Walter Hayes Trophy : Front to Back, then Back to Front Keeps the Weekend Busy
05.11.2008 by Harry Hogge
Last weekend at Silverstone provided some of the best racing of the year. Over 130 Formula Ford 1600 machines and drivers descended on the Northamptonshire circuit from all over the world to battle it out for outright honours in the 8th running of the BRDC Walter Hayes Trophy.
I was invited by James and Colin Beckett to drive the Sheshon Racing 78 Van Diemen. This was the same car that I raced in the same event 12 months ago which marked my return to racing after the 2006 Formula 3 accident.
The weekend didn’t get off to the best start on the Friday morning practice as the car suffered a brake issue after a lap and a half and I ended up bouncing into the gravel at Brooklands corner. However, we quickly redeemed ourselves and posted a respectable time of 1m 04.4 in the final practice session of the day on tyres from the previous year, which were a long way past their best. I knew to be competitive in these conditions we would need to be doing times in the low 1m 03’s but this would always be a big ask of a car which was 30 years old this year. Compared to the newer machines the RF78 was slow in a straight line. It has the springs out in the airflow which makes for far more drag on the long Silverstone straights. Last year it had been a big battle in the dry race and I was hoping that all the rain dancing from the previous week had paid off for the approaching weekend.
Saturday morning arrived and so did the damp weather. Hurrah!! Just as hoped. The wet weather would close the performance gap between our RF78 and the rest of the competitive field. I qualified 2nd for our heat. The top 11 from the heat would progress straight into the Semi-Final so I knew if I just survived it I would be looking good for the races to come.
I made a good start and got into the lead. I pushed hard on the first lap to break the tow from the cars behind. Unfortunately the others stayed close and on the second lap I was being challenged at the end of the National straight. The Other car made a mistake and collected me on the way to the gravel. Both of us were left stranded after sinking deep into the Brooklands gravel trap. The marshals however did a super human job and got me back on the track with pure man power without me losing a lap. I pushed hard to catch a couple of the slower cars up and finished in 15th place. This put me on the back of the grid for the Last Chance race. One moment I had been looking at a front row start for the semi and a possible front row start for the final, the next there was over 80 cars between my next starting position and that final pole position.
The rest of the weekend the Sheshon Racing team and I got the best out of the 30 year old Black Beauty and we had several sensational races.
From 21st in the last chance race we finished 2nd after a great battle with another previous winner Peter Dempsey. From 34th in the Semi final we finished 8th. Then to complete the day we raced from 16th to 8th place in the final. Not bad for a classic. The car was by far the oldest to make it through to the final so we won the pre-80 class and also achieved the fastest lap.
American Conor Daly won the final from fellow LeMans Series racer Michael Vergers.
On top of racing in the main FF1600 event I also got a chance to compete in the BRDC Secretaries Challenge. This is a race for all BRDC Members and Superstars. A 207 Spider was provided for me courtesy of the guys helping at Sheshon racing. I was straight into qualifying after never previously driving the car. We qualified 7th and then battled up to 4th in the race.
The end of season Walter Hayes Trophy weekend once again provided one of the best atmospheres of the year (all credit to James Beckett) and I have to thank everybody who gave me the opportunity to race. It was fantastic to catch up with everybody in the BRDC and also the SRC.
See you all soon!!