The Melbourne Grand Prix was a very privileged event for the Formula Ford to race at. The 6km long track is full of fast flowing turns, sharp stops and close walls. Rolling up on a Tuesday to a race event was very unusual for me. It would be my first event in national Formula Ford and it was going to be exciting.
The field was massive, full of young guns, the track daunting and last year’s quick rookies were set to dominate. As it was my first event in national the aim was to come home with a clean car though we set to still push forward in the races to aim for a decent placing. A top ten during the rounds this year is the goal.
Having to wait till Thursday before we could hit the track was a testing timely for many of the drivers let alone me, as we were all eager and anxious. A few track walks were done to look for any disturbances on the track. It wasn’t till Thursday lunch time that the Formula Fords went out for the first time on the track. A twenty minute practise session was allowed. Red flags were expected, given last year’s antics. Yet surprisingly none occurred. The full session drew out and we found ourselves 4 seconds off where we wished to be.
Qualifying took place at six forty that afternoon. A colder, darker track meant for some quick laps, with the lap record being broken by over a second by numerous drivers. With last year’s qualifying in mind, the team prepared for a red flag. The tyres were set for one single hot lap. Though a quick lap was put in on my first lap placing us thirteenth, the occurrence of traffic in front of me slowed me down for any opportunity. The car boiled off and struggled after lap one. My time held well but dropped away at the end back to 17th.
Even so, we were pleased, as we found a further 3 seconds from practise to qualifying. Race one was filled with nerves. The first race was always going to be the hardest and it was. The warm up lap revealed a clutch that was not fully engaging, meaning full revs were not able to be used for the start. The car would edge forward as the revs increased. The changes made from the qualifying session meant that the car had gone from an understeering car to an extreme oversteering car.
The changes in the car combined with the track conditions made the car handle like a drift car. The start was good climbing up into fourteenth, due to spins and a few passes after just a few turns.
Turn 10 and 11 sent me into a spin. These fast chicanes caused me issues all weekend. The turn was costing me a second each lap because of the exit onto the long straight. Heading into the turn I had a car attempting a move up on the inside. I left the inside open as he unfortunately disappeared out of my sight. Turns out he had backed out. Yet I still ran the outside dirty line. This combined with cold tyres and a loose rear end meets my demise as a spin. The car stepped out and I corrected. Unfortunately I had an all wheel drift onto the grass. It became difficult to stop and the car looped on me into turn 11. I caught the spinning car and sent it facing in the right direction the car was stalled on the curb. As cars used the escape road down the inside I refired the car. Just as I did, a red and silver car came flying up the inside in a spin. The rear wheels of either car missing by just centimetres. I clawed back a few positions back into 18th as I struggled with an oversteering car. Race 1 was my first and most difficult race yet.
Race 2 lasted all of a lap and a bit. The race though was great. The car was much better this time. An absolute rocket and now my nerves where settled it was very easy to do. I seized multiple opportunities to overtake passing all the way up to 13th in the short period of time. The car was very grippy and the first time all weekend the car was good through the ‘S’. So much a following car fell off behind me as he attempted to follow my car through at the same speed. Just as I prepared to pass for 12th the red flag had occurred.
An incident back at turn 3 had sent a car into the wall. The race was flagged as the driver struggled with some back pain. The abrupt ending of the event was disappointing. Yet the pace shown from the last race made up for it. I’d just like to thank all my sponsors and supporters who got behind me for the event and Ii hope to see you in Queensland.
Tom Goess.
