Back to where it all began. I was totally at ease for the first weekend since I began and feeling really confident. The whole family were back to support me and in a way Snetterton feels like my home circuit. My side of the family come from within a 30 mile radius of the track and I have been coming to this part of the world for every half-term and holiday since the year dot. The strangeness of the accent and the bumbling nature of life all come natural for me. I arrived late again after the long trip but we’ve got enough time to put up the gazebo that I bought before the season but have not yet used. Poor Sarah though, who started work at 6am that morning is not in a mood for me pottering in the boot and trying to make our sleeping arrangements work. Relationships at this point are frosty, as a man it’s hard to tell when you’ve pushed someone beyond the point of reasonable annoyance. A sleeping bag was thrown, I won’t say more.

This weekend was different though, I actually got my first taste of Dunlop’s after being allowed to run the Yokohama track tyres for the first 2 rounds. Also Derek, who had joined Luke at Rockingham, was here to continue his battle with now all of us ready for a strong contest. 

Practise was dismal. It was my own fault, I hadn’t got the tyre pressures right at all after getting the new set and I won’t tell you what pressures I came in with but my god!

Sunday was a mega busy day but I enjoyed it. Qualifying, it was so close and it was the first time I was spurred on to do that one mega lap. I do know that single point is important for Pole but really I am here to have fun and be safe, consistency in the race is what I want. I do not want an afternoon of getting gravel out of the car like at Silverstone!

Race one never really got going for me, I was really caught out by the spinners at the first corner and found myself with a 3 second gap which just kept on growing. Luke and Derek were so entertaining to watch, revelling in their dicing, hoping that they take each other out. A number of times it was on the cards, particularly loving the 90mph on the grass pass down the old Bentley straight which didn’t quite pay off. Bringing it home was the option, I really lost confidence with my Silverstone spin but this put me right back in the mindset to attack Race 2. 

I love changeable conditions and there at turn 2 a waking great black cloud ready to attack, when would it come what would happen! It came too late for me, after another poor start myself and Luke were once again together and I was drawing in as the laps past. The drips on the windscreen didn’t bother me in fact it gave me that extra boost I needed. I was smiling in that helmet. I picked off a second a lap for 3 laps before entering the final turn with an amazing exit, the latest of all turn ins. I breezed past and was on the lookout for Derek. Robinson was cautious at this stage after he pulled out a monster of a gap. More drops of rain, more sliding, here we go! Visibly the gap was coming down, second after second and then the slick shot class d’s came into sight. What I wouldn’t have given for 10 more laps like this. It was too late, race finished and a thought of what might have been. Confident of being a rainmeister of the future!

No trophy and a lot of fun. I’m beginning to love this.

There are 2 trophies sitting on the window-sill from what was an amazing weekend. Sun, fun and a complete feeling that can only be had by a job well done. How does a clown like me end up satisfied with looking like the real deal?

It all started with the preparation which started about 7 years previous when I booked my first karting session at what is now my brothers local karting track. An all-day, outdoor event for £90 to have a blast in the csma championship. Well it was wet and there was stiff competition but I was competitive if not hot headed. 5 years later on and we had some hard racing with guys that have gone onto bigger things. I remember Oli, James, Chris and the 2 Ross' battling me and it had me thinking,  if only I could make it for 'real'.

I'd saved and saved. Then I went to see the aforementioned Chris Hutchinson at Croft September 2014. He was busy, he was focused  but the ever smiling Chris gave me all the push I needed. As a great result came I knew I wanted to emulate his achievements. After all if he is this good in the Caterham championships, and I used to spare with him in karting, how good could I be?

Roll on to now April 2016. A lot of time and effort. I got the medical, I had done the race license test, I had done a full track day in a fiesta St, I'd bought the car and kit. This was it, ready! Well not quite, I was a bag of nerves  I'm home late from work and there is Road closures on the way to the Track. I get to the track at 11pm tired and not knowing where to park. I'm in garage 10…it's locked, no sign of help at first. We eventually unload the car and I set to work on finding space in my Skoda to sleep. The glamour.

The Saturday. My first time on track. Not helpful that the pace of the mornings session was ridiculous for a first timer. Briefings were missed, I panicked my way through scrutineering and where the hell is everything! It was all intense. Just a matter of driving the car in anger for the first time. No pressure. Then visor down and all my dreams came true. Rolling into the pits at the end I was drained. What a morning. I went to get a time sheet. Dreams can last. 10 second gap ahead of my nearest rival. Surely a lead to be proud of. Qualifying was just as satisfying and I held on to a 3 second gap. New tyres for Luke really helped him get confident in the car. It was looking close.

Race Day. This is it, a culmination of the weekends work. Sarah and I refreshed from a night in the Skoda and Snetterton cold showers. Well what a start! I got passed class d's and a couple of slow starting c's but all this dicing my rival got into turn 1 ahead and I was resigned to half of the race sat staring at the Tilbury Docks back driver. I must admit we had done very well to get through the melee together. Cars all over left right and centre, I knew we had given room but fought to not be easily passed. It was going to be a clean fight all year it seemed. The 2nd half of the race started and I was gifted the class lead. Another new driver squeezed luke off, I thought that was it. An expensive bill for Luke it seemed but on the long straight there he appears in my mirror, through a heat haze and seeming to have his own soundtrack of a film where the beaten hero has one last chance. Time eeked away. I was losing ground. I had mentally given up, I'd already gone into limp home mode. Luckily wary of traffic the gap never closed in the final stages. We had to jump out the way of Priest, Thompson Going and Co who were starting their epic season battle. But there it was. A win! Victory! Luckily my camera ran out of battery, the screams and wails from the cockpit would have been cringe worthy today. I did it in front of my wife, grandma, mum, dad, brother, sister in law, nephews and in laws. It was fantastic a feeling of pure emotion. Clueless to confident. My wife knew I wasn't really 'that' happy. Luke had been taken out unintentionally. Race 2 will be clean we said!
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Well what a race round 2 was. It had it all a crash, a red flag and close racing all the way to the line. I can not describe how close our battle was, if you watch the first tv show of the year we practically take up all the air time! That was half the visuals try imagining some wild lunges and door to door action. Drafting at a 100mph. The whole lap side by side at one point. It’s a shame my cameras battery didn't last but if you watch Luke's feed he will show you how close it was. Victory again and a good battle. All smiles and hand shakes and I got to meet my competitors families in the Parc ferme afterwards. What more could I ask for?

More of it please!!

Kieran White
Round 1+2
Snetterton
Quaife Ford Fiesta Championship 2016.