2009 Elite Motorsport Academy

13. July 2009 by admin.

Hi Sponsors, friends and supporters,

For the last week I have competed in the 2009 Elite Motorsport Academy which was held in Dunedin. I was competing against 8 other young drivers that were from all different areas of New Zealand.

It was an extremely challenging week mentally and physically. The academy covered all of the necessary skills for being a better race/rally driver. There were three teams of 3 people. My team included Mitch Evans, a Formula Ford driver from Auckland and Josh Marston, a Rally Driver from Christchurch.  He was our team leader. Our team was named team Force.

Throughout the week every different activity was a competition. My favourite activity was driving on a simulator that was inside a room which was heated up to 40°C and we had to wear all of our normal racing gear (helmet, overalls etc). The hardest physical activity of the week was running up Baldwin Street (which is the steepest street in the world) while all holding onto a regular tea towel.

Throughout the week I learnt a lot about being a better driver on and off the track. I also made some great friends from the Elite Academy. One of the other activities that I enjoyed was the nutrition class that included how to cook, so I’m sure Mum will be pleased with the extra help.

Regards,

Damon Leitch

Motorsport New Zealand Awards

25. May 2009 by admin.

Hi Sponsors, friends and supporters,

Last night I went to Wellington for the Motorsport New Zealand Awards Dinner.

I was one of three finalists for the under 21 year old driver for 2009. I didn’t win this and the prize went to Ritchie Stanaway who won the MTA NZ Formula Ford Championship.

Also announced last night was the Class of 2009 for the Elite Motorsport Academy and I was lucky enough to be part of it.

I am going to the Academy in July for a week at the Otago University where I will be competing with 8 other people.

The academy has been set up to teach young drivers all the skills needed to become professional drivers and at the end of the week we will be tested on what we have been taught.

You can check out the Academy on http://www.motorsport.org.nz/Scholarships/eliteacademy.htm

Regards

Damon.

Results from Australia

Hi Sponsors, Friends and Supporters -

Last weekend I finally got to have my test in Australia. The test was delayed because the car I was to test in was damaged at the Melbourne GP meeting in March and parts had to come from France to repair it. By the time I got there the car was repaired and ready to go and the test went really well.

I had 6 x 20 minute sessions through the day and the car was really good. It was a 2008 Mygale with a Ford Duratech engine which is what they run in the Australian Formula Ford Series and is about 30 bhp more powerful than my car. I felt at home in the car right from the start and ended up being the fastest of 8 cars there for the test day and quick enough to be up the grid at the national round the weekend before.

Just before we left for Australia, I got a call to say that I had been selected as one of three finalist for the Steel Trophy which is awarded annually to a junior driver ( under 21 ) who competes at national level and displays dedication, skill and professionalism in their driving, aiming to progress to the upper echelons of the sport and shows a sportsmanlike attitude to all competitors and officials.

This was a real surprise as I didn’t even know I had been nominated.

I’m going to the Motorsport New Zealand Awards Dinner next Saturday night in Wellington so I’ll let you know how I get on.

Regards,

Damon

Testing in Australia!

Hi Sponsors, friends and supporters,

This is just a quick update to let you all know what is happening.

After the second last round of the MTA NZ Formula Ford season I was approached by the CEO of the G-Force Mygale Formula Ford team from Melbourne and asked if I would like to go to Melbourne for a free test.

I am going over on April 16 and testing on the 17th at Winton Raceway.

I’ll be driving a new Mygale car with a Ford Duratech engine, so I am really looking forward to driving with the extra power. These engines are about 40 bhp up on my Zero Fees Stealth from the NZ series.

I’ll let you all know after the test how it goes.

Regards,

Damon

MTA NZ Formula Ford Championship

Round 7: Pukekohe Park, March 13-16

Hi All,

We prepared the car after the last round at Manfeild and left it in the North Island ready for Pukekohe which was just as well as Caltex borrowed it for a show in between the two meetings.

