The Grid

This meeting was the first time the team had raced at the 1.98 mile Donington Park circuit so it was essential to conduct a full day’s testing which was unusually on the Thursday.

Donington is a very fast flowing circuit and although both cars were quickly on the pace, Nick had a couple of hairy moments down the Craner Curves with John going one better a few laps later, ending up in the gravel trap but with no damage to the car.

After a dry morning, the cars were out on the Dunlop wet tyres in the afternoon but by the end of the day, Nick’s best lap was around 1min 26.5 seconds with John in the low 1min 27 second laps.

On the Friday, there was a ‘track day’ and Kempster Ford had prepared the new car in time so the day was used as a shakedown and allowed the team to take the mechanics and friends on track for some hot laps, although the car didn’t have a rollcage fitted so the laps were at a reduced pace.

The car came through with flying colours – even achieving quicker laps than one of the fully prepped race Fiesta STs (!) and is now back at Kempster Ford being prepped for the rollcage to be fitted in the next month

The new Kempster Ford Fiesta ST ready for its first shakedown – photo by NSR.

The meeting was originally scheduled over two days with two rounds of the championship to be contested however, due to unforeseen problems with the Donington Park circuit / management; they were only allowed to run a oneday race meeting. Due to this, the qualifying session was reduced to 10 minutes and the championship was cut short to be run over only 14 rounds.

The track was dry for qualifying and 22 Fiestas took to the circuit for the short 10 minute qualifying session. Nick & John both decided to go out near the front of the field to get some good laps in early in the session. Nick was following David Ellesley who had a ‘moment’ at McLeans which gave Nick the lead and clear track space. He went for a hot lap and he knew it was going to be a quick lap until he caught the kerb a little too hard at Fogarty’s Esses and spun towards the pit wall, managing to bring the car to a standstill about a foot short of the end of the pit wall!

As he was then slow over the start line on the next lap, Nick knew he had to get his act together and made sure of clean track space and then put in three storming laps before the chequered flag came out signaling the end of the session.

Upon analysing the lap times, all three of Nick’s fast laps would have put him on Pole Position with the nearest Fiesta ST of Al Daly back down in 5^th position. John put in some consistently quick laps but was a little disappointed in 11th position on the grid after slightly faster laps on the Thursday test day.

After the dry qualifying, the weather took a turn for the worse and by the time the cars were ready to line up, everyone had opted for the Dunlop wet tyres.

Nick led the field around on the two green flag laps and realised that there was oil all around the circuit from an earlier race.

As the red lights went out, Nick got a decent start but David Abbott in the lighter Fiesta Si pulled away with Nick under pressure from the next Si cars of David Nye and Brian Roper. He closed the door at Redgate and slotted into 2nd place behind Abbott. Ellesley was flying from 6th on the grid and drove past both Nick and David Abbott at the Old Hairpin and disappeared into the distance.

Nick settled into 3rd place whilst the tyres got a bit of heat in them and then got past Abbott at the Esses and up to 2nd place on Lap 3. Gordon Tomkins was having a good race, working his way up from 10th on the grid and was on Nick’s tailgate by Lap 4 in 3rd position.

The safety car was deployed on Lap 5 with Simon Cope stranded at the bottom of the Craner Curves. Ellesley had got a 17 second (!) lead from Nick at this point and although Nick closed up on David at the restart once the safety car peeled off, David drove away before they even got to Redgate corner.

Gordon was still pressing Nick for 3rd but Nick put in a good lap and had a little luck passing a back-marker which allowed Nick to pull out a couple of seconds gap from Gordon to take a safe 2nd place at the chequered flag, ensuring 3rd overall in the championship.

John moved up the field and could have finished around 5th / 6th but lost time when dicing with Richard Kemp who worked his way up to a safe 5th position to secure 4th place in the overall championship.

To summarise, considering the dramas at Mallory Park and Cadwell Park this season, Nick is pleased to have secured 3rd position overall in a tough second season in the Ford Fiesta ST Championship.

John produced some great performances towards the end of the season after having to miss some of the rounds through illness and 2008 also saw Kempster Ford Director, Ian Fletcher, make his full Ford Fiesta Championship debut, with two especially good results at Anglesey.

A special thanks to all our sponsors for their support during the 2008 championship season and to the excellent race preparation / repair work by Kempster Ford and DB Motorsport.

