DOWN THE PUB
He’s still only 16 “I’ll be 17 in October just before the end of the season. I started karting when I turned nine at the end of 2009. We did three years in Cadets and then Rotax. I had a year out in 2013 and then we bought a Junior Saloon Citroen Saxo for 2014 and finished fourth in the points. There was talk of changing the car used in the series, so we sold it at the end of the season. But we should have kept it as the car didn’t change.”
He’s racing a borrowed car “My dad Stuart built the Formula Ford Merlyn just when I was born at the end of 1999. Simon Hadfield bought the car and handed it to my dad to rebuild it and race it. The car has been with Simon ever since and he’s loaned it to me now. We did two or three test days once I was 16 and I started racing it at the start of this season.”
He’s already been on the podium “Cadwell Park was my fifth race meeting in the Formula Ford. We did the first Classic FF1600 race at Silverstone just to get used to the racing and then did the first Historic round at Castle Combe. It has gone very well and at Castle Combe I qualified third out of 37 and finished third in my race. I got pole at Silverstone but then it rained and I’d never driven it in the wet. But I still finished third.”
The budget is very tight
“It’s going very much better than I’d hoped. My dad and I do all the preparation and Simon gives us advice and helps us out. We’ve had tyres given to us and petrol money because our budget is very tight. I’ve just finished taking my GCSES.”
He’s a fan of historics “I’d love to race anything I can to get my name out there. If money was no object, I’d probably like to try modern single-seaters, but looking at some of the driving standards I’m not so sure and I’d rather stay in historics. People know the value of the cars in historics as they all own their own cars.”
He has a good team “I couldn’t go racing without my dad, Simon Hadfield, my mum Ann and Ian Toon who helps us with the car and comes to every meeting. So I owe a massive thank you to all of them.”