Once again we had a free test day on Thursday and we took advantage of this. We did about 4 sessions through the day to get the car right and by the end of the day I had a really good car that was consistently in the fastest 3.

Friday, official practise: We had two 20 minute sessions and we carried on where we left off on Thursday with very few changes on the car set up. The second session was wet, so we only went out long enough to make sure the car would be good if the weather changed in the middle of the race. Some of the other drivers tried too hard and one had a huge off at the top of Ford Mountain and really wrecked his car, so I was pleased to put mine away early.

Saturday, Qualifying: The session started well but a few minutes into it, a head wind came up on the back straight. I couldn’t find a tow from anybody so without the help of a slip stream I only qualified 6^th.

Race 1: I had  a pretty good race and worked my way up to second place where I ran for most of the race until on the last lap I got pushed wide at the hairpin and two team mates working together passed me. Ritchie Stanaway won the race, but at post race scrutineering he was disqualified for some illegal parts in his carburettor so I was promoted to third.

Sunday Race 2: I was on grid 5 for this race but I really bogged down at the start and on the first trip down the straight I was in 7^th place. I drove really hard and started working my way forward until I got up to 2^nd place. I lost one place on the last lap and came home in 3^rd again.

Race 3: The Championship had gone to Ritchie Stanaway in race 2 so this was always going to be a hard fast race. I started on grid 6 and on the first lap I got shuffled back to 8^th in the slip streaming battle. My car was set up to come on a little later, so I had to wait until I had a car I could do battle with. After about 4 laps it started coming right and I caught up with the leading group and we had a great race. Two of the other competitors took each other out which left 6 of us battling for the last 10 laps of the really high speed circuit. I slowly worked forward and once I got up to 3^rd, we moved away from the other 3 cars. We swapped places several times a lap and on the last lap I made a pass and got from 3^rd to 1^st. I couldn’t quite hold it and I went back to 2^nd on the long back straight. I had one last try and crossed the line 0.037 of a second behind first place. We were side by side as we crossed the line.

It was really good way to finish the season and we really enjoyed what turned out to be the best race of the year.  The spectators appreciated it as well if the noise they made was anything to go by.

Even better I won the weekend, my second round win of the season.

I’ve had a really good first year in class one Formula Ford and finished the season in 5^th overall which was my goal at the start of the year. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my Race Engineer, Phil Straver, who has been with me at all the meetings and given me encouragement and support as well as helping me with his knowledge of car setup and teaching me how to use my data logger. (Not to mention the awesome engine he built for me ).

When I damaged the car at race meetings, it was never a problem for Phil and Dad to put in the extra to have me back on the grid.

Thank you all for your help and support in what has been a busy year of traveling and racing and trying to keep up with my school work.

Regards,

Damon

Round 6: Manfeild, February 27-28, March 1

Hi Sponsors and Supporters,

We had a test day on Thursday before Friday’s official practise.The car was really good all day and we were in the top 4 in most of the sessions even though we were running on old tyres.

Friday 27^th Official practice; It was a really nice sunny day, the last one for the weekend, the car was really good with no problems and we felt good heading to Saturdays qualifying.

Saturday 28^th; We woke to a much different day with really heavy rain and a really wet track. Dad and Phil set the car up for the wet and when I went out I did a few slow laps to get the feel of the slippery track and then there was a red flag when one of the competitors hit the tyre wall and wrecked the front of his car. Once the track was cleared we were sent out again and once I thought the car was good I set the fastest time in the wet and then there was another red flag and another car in the wall. We thought the session was almost over and it was raining really heavily so we took the car back to the pits. The session was extended by 10 minutes and as the track dried we watched from the pits as I was shuffled back to 6^th place.

