Behind The Wheel With Brett Smrz
Hey Everyone.
I just heard news this morning that I have been bumped up to 3rd place in the Formula Ford Festival results! One of the drivers in front of me was disqualified for an illegal carburetor. Unfortunately, it was Scott Malvern, my team mate from the Festival whom I was chasing the entire weekend.
As we are all upset that Scott was DQ'd, due to an accident in the carburetor, I am saddened deeply. The Malvern's were kind enough to lend me their car for the Ford Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy. Scott was driving in a rental car, which is the car that had the issues. I wanted to thank the Malvern's for being so kind as to let me borrow their car while I was in England. If they hadn't done that, his 2nd place would still be...
Hey Everyone,
First off, I would like to thank everyone for all of the donations I got for the Team USA Scholarship. I got tons of donations in, and it is going to help me with the costs for the trip tremendously! It is so awesome to know I have so many fans, and I am glad my experiences in the UK could be shared with all of you!
I did the last weekend of the Jim Russell Championship Series this weekend, and ended up with 2 poles and 2 wins throughout the weekend. Gabby Chaves (Formula BMW USA Champion) decided to come out and do a race with us this weekend, and it was great to be able to race against him again. By me winning both races this weekend, it allowed me to win the 2009 championship! Despite missing 3 weekends, I was able...
The whole entire Team USA Scholarship experience was absolutely fantastic. I have never had as much fun racing as I did these last couple of weeks. Being able to go over seas and race for America with a fellow racer (and an amazing team) couldn't have been more fun. The scholarship has changed my view on where I want my career to end up. I am setting my goals very high, and I want to make it to Formula 1. The racing in Europe is better (in my opinion). The people are so much more into it, and that it what I want to be around.
Now, to explain about what happened in my main event race at the Walter Hayes Trophy. As most of you should know, I qualified on pole for my heat race (after putting it into the gravel trap 5 laps in). I was a...
Today was the last day of practice for all of us. We have to do our qualifying laps tomorrow, as well as a heat race. I think I have the pace to win the main event right now, but it isn’t showing on the timer. We are running on some very old tires right now, and I am struggling to hold the mid corner speed that the fast guys are carrying. Connor seems to be having the same problem as I am at the moment, so it makes me feel a bit better, because he is on old tires as well.
All I can do right now is to keep hitting my marks, and wait for all of the fast lap bull crap to stop! The races are much different than qualifying or practice; and the races are my strong point. I am confident that I will get my quick lap in qualifying tomorrow....
Silverstone is not only a historical track, but an amazing track. Being able to drive on Silverstone was very cool today. Turn one is such a fast corner, and the runoff for the Formula 1 drivers leaves a bit of room for the Fords to run off on! (But it is illegal to do)
The draft in these cars at Silverstone is much bigger than it was at Brands Hatch. We will have to put our Skip Barber drafting tactics into play, which will be a little bit more than what we are used to. There are more opportunities to pass on this track, so the races will be a bit more exciting in the front of the pack.
Testing went well today. My car was setup very loose, but I like the car to slide a lot. I actually set my fastest time of the day in my first...
What a day! We spent the day looking at the McLaren Technology Center, which was absolutely amazing. The building is made of glass. Literally, everything is made of glass! Little did we know, there was even a small pond right outside of the building, which made it look like it was floating on the water. Jakub gave us a tour of the entire factory, and told us everything about everything!
We got to see all of their different stations; such as their brake testing station, the station where they build the parts, and the station where they design the parts on the computer! The cars are amazingly high tech when you look at them up close. There are little curves on the body work that you would never see on TV, and that you wouldn't think would...
Today was a fairly long day. We woke up early and went downstairs to get a bite to eat. After we were done eating, we waited for Josef to come and pick us up to head over to iSport.
iSport is a front running GP2 team. GP2 is the feeder series to the Formula 1 series. Seeing the car today was very cool. We were asking Paul all types of questions, and he was telling us exactly how the car worked, and all about its cool features. One very cool feature I found on the car was the hand clutch. I never knew that a Formula 1, and a GP2 car for that matter, had a hand paddle for the clutch. The actual car only had two pedals in it (the brake and the gas). Their shop wasn't very big, and it was in the middle of nowhere, but it still gets the job...
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...
Hey Everyone!
Today was a very relaxing day. I got to sleep in, which was very nice. I am a bit sore from driving these cars. They are a bit old, so they aren’t as comfortable as the cars I am used to driving.
I woke up, and went to breakfast with a bunch of the team. We chatted about racing for a little bit, and when we were done we went down to the pits to say goodbye to the rest of the team. After we were finished there, Josef took us for a ride back to his apartment. We will be staying at his apartment for the remainder of the week in Oxford, England.
We walked around Oxford today, which was pretty cool. It is a nifty little town, and it was nice to see all of their buildings and streets. Their quality of living is much...
What a day! I started in the 2nd position for my semi final race. I had a bit of a bad start, and Connor got by me from 3rd position. I tucked in behind Connor, but in turn 2 I put a tire in the grass and did a full 360 on the exit. I put the gearbox into neutral and kept the car running. I kept the car in 9th position, but I started having some misfire on the straight away. I tried a pass for 8th place a couple laps later, but the driver turned into me and spun me around. I came into the pits from there, and my race was over.
After that performance, I had to start the last chance qualifier. I was a bit worried, because I would be starting the last chance from 17th position. They only take four drivers from the qualifier, so I had to...
|
|
