Elliott Budzinski: Kirkistown in the Rearview, Brands Hatch Straight Ahead

There was so much promise for the mid-season late-July Kirkistown weekend, but in the end we just didn’t get the results that we came for. It was a solid field with seventeen entrants for the Irish Formula Ford Championship and BRSCC National Formula Ford schedule. It was a new circuit to me and I was most certainly excited to take on the challenge.

After two and a half days of testing we thought we were looking decent, but we weren’t certain how things would shake out. Day one of racing brought a dry track after a majority of testing was spent in wet conditions. Qualifying started well going to second after lap 3, but as the session went on I couldn't improve while other drivers were able to get more out of it. In part I was not able to get a good tow lap, but I don’t think it would've improved my position. In the end, P6 was all I had for the session, about a quarter second (0.278s) off the pole.

With Race 1 I had a good launch, but was squeezed in the middle of a three-wide pack on the run into turn one, and wasn’t able to make up ground after backing out to avoid an incident. The lead group managed to pull a gap which left me sixth for the majority of the race, but I was able to make a last-lap move to pick up fourth for the end result. 

For the second race, we looked over the data and found some ways to improve from the previous race, picking up pace so I was able to keep with the top-four group, but I was always slightly too far back to battle it out. Then with a poor last lap, returning former champ Jordan Dempsey caught and overtook me at the line for fourth, leaving me P5.

As for Race 3 I started from third due to a reverse grid of the top eight, and immediately I was able to get to the lead where I stayed for the first part of the race despite many attacks from behind. But I was overtaken in lap 5 dropping back to P2, then in lap 11 to P4, and then rain started to come down. I was able to close the gap back to the lead and was again in P2 by lap 14. That made for the most exciting racing of the weekend, with a mighty last lap battle between myself, Lucas Romanek and Brandon McCaughan, but it left me P3 at the line. Still I was happy to be departing Kirkistown with a podium finish.

Besides getting to experience racing at Kirkistown for the first time, the Ammonite team shared an amazing AirBnb nearby. My teammate Nolan Allaer’s family had been at the races to cheer the team on, visiting from the States. They graciously invited me to spend a few days with them in Dublin where we took in the local culture, before Nolan’s family headed back to Brackley. I returned to Belfast for a day where I toured the Titanic Museum and Shipyard site – amazing shipbuilding history!! – then headed back to home base. The following weekend the excitement continued because some of the Ammonite team was able to take in MotoGP racing at Silverstone. This was my second time seeing “bikes” around Silverstone and still they do not disappoint. Even after Formula 1, I’ve never seen something get up and go like they do.

Considering the coming weekend at Brands and the take-aways from Kirkistown, I feel I’ve made some leaps on race starts, picking up multiple positions on every launch and making gains in terms of “controlled aggression.” It’s been a great learning experience to make the change from American racing to British racing, and possibly more accurately from go-kart racing to car racing. I’m very excited to get back to the South East London-based track where the short lap times will make for close racing and tough battles. I can confidently say that everyone in the field has lots of laps around the circuit, which makes it a challenge I’m ready to take on. The whole Ammonite team and I are looking to bounce back strong. 

I can’t end without giving a shout-out to all the amazing folks at Ammonite who make this happen, and to my sponsors who make this possible; Doug Mockett & Co., Team USA Scholarship, MPG Motorsports, and my wonderful family of supporters.

Hope to see you at the track! 

— Elliott