Race 1; With the way the car felt in qualifying we thought that come race time we should be able to make up some places quite easily. One of the officials came around and told us the meeting had been declared dry and that we had to run on our marked dry tyres. We fitted them and headed to the grid just before start time to be told they had changed to make the tyres optional. There wasn’t time for us to change back to the wets so we had to run on our dries. I started on grid 6 but the car felt really bad on its dry setup. I spun on the first lap and went to the back of the field. I managed to get back to 6^th at the end of the race so I guess it could have been worse.

Sunday 28^th race 2; I was on grid 7 for this race and I got a really good start and got up to 3^rd on the first lap, it was really hard for the first part of the race as I had other competitors trying to get back past me. Once the race settled down I opened up a gap to fourth place which I held till the end.

Race 3; I was on grid 5 for the start as I had improved my time in race 2. The race started well and I got up to 3^rd on lap one and then on the second lap one of the other competitors tried to pass me and pushed me off onto the outfield so I ended up about 250 metres behind the field. Once I got back on the track I set off after the field, really determined to catch them, and after about 5 laps I started repassing the back markers and kept working forward until I got into 5^th place and on the run to the sweeper on the second last lap I passed 2 cars at once and finally crossed the line in 3^rd again.

I finished the weekend in 3^rd place overall but didn’t move forward in the standings as the car in 5^th  went back to 7^th and the car in 7^th went to 8^th. I am only 5 points off 5^th place now and hopefully I might have a chance at 4^th if I’m lucky.

I’m really looking forward to next weekend and the last round at Pukekohe where I like the really high speed circuit.

Thank you all for your help and support.

Damon

Round 5: Teretonga - January 16, 17, 18

Hi All,

Last week was really busy repairing the damage to the body that I did in Timaru.

After repairing the fibre glass on Monday and Tuesday, we painted it on Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, Clive from Advantage Advertising replaced all the signage so when we went to the track on Thursday the car looked like new again.

I had 3 unofficial tests on Thursday and was really pleased with the way the car was going.

On Friday it was official test day and with a few little changes, the car felt really good in the first session.

In the second session we scrubbed in a set of tyres for the wet, as the weather wasn’t looking to good. We only did a few laps and put the car away and watched the rest of the session. The other competitors thought we had problems.

Saturday qualifying: The car felt great and about half way through the session I came in to have the rear anti-roll bar stiffened a little as I had a slight under steer. I went back out and set the 4th fastest time 0.141 secs off the pole time, so grid 4 was mine.

Saturday Race 1: I started race 1 on grid 4 and worked my way up into 2nd at about half way. The leader had quite a lead by this time, so I set off after him and caught up with him with a couple of laps to go. I tried passing a couple of times but didn’t make it, on the last lap I got a really good run onto the straight and pulled out of his slip stream just before the finish line but didn’t quite make it, he beat me by .007 of a second. This was my best finish ever and we were all over the moon.

Sunday Race 2: We made some slight changes to the car for race 2 on Sunday and once again I was on grid 4. I got a good start and slotted into 3rd straight away; I slipped streamed past the other 2 cars on the next 2 laps and I was finally leading a race on my home track. Coming into turn 7 on lap 4, I felt my car get a good shunt from behind, as it turned out the car behind lost his brakes and went over the top of my back wheel and off into retirement. I had a really hard race staying in front but at the end I had finally done it, I’d won my first National Formula Ford race. The team was really happy.

Sunday Race 3: I was back on my familiar grid 4 for what looked like being a wet race. I stayed in 4th for the first couple of laps until the race settled down, then started moving forward and got to the front at about lap 6 with 9 to go. I opened up quite a lead but knew the rain had stopped and the track was drying; one of the other cars caught up because his car was more suited to the dry track and we had a real battle, he slipped past me going into turn 1 when I ran a little wide. I tried several times to get back through to the lead but I just couldn’t make it, so I finished in second place again.

This was enough to comfortably give me the round win, which was another first for me.

It was really exciting getting up onto the top spot on the podium for the first time.

I have now moved up to 6th place in the Championship from 8th and look forward to improving my position in the last 2 rounds.

Thank you all for your continuing support!

Regards,
Damon