BRSCC Formula Ford Festival
17 OCTOBER 2011:
Scott Malvern capped a superbly successful season with victory in the BRSCC's Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. The 22-year-old from Essex qualified on pole and won his heat, quarter final and semi-final races before beating Dutch driver Steijn Schothorst to the chequered flag by 0.4s in the Duratec final.
It was a brilliant end of the season performance by Malvern for the Jamun Racing team, with whom he had already won the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Champion of Great Britain in dominant fashion.

"It couldn't have gone any better for me," said Scott. "This was the one I wanted to win all year… The plan was to try to run away and hide and I nearly achieved that. I struggled a bit for pace early on in the final but was just able to keep Steijn behind. It's a great end to my Formula Ford season."

Scott Malvern's joy was dampened by the news from the USA of the death in an IndyCar crash of 33-year-old Dan Wheldon. Like Malvern, Wheldon's junior career was nurtured in Formula Ford; Wheldon was Formula Ford Festival runner-up in 1998, finishing behind the driver who would go on to become World Champion in 2009, Jenson Button.

"I went to bed last night over the moon," said Scott, "and woke up to the news about Dan. It's very hard to take and a double blow coming so soon after the death of Martin Hines. They will both be missed by British motorsport."

Sam Roach of Formula Ford promoter RacingLine added "Everyone in the Formula Ford community is shocked and saddened. Dan Wheldon was a driver of whom everyone connected with Formula Ford was proud. Our thoughts are with his young family and his many friends in the sport."

9 OCTOBER 2011:
Six months ago at Silverstone, Scott Malvern, Geoff Uhrhane and Jeroen Slaghekke shared the race victories in the opening rounds of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain on the Silverstone National circuit. On Silverstone's Grand Prix track layout, the same trio of drivers shared the spoils in the concluding races of the 2011 season to give the championship a symmetrical send-off.

All three of the Silverstone races offered barnstorming excitement and a great display of driving skills from the front-runners. Today, champion Scott bounced back from his Saturday retirement to take his 18th win of the British season, and Slaghekke secured victory in the grand finale, and with it championship second.

Round 23
Scott Malvern's Duratec-powered Mygale repaired for battle thanks to some late-night work by Jamun Racing, repaid his mechanics' toil with a pole-to-chequered flag victory in the second Silverstone race.

Malvern made an exceptional start to assume command from the outset as Geoff Uhrhane struggled to get his JTR car off the line on a damp track allowing Jeroen Slaghekke to nip through for second, from which position the Dutchman set about harrying his championship-winning team-mate for the lead.

Jeroen's hopes of victory were curtailed on lap five by an error which saw Malvern's lead extended from 0.3s to 1.1s. "I went a bit wide coming out of the chicane, put my wheels on a damp patch, and that cost me a lot of time," said Slaghekke. "Scott did a great job and I wasn't able to catch back up with him."

Malvern went on to claim victory by eight-tenths. It was his 18th win of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain season, and his 24th of the year as a whole including his separate EuroCup victories. He was delighted and grateful: "The Jamun boys worked late into the night to fit a borrowed engine, so all thanks to them and to Geva, who lent us the engine. I got great traction off the line, and the car was set up well for the conditions… I just had to guide it around."

Once he had got going and disentangled himself from the clutches of Antti Buri, Uhrhane moved into a safe third. "It was definitely hard to start on the wet side of the track; it was a little hard to get off the line and I think that's where I lost the race," said Geoff. "I should have had the pace to keep with the front two and fight for the lead but I just couldn't quite bridge the gap after the first two laps."

The scrap for fourth involved five cars at its height and boiled down in the closing laps to a duel between Buri and Dan de Zille, the Finn finally getting the upper hand with two laps remaining. De Zille was three-tenths behind at the line for sixth. Van Diemen man Matt Parry took seventh, leading home Philippe Layac, Jack Le Brocq and Luke Williams. Max Marshall was again the Scholarship victor. "It went really well apart from my start which was pretty awful. Once my tyres came up to temperature the car was good and I made some good progress," said Max.

Round 24
The Formula Fordsters saved their best for last - delivering a superb final round in the gathering gloom at the end of Silverstone's racing weekend. Slaghekke was the first man to try his luck in front, rocketing off the line to seize the advantage from poleman Uhrhane into Copse Corner. By Maggotts, however, it was Uhrhane in charge and the Aussie went on to pull a 1.2s lead by the end of the 3.7-mile lap.

Malvern was pushed back to sixth on the opening lap and it took the champion two laps to fight his way back to third, from which position he had started. He soon closed down Slaghekke's advantage but neither looked to have much hope of catching Uhrhane until a small error from Geoff on lap five allowed them to reacquaint themselves with the back of his Mygale.

The final three laps were a frenzy of pass and counter-pass, attacks and repulsions as the season's only race winners battled to add to their tally. Slaghekke nosed ahead at Club Corner on the penultimate tour and he and Uhrhane ran pretty much side by side all the way to Luffield, where Geoff locked up, slid wide and handed the advantage to his rival.

Last time down the Hangar straight Uhrhane tried valiantly to repass but had to give best to Slaghekke, and also defend his second place from the attentions of Malvern, who at one stage looked set to go past both his rivals. Slaghekke crossed the line two-tenths ahead of Uhrhane to record his third win of the season and, more importantly, to secure second in the championship. "It's such a relief," said Jeroen. "It was a very tense race. We dropped Scott but he was so quick that he was soon on our tails again. Geoffrey fought very hard, and very fairly, and I won in the end, so I'm very happy."

The man Slaghekke pipped for championship second by all of three points was his team-mate Nick McBride, who finished the race sixth, behind de Zille and Buri, and 5s ahead of his visiting countryman Jack Le Brocq. Neil Alberico claimed eighth for Ray and the Cliff Dempsey Racing team, with Tristan Mingay and Philippe Layac ninth and 10th respectively.

The driver line up for the 2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain:

• SCOTT MALVERN
• NICK McBRIDE
• JEROEN SLAGHEKKE
• JAKE COOK
• RICHARD 'SPIKE' GODDARD

The Jamun Racing Services Team took their seventh successive team championship in 2010 by guiding Scott Pye to the driver championship after achieving great success with Scott Pye in 2010, James Cole in 2009, Wayne Boyd in 2008, Callum MacLeod in 2007, Nathan Freke in 2006 and Charlie Donnelly and Duncan Tappy in first and second places in the 2005 season.

Jamun Racing 2006 Championship Winning Team

Jamun Racing 2005 Championship Winning Team

Drivers

Scott Malvern 2011 British Formula Ford Champion

Scott Pye 2010 British Formula Ford Champion

James Cole 2009 British Formula Ford Champion

Wayne Boyd 2008 British Formula Ford Champion

Callum MacLeod 2007 British Formula Ford Champion

Nathan Freke 2006 UK Formula Ford Champion

Duncan Tappy 2005 Formula Ford Festival Winner

Charlie Donnelly 2005 UK Formula Ford Champion

Ben Clucas 2002 Avon Junior Formula Ford Zetec Champion