What a year it’s been racing for FCR Media Racing and representing the FCR brands goldenpages.ie, MobileReady.ie and SaySo.ie. I have been blessed to be able to continue my partnership with these guys since 2012 and after enjoying two successful years in the Formula Sheane Championship we decided to make the switch to Formula Ford 1600 in 2014. There is great history with goldenpages.ie cars in Formula Ford and they enjoyed a lot of success together back in the 80’s and 90’s so it was a great honor to bring the colours back to the series.
We set out a plan to compete in the newly launched Champion of Mondello series, the Vivion Daly Trophy, the prestigious Leinster Trophy and the Martin Donnelly Trophy at County Down Circuit, Kirkistown. We unfortunately missed the first weekend of the Mondello Championship but despite this I managed to go on to win the Pre ‘87 class championship in my 1984 Reynard Formula Ford with three class wins and two third places. I also took the class win at the Vivion Daly trophy and secured myself some very rare prize money. The Leinster Trophy didn’t really do to plan despite a very positive qualifying, I made a mistake in the race and didn’t finish. With Kirkistown being my favourite track I was keen to end the year on a high with a strong performance. Testing for the event was a wash out so qualifying was the first time I drove the track in the dry and by the time the final came around I was on the pace of my fellow class runners and took home a nice trophy for third place in the pre’87 class for my efforts.
Thinking that was my season over with after Kirkistown we managed to put a package together to head over to Silverstone, England, the home of the British Formula 1 Grand Prix to compete in the Walter Hayes Trophy. This event generally attracts over 100 Formula Ford 1600’s to compete for the top prize. I am the only female entered in a Formula Ford this year but this doesn’t really matter as I’m pretty used to it at this stage and when your helmet goes on we are all the same at the end of the day!
I really can’t wait for racing to get underway on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll report back next week and let you all know how I got on but in the meantime cross your fingers and wish me luck!