Snetterton Mixed Results

Callum and Neil Shinner competed at Snetterton with the HSCC both racing Formula Ford 1600's both in Merlyn.

In practice Callum set good times being one of the fastest all day, Neil got progressively better as the day went on getting within 1.5 seconds of Callums best time of the day.

Qualifying came Saturday morning Callum turned the ignition off by accident on the first flying lap which put him down the field, so he had to pass all the cars that overtook him then set a fast time, by the time he managed to get through the field he only had one more lap he made it count by just under a tenth "seeing the P1 one board was a big relief" said Callum. Unfortunately Neil got stuck behind another driver for most the session and ended up 11th on the grid, although happy with the way the car handled just disappointed in his qualifying session.

Race 1:

Callum lead away from the line to be passed during lap one but got the place back by the end of the lap, once back into the lead he managed to get a small gap on second place but was red flagged before the end of the lap. Neil had managed to pass 2 cars and get himself up to ninth.

On the restart Callum lead away with Neil trying to gain positions from 11th, Rob Wainwright soon got onto the back of Callum and a race long battle commenced carrying on from last year when over 2 races the distance between them was 600ths of a second.

On the final lap Sam Mitchell caught the two leaders and managed to get to the front at Oggies corner which pushed Callum down to 3rd the next corner was Hamilton where Sam made a mistake and let the two others back trough, Callum got Robs slick stream down the back straight and managed to get in front and defend by Brundle corner, Callum won from Rob and Sam. Unfortunately Neil was enjoying his race when the oil pump failed and ran the bearings in the engine.

The team worked hard all night to get the car back out with a borrowed engine but unfortunately that engine was also not right so Neil could no longer race that day. 

Race 2:

Sunday help others plans for Callum as off the line Rob Wainwright managed to get in front of him, he managed to get by Rob on the second lap but the throttle stop twisted and jammed the throttle half way down, that was him out of the race and having to start from the back in Race 3.

Race 3:

Callum had to start from the back but thankfully most people recognised the car and let him through, at the end of lap one he had passed 12 cars which put him 10th, by lap 2 he way 7th, lap 3 he was 4th and by lap 4 he was 2nd. Not a bad opening few laps. Unfortunately Sam Mitchell who was leading had pulled a 3 second gap by the time Callum got to second, they were both running the same lap times throughout the race so He ended up second.

Not a great weekend but not a bad one. Roll on Cadwell park in two weeks.

All the formula ford races are videoed and commented on by Josh Barret here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWZEmiLV6XJJvR4ZZW81zXA

Last edited 30th June 2016.