| Wednesday, October 21, 2009 3:12AM | Behind The Wheel With Brett Smrz |
Yesterday, we competed in the Grand Prix Shootout. It was a pretty good experience to go and compete against other drivers from different countries in the same shootout. Every other shootout I have ever done is with just Americans.
The Grand Prix Shootout is a program they set up to find one driver to make it all the way to F1. Whoever wins the shootout will win a fully paid Formula BMW season for 2010. If you do well enough, they will put you into the Formula 3 Season in 2011. If you do well enough in Formula 3, they will eventually get you moved into Formula 1.
Both Connor and I did the shootout yesterday, and we stood out very well. We were driving an Abarth 500, which is pretty similar to what I am used to driving in the Mazda MX-5 Cup. The only thing Connor and I had to get used to was the right hand drive car. That didn’t take us very long though, and we got up to speed within the first 2 sessions.
The instructor was very impressed with my driving, and liked my improving throughout the morning. After I got in the car with Denny (the instructor), I got in the car with Rob Wilson. Rob was a very nice gentleman, and a very experienced racer. I did about 4 laps with Rob, and he was happy with what he saw.
After the driving, I had to come in and do an interview with a camera man. The Europeans have been saying such great things when it comes to Americans and their abilities to present themselves well. We watched one of the drivers get interviewed in front of us, and he wasn’t very good. That made us feel pretty good, because we knew we would get up there and do great. I went up to do my interview, and I was in a very enthusiastic mood. I had tons of energy when I was doing the interview, which is actually very good!
All in all, I think Connor and I did very well yesterday at Bruntingthorpe. We should make it to the last round to test in the Formula BMW. By the way, the track was very fun yesterday. It was a bit open, but they put cones out to make it much tighter. If they were doing the actual track, it seems like it would just be flat out everywhere.
After the shootout, we went out to dinner with Josef Newgarden and Phillip Major. We went to Nando’s, which is a chicken restaurant. We had tons of fun eating out and walking around the city. We all get along very well, which makes this trip so much fun!
On that note, I would like to thank Jeremy Shaw, the Team USA Scholarship, and all of its sponsors and supporters. I wouldn’t have this opportunity to be in England if it weren’t for all of them. Thanks everyone!
Brett Smrz
