Photos: Ida Wood
The FFord Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy delivered on-track action, and off-track storylines to follow
The two biggest Formula Ford 1600 events in Britain, and possibly the world, once again attracted big entry lists and created lots of drama this year. There were ultra experienced names such as ex-Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussern and FF1600 veteran Rick Morris, as well as standout newcomers like Anthony Amato and a fleet of South African stars.
There is inevitably plenty on-track drama in winner-takes-all events, although the Walter Hayes Trophy final remarkably ran as a very clean pack race between at least eight cars the full duration, and some of the storylines spilled off the track too:
The ‘Max/Lando’ moment
The FFord Festival could have been won by Pirate M-Sports’ Joey Foster were it not for an attempt to pass Oldfield Motorsport’s Josh Smith that went awry.
Smith had Foster and Team Dolan’s Middlehurst right on his rear late in the race and expertly planted his car at every corner where Foster wanted to pass until they reached Clearways on lap 22. Foster went for the outside, and had a wheel alongside as Smith slowed and it was not clear what line he wanted to take. His car drifted to the very outside, leaving Foster grass-bound and then spinning as he rejoined due to contact with Dolan’s Jason Smyth.
The near-clash was reviewed by the clerk of the course following a report of Smith having crowded his rival off, and nearly two hours after the finish the decision was made that no further action would be taken. Middlehurst was the second driver involved in the decision, and appealed it, although Foster did talk to the clerk as testimony.
When Formula Scout left Brands Hatch over four hours after the conclusion of the final, having waited patiently to hear what decisions were being taken in relation to the race result and if there was going to be a change of winner in the night, we discovered the situation was very similar to what the rest of motorsport was getting worked up about in Formula 1.
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen had raced each other within the rules at the United States Grand Prix, at least by one interpretation, but it was clear that there was one driver who was basically forcing the other into situations that would weaken their case as being the compromised party if their wheel-to-wheel battle ended in contact.
The stewards could only make decisions with the information they had to hand, and since their decision was made during the race they relied on what was being broadcast. And they got a rear rather than a front-facing view of the incident from Verstappen’s car. Since a critical piece of evidence was unavilable when the decision was taken, Norris’s team McLaren took action against the stewards’ decision.
At the Festival, the verdict for many was what had occurred between Smith and Foster was within the rules, but like Verstappen’s driving against Norris it was also not being hailed by anyone watching as a clean way to fend off a rival.
“I’d like to see it again, from a driver’s point of view,” Foster told Formula Scout. “From my point of view, it’s the Festival final… Josh set me up for it, basically, and I’m kicking myself because I should have never fallen for it.”
And when the clerk of the course came to review the incident, Smith’s point-of-view onboard wasn’t presented as evidence.
When the appeal is heard in the national court, Middlehurst will be hoping that footage is available. Watch this space. Or that space. The one on the outside going into Clark Curve. Yeah on the outside, there’s still – Foster’s going for it – ah, nope.
The other Festival final incident
Earlier in the race, Smyth saw the top two leaving the door open at Clark Curve and went in. As a result, he spun himself and team-mate Jordan Kelly around. While Smyth made a recovery before contact with Foster, Kelly had his own off later.
“It was feeling good at the start, but just tried to make a move on one of my team-mates and it just didn’t go well,” Smyth dwelled. “I thought I was going tentatively in and then just lost the car completely. I was going off myself, really, if I didn’t come in contact with Jordan, which I’m sick about. Because me and Jordan get on so well.”
Esterson emulates brother in impressive outing
Formula 2-bound FFord Festival winner Max Esterson’s older brother Hugh was elated with his run to fourth at Brands Hatch, having been in contention to make the podium for much of the final.
“I think my best race ever,” he said of his performance. “Best I’ve driven here, for sure. I mean being in the car five days all year, and then being able to be up with Foster, Middlehurst, [Rory] Smith, all of them pretty good.
