10. Jamie Sharp & Rory Smith: 2021/2023 Formula Ford Festival winners
There’s no denying that Formula Ford is now past its heyday, but these two are shining examples of how it can still provide the best racing.
In 2021, Jamie Sharp put two battle-scarred seasons in British F4 behind him (against the likes of Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan) to deliver a virtuoso performance of attack and defence and lead a train of six across the line with just over a second between them.
Following a washout in 2022, Rory Smith did likewise last year. The grid for the final featured an all-BM/Medina front row (Smith, then Sharp), and an all-Dolan/Van Diemen second row (Niall Murray then Chris Middlehurst). What happened next was 20 laps of magic.
Murray piled on the pressure, climbing all over Smith before jinking to the outside at Paddock Hill Bend to take the lead. Smith then threatened to repeat before switching to the inside and sending Murray wide, only for Murray to immediately launch back around the outside at Druids. It was brilliant but, with just two laps remaining, the Irishman raised his hand and slowed with a misfire… brilliant, yet brutal.
9. Mark Blundell: 1985 Esso champion
To see Mark Blundell race was akin to watching the hybrid of a raging bull and Rudolf Nureyev; a man possessed with force, speed, agility and huge cojones. His drive for success was spawned partly by his father’s acumen, and from early experiences racing dirt bikes. “You either led the way or were trampled into the mud,” he recalls.
Blundell spent 1984 acquiring his craft and rounding off edges: “In those days, you could race almost every weekend, and I made the most of it; exploring lines that nobody else would use while understanding the car’s response to conditions. It wasn’t just about technique; I was learning to win.”
The next year, he did just that. He’d perfected the art of slipstreaming (vital at Silverstone) and everyone else (including Damon Hill) knew it.
8. Conor Daly: 2008 Walter Hayes Trophy winner
In 1990, journalist Jeremy Shaw had a point to prove: that young Americans could cross The Pond and be successful against the cream of British and Irish talent. Starting with Jimmy Vasser, then Bryan Herta in 1991, Shaw – with support from IndyCar’s Rick Galles and others – prepared young drivers for the trip to Brands Hatch where they would be supplied with a competitive car run by a top team.
After forays with F3, Formula Opel and Formula Palmer Audi, Team USA returned to Formula Ford 1600 in 2008 with two exceptional proteges: Josef Newgarden (now a two-time IndyCar champion) and Conor Daly. Though American by birth, Daly was no stranger to these isles and is the son of Derek Daly, the Irishman who won the 1976 Festival and later enjoyed a solid career in Formula 1 and CART.
Newgarden was the first to shine, taking victory at Brands in a Ray but, when the racing moved to Silverstone, the weather changed from bright to stormy. Newgarden won his heats and was on pole for the final, whereas Daly had built steadily. He’d also been paying close attention to another rising star, Peter Dempsey, a late entry who had to start at the back of both the progression and last chance races before emerging victorious.
Daly’s homework paid off. With rain teeming, polesitter Newgarden crashed out at Brooklands, then Graham Carroll (Scottish champion) lost grip and the lead as he slid into the gravel at Woodcote. Although he had never made a wet safety car restart, and had stalwart Michael Vergers on his tail, Daly held his nerve to become the first American to win the event.
7. Joey Foster: 2004 Walter Hayes Trophy winner
Joey Foster is not only the most successful racer ever at the Walter Hayes Trophy (with four wins), he also has two Festival victories. A win here in 2003, together with success in the Formula Renault Winter Series, led to a subsidised Renault drive in 2004 with Motaworld.
Despite fifth and a podium on his debut, his lack of budget led to limited testing and development before the campaign was curtailed. Foster’s dreams were shattered but, with encouragement from James Beckett, he returned to the Hayes to defend his title, finding that he would be pitched against former Formula Renault champion Danny Watts.
Watts was absent on Saturday due to coaching duties but made swift work of Sunday’s progression to the final. Foster, on the other hand, was simply supreme. Through torrential rain, he headed the field, waiting for a glimpse of Watts’s helmet in his mirrors; it never came.
They finished first and second but, for Foster, it was more than that – he’d proven, whatever was thrown at him, he would always bounce back.
6. Ayrton Senna: 1981 RAC and Townsend Thoresen champion
Following successes by Emerson Fittipaldi, Chico Serra and Roberto Moreno, there was much anticipation in 1981 over the arrival of Brazil’s latest karting sensation. Treading the familiar path to Van Diemen, Ayrton Senna da Silva was everything that his predecessors were not; sometimes brash, often aloof, his awkwardness belied the fact that he was driven by the singular belief that he was destined to be the best.
Van Diemen’s proximity to Snetterton meant testing could happen almost daily, allowing Ralph Firman to soon recognise the talent his squad had acquired. Firman duly supplied Senna with the best of everything, including Moreno’s Festival-winning engine (known as ‘Patch’). As the season approached, Senna confidently stated he would be winning by his third race – and he did just that. Indeed, he won 12 times and had five second places from 20 starts.
His team-mates had been expected to provide his toughest test but, in the end, it was Rick Morris who stood up to his pace. Morris should have his own place on this list, and still races today, yet is destined to be most remembered for the day in 1981 when he hunted down the Brazilian at Silverstone, then swooped around the outside at Woodcote to beat him.
