now being run by Swift Cooper race preparation and days have become more focused on driving for our driver Sam Street. The Swift Cooper
1992 chasis was repaired post the 2021 Walter Hayes and the first outing for testing saw Sam setting personal best times through the
afternoon session.
2 Race meetings have followed (owing to work commitments Sam was unable to test for the second). 4 races later we’re happy with the
progress made. 4 races and 4 in class podiums (x2 3rd and x2 2nd). Sadly meeting 3 was missed owing to Sam obtaining COVID.
For the championship we’re clearly racing for 2nd in Class, which will require some good results in the coming meetings.
Latest driver standings in for the Castle Combe Racing club FF1600 championship.
We dropped out of this championship in May.
In 2021 owing to work commitments SamSMotorsport teamed up with Swift Cooper the works manufacturer of the SC92 chassis. The partnership grew with class wins and podiums at the Walter Hayes Festival.
We have now reverted to self running our car and thank Swift Cooper for their on going parts and knowledge support.
Starting off where we finished last year returning to
Silverstone. FF1600 will this year be supporting the
new TCR UK tin top guys. As such we can expect
larger crowds. If it wasn’t exciting enough already
there will be new faces, new teams and new
challenges. And live TV streaming as covered on the
new Media Page here at Sams Motorsport.
In preparation the team have already had one test
visit to Silverstone early in March. It was a
resounding sucess and we’re confident of competitive
finishes in class in 2018.
The limited budget has reduced our comitments for 2022, although dropping one meeting has assisted. Performance has improved on each
visit to Castle Combe as such confidence about a great class performance for Brands Hatch and Silverstone is high.
The season started with a refurbished car being driven at
Snetterton. With a new Scholar engine and improved
exhaust system hopes were high for the season ahead.
Although the engine rebuild was as a result of a crack being
found as the new exhaust was being fitted. This essential
repair severly impacted the available race budget for the
rest of the season so a more limited timetable was opted
for. Testing at Snetterton went well only marred by a
misfire appearing as the car finished it’s final practise
session. The misfire worsened on Saturday and
qualification was missed. We work tirelessly for 4.5 hours
through the electronics and with the help of the paddock
(BM Racing) traced 3 separate electrical faults. Race one
was a rear of grid start but Sam drove through the field of
24 to finish an sound 11th. Starting from 11th on Sunday
was good again managing to finish well and 4th in class.
The 3rd race was abandoned after the formation lap with a
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reocurrence of the misfire. More updates will be posted
about Castle Combe and Oulton Park.
What a meeting, practise was going well until an
engine failure resulting in a late night Friday.
Thanks to the people at Scholar a planned upgrade
was brought forwards from 2018, and Sam got to
experience performance in the car as never before.
A solid qualifying against newer cars placed in 11 on
the grid, with no time for setup after the engine change
and compormised by the need to stop for shake down
checks. The race was steady and much valuable
experience was gained. Sadly progression didn’t
occur and there was an incident caused by other
drivers in his final outing leaving some damage repairs
through the winter. The whole event was well enjoyed
by a number of supporters who came to visit, their presence
is always appreciated. Through the winter there will be more
smaller changes, a spare engine to be setup, cooling
and data logger changes.
First outing of the year for the team. A track Sam
has worked at in the past but new for the rest of us.
Another great step forwards as we continue to
compete with the experienced teams and drivers.
Our challenge to get on the grid, finish the races and
return with smiles on our faces.
Subject to securing more funding the plan is to
compete in at least 2 more National events through
2017. Silverstone and Donnigton being the next
venues.
One of the key developments through our team’s improving success has been to invest in what’s probably the best powertrain a Formula Ford car can have.
We selected Scholar after another suppliers engine failed at Silverstone. The replacement was collected from Suffolk (some drive) and fitted overnight.
Since then we have been really pleased with consistent performance and exceptional support from the team which was formed in 1968.
The Scholar team prides itself on building and maintaining ultra competitive “Formula Ford” racing class engines, for us at SamSMotorsport we have the Kent 1600 (used to be used in the 1960’s Escorts, Cortina’s and Capris).
Many of the worlds leading racing drivers have used the services of Scholar during the early part of their careers. In 2002 five Formula One Grand Prix drivers were past customers of Scholar Engines.
Sam will be competing again subject to funding in all
3 of the Triple crown events more if we can find
additional funding. We rely heavily on external
contributions and appreciate everything anyone does
to support us. Especial thanks to the pit team for
their efforts during events and on going comittment
to getting that car going every meeting.
session. That said qualifying went well (it was wet
and drying).. Sam achieving his best grid place to
date. The race was on just after mid-day and Sam
progressed with no issues completing his second race
finish of the season.
The team had to make do with one very short practice
Castle Combe pre race test day. Only 4 laps in and a
mixture of an over keen driver and incorrect car
settings led to the first accident of the season.
Thankfully the driver emerged OK and the car was
worked on in order to prepare for the race day which
was 3 days later. Thanks to Brian Soule for
supporting the team with a new setup, Sam
progressed through qualifying and completed his first
race. Sadly in the second race of the double header
another driver failed to miss him in an early race
incident where 4 cars were taken out and failed to
finish.
Test day at Landow. First time in the car, testing went
really well. Lap times fell consistently through the
day. 145 laps covered and a good time set.
Unfortunate incident with a tyre change led to the day
being cut short.
Pre race testing was limited to one session as the
circuit had been pre booked by others. The session
was cut short through a mechanical failure, whilst
that was fixed there was no time to complete any
further testing on the day.
The race day was dry and warm, qualifying was going
well until a steering arm failure resulted in Sam and
Car hitting the tyre wall at around 100mph.
Thankfully he stepped out of the extremely damaged
car. 3 weeks of rebuild followed and another test
session to prove it ready for the Walter Hayes Trophy
in November at Silverstone