“It was greasy, but the more you push on in these, the more it kind of comes to you and you get in the zone and you don’t even think about it.”
Ammonite’s other surprise star
Esterson drove for Ammonite Motorsport, as his brother did, and his team-mate was Anthony Amato. The FF1600 newcomer (who had eight days’ worth of test experience) was constantly learning and improving, and made it to the Festival final after outqualifying both Esterson and Foster in his group and coming seventh in his semi-final. He did even better at the WHT, finishing fifth in his heat and finishing 14th in the final, less than seven seconds behind the winner.
“Did quite well in the final considering we started P28,” he said. “So not too bad, I’m happy with it. Of course we want to be higher up, but I think we’ll take that as a win this weekend.
As for 2025, will he be doing more FF1600 with Ammonite? “Yeah, definitely not going anywhere else. Definitely in the right place in my opinion.”
F2 stars in attendance
Max was at the WHT to watch brother Hugh, while KMR Sport’s driver coach Tom Mills had his own fan come along to watch… Esterson’s future F2 team-mate Christian Mansell.
Formula Scout caught up with the Trident driver just after the final finished for his reaction as a first-time FF1600 spectator.
“Very [fun to watch]. I mean it was quite bumper to bumper. I’ve not really seen racing like that. Because I didn’t do FFord ever,” he said. “Obviously shame [for KMR] to lose out, but the boys did really well, they drove well, and yeah, I’d like to come back next year and have a bit more in-depth in it. I think it will be quite fun.”
Would that be ‘in the cockpit’ levels of in-depth experience? “No, probably not. Someone will have to probably pay me far too much money to do that. But in general I really enjoyed today, and it’s just a nice place to be.”
Also watching was 1999 Super Formula champion Tom Coronel, who vowed he would race in the WHT next year if ex-Super Touring racer Jan Lindblom committed to doing it too.
Would 1999 Super Formula champiom Tom Coronel and ex-Super Touring racer Jan Lindblom, who both started off in FFord, be down for racing in the #WalterHayesTrophy?
Coronel: “2025?”
Lindblom: “Who knows.”
Coronel: “I’m only doing it if you are doing it.”
*shakes hands, deal done* pic.twitter.com/dYLR6ycRqj— Formula Scout 1600 (@ff1600website) November 12, 2024
Ensor-Smith stuns, and scares himself
Klayden Cole Ensor-Smith (better known as KC) ended his second year of car racing in spectacular style at the WHT. He was one of six South Africans in KMR’s line-up, and was runner-up in his home country’s F1600 championship this season.
On his first ever trip to Silverstone he was pipped to pole by a tiny 0.002 seconds, followed by a race-long battle with team-mate and compatriot Andrew Rackstraw and Wayne Poole Racing’s Alex Walker in their heat. Ensor-Smith finished second, a position he reclaimed on the final lap at Copse, then they battled again in their semi-final.
A slow start dropped Ensor-Smith to seventh, but he was up to fourth by lap five. Squabbling up front helped him close in on the podium places, diving past Swift Cooper’s Luke Cooper then harassing Middlehurst for several laps before finally breaking his defences. He was soon attacking Rackstraw for the lead, but was second in yet another session.
“I’m honestly really scared. My heart’s still racing from it,” he said to Formula Scout after climbing out of his car. “But it was a really good race, I enjoyed it, and it ended well.”
Another slow start in the final meant another comeback drive, but the pack racing made overtaking hard even though drivers were going three-wide into corners at times. In the end an incident helped Ensor-Smith up to third, and while he stayed there he got even closer to victory than before as he was just 0.367s behind the winner at the finish.
“It was really nerve-wracking on the start before the lights went out. But then after the lights went out all the nerves went away and it was just focus on trying to get up in front there,” he reflected.
“It was crazy to think about [the slipstreaming], like five, six drivers in front of me, and the one driver who was in first [holding on]. It really is a different experience racing with the guys as close.”