5. Roland Ratzenberger: 1986 Formula Ford Festival winner
Planned preparation is a common theme here, yet in 1986, just days before Festival week, Roland Ratzenberger arrived at Space Racing to find his team had run out of cash. He was left with just his Van Diemen RF86 car, some wheels and spares, and the promise that he could borrow the transporter (which was quickly repossessed when he arrived at Brands Hatch).
PLUS: How Ratzenberger beat the odds to realise his cruelly short-lived F1 dream
With help from Graham Fuller, F3 technician Chris Weller was recruited to lend his truck and his time, while mechanic Andy Barber loyally stayed on in support. Meanwhile, Dave Minister had created another ‘special’ (aptly named ‘Rocket’): ‘No Space Racing’ was duly formed.
Even using an old engine in testing, Ratzenberger was quickest so, with ‘Rocket’ employed, his journey to the final appeared effortless. In the end, it turned out to be a straight race between the two most likely; Philippe Favre and the Austrian.
Leading off, Ratzenberger was inch perfect and, though Favre stayed glued to his gearbox, he simply couldn’t break the rhythm, until a momentary lapse of concentration on the final tour meant the red car entered Clearways a fraction too early, sending it wide as Ratzenberger headed through Clark. It was a drag race to the flag, but ‘Rocket’ did its job, securing the win by 0.05 seconds.
4. David Kennedy: 1976 RAC and Townsend Thoresen Champion
It would be impossible to have a list of Formula Ford greats without at least one flame-haired Irishman.
After honing his skills around Mondello Park and Kirkistown, David Kennedy and his girlfriend Fiona arrived in England in an old Bedford bus that had once housed chickens. They were an exceptional partnership, Fiona just as keen to change gear ratios as she was handy with a pitboard.
“I’d spent time in Australia, working in the mines to earn enough cash to pay for my racing, and to keep the bus on the road,” he recalls. “But, if we wanted to eat, I had to win prize money too, it was as simple as that.”
The 1976 season was a golden year for talent: Dereks Warwick and Daly, and Nigel Mansell were among many seeking to make their name. And, though his Crossle was spritely when cornering, it lacked refinement, meaning that Kennedy not only needed to be very fast but also incredibly brave.
He won two championships in the UK that year, and was on course to win in Europe too, but that’s another story.
3. Roberto Moreno: 1980 Formula Ford Festival winner
Inspired by Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno arrived in the UK in 1979, acquired a Royale, and was taken to Minister to equip it with a good engine.
Outstanding races at Mallory Park and Silverstone brought him to Ralph Firman’s attention and, for 1980, he became part of the Van Diemen squad. Despite leading the championship, a mid-season dip in form (later attributed to an incorrect roll bar) sent Minister into a frenzy of development. This resulted in the birth of ‘Patch’, the legendary engine that would propel Moreno to success.
Equipped with a car that was back to its best, Moreno knew that his time had come. While others had to rely on wheel-banging heroics, he focused and delivered, all weekend long. Only a lunge off the line in the final by either Jonathan Palmer or Tommy Byrne could stop him but, by the time they arrived at Paddock, he was already on the way to the top of the podium.
2. Vincenzo Sospiri: 1988 Formula Ford Festival winner
As always, a sizeable overseas contingent arrived at the Festival in 1988, seeking to make their name, including a young German called Michael Schumacher. He soon learned that attempting to go through Graham Hill Bend alongside Andrew Guye-Johnson doesn’t always work.
Friday favourite: Sospiri picks his favourite car
Come the final, Reynard’s Jose Cordova claimed pole, but behind were some of the fastest/hardest of their time. A flash of light across the gantry convinced the Spaniard and Derek Higgins that the race had started; but it hadn’t. Lengthy debate followed before both were allowed to resume.
At the restart, Cordova, Higgins, Bernard Dolan and Rick Morris all got away well, but Sospiri had been in neutral and slipped back. The polesitter, however, was not enjoying his new tyres. Higgins, Dolan and Morris went by before Sospiri, now on a charge, also joined the leaders.
Then, while fighting over a smaller-than-anticipated gap, Morris and Dolan were out. It could, and should, have been Morris’s year, but instead he left Sospiri clear to make a run on Higgins and earn the win.
1. Gerrit van Kouwen, 1984 Formula Ford Festival winner
It’s fitting that our number one coincides with commemorations of a historic win, and celebrations of a remarkable life at last weekend’s Festival. Ever since Kees van der Grint (Bridgestone) advised the late Gerrit van Kouwen to travel to England and experience the spectacle of the Festival, the Dutchman’s greatest ambition was to win it. He was already a double champion in Europe, but this became the one that counted.
Hugely likeable and with an inquisitive and analytical mind, he was soon surrounded by people with the knowledge and resource to support his endeavour. Together with his obvious talent, this stood him apart and gave an immediate advantage.
Mike Blanchet put his own reputation on the line to put the full backing of Lola into developing the T644E, while Dave Minister and Graham Fuller continued to innovate, building another all-conquering engine (John Pratt had ‘Patch’) known as ‘633 Squadron’. An industrial kettle element fitted into the bell housing and run off a portable generator pre-heated the oil in the assembly area and delivered a critical 2-3bhp gain off the line.
Such was the Dutchman’s confidence that, all weekend, he smashed records and never faltered. Therefore, 1984 wasn’t a side-by-side thriller; rather, it was perfection.