Thanks also to everyone who has come along to the race meetings or followed our progress online at the NSR website at www.nicksandersonracing.com.

The new car will be completed over the winter with the intention of having a three-car team in 2009. The championship co-ordinator has advised that talks are already well advanced for next season with meetings provisionally arranged at Silverstone International, Knockhill (supporting the major GT package) and the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.

This was going to be a very busy weekend’s racing at Brands Hatch circuit with 34 Ford Fiestas entered for a race where the grid size has a maximum of 32 cars. Unfortunately, due to various circumstances and late race entries, we lost quite a few cars as there was no time on the race programme to add an additional race. If all had gone to plan, we could have had a Ford Fiesta entry listing of 38-39 cars!

Due to the reasons above, team mate John Findlay would be 1st reserve for the weekend with Ian Fletcher having to pull out of the event due to John returning to the championship in his car that Ian borrowed at Lydden Hill in the previous rounds. We are currently making enquires for a hire car so that Ian can return at the Anglesey meeting.

Both John and Nick did a full day’s testing on the Friday to make sure they were on the pace for qualifying on the Saturday morning. Although the weekend was forecast to be heavy rain, the test day was conducted in uninterrupted sunshine and both Nick & John were consistently lapping in low 57 second laps.

All 34 Fiestas went out on track for qualifying with a 15 minute session to establish the grid positions for the first race. Unusually for this meeting, there was also a qualifying session for the second race rather than the grid positions being made up from the first race finishing positions.

The track was busy due to the amount of cars and very early in the session, the red flags came out to stop the session with Brian Roper beached in the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend (scene of Nick’s huge 2007 qualifying accident) and Steve Papworth retiring from the session with electrical problems at Druids hairpin. On the restart, Nick set about gaining a strong grid position with a low 57 second lap and although pushed to better his time, couldn’t get a clean lap in.

It later transpired that Nick was on pole throughout the session until Ben Roper put in a hot lap right at the end of the session to demote Nick to 2^nd place, although still a front row start.

John was also on the pace and achieved a lap time of 58.208 seconds which would have put him 9th on the grid. However, all the cars were fixed for the first race and John had to sit the race out due to being 1st reserve.

grid – one of the few motorsport series that is over-subscribed – a testament

As the red lights went out, Nick got a reasonable start as the field charged into

Paddock Hill Bend but David Abbot got a cracking start in his Fiesta Si and launched up the inside of Nick, wiping out his wing mirror in the process. The race was only 1 lap old when the red flags came out signalling a re-start due to cars being involved in various collisions.

At the re-start, Nick again got a decent start although he got a little boxed in at Druids hairpin and fell to 4th place overall. Ben Roper was leading from David Ellesley with the Fiesta Si of David Abbott in 3rd place.

Nick was close to Abbott but had problems with Brian Roper all over his tailgate and unable to see exactly where he was positioned due to losing the drivers-side wing mirror.

Keith Chapman had a heavy visit to the tyre wall at the run up to Druids hairpin although the accident started a long way back at Paddock Hill Bend. Keith was OK but his car took a fairly hard hit and was positioned at the side of the circuit so the race continued.

On lap 11, Nick caught a backmarker at Druids hairpin and went up the inside but couldn’t see where Brian Roper was and he left a small gap which Brian launched his car into. After hitting Nick’s rear wheel arch, nearly causing him to spin, he drove along the side of Nick’s car and forced his way through on the run down the hill to Graham Hill Bend.

Nick regrouped and set about chasing Brian but the red flags came out two laps later after David Nye clipped a car and rolled his Fiesta Si three-times down Paddock Hill Bend. David got out of the car but later collapsed however, after a trip to hospital was found to be OK with thankfully nothing broken (other than his car of course!).

At the chequered flag, Nick held 5th position 9.365 seconds behind race winner Ben Roper.

Unusually, we had an extra qualifying session for the second race of the weekend and again the track was very congested with 34 Fiestas on track. Nick ran into a lot of traffic but then put in a decent lap and was starting to get on the pace when coming out of Graham Hill Bend, something broke at the front end of the car.

Nick pulled into the pits originally thinking that it was a front wheel bearing failure but after scrutiny from the team mechanics, it was found to be the top of the suspension mounts loosening.

John was again on the pace and putting in quick laps, firstly following Nick before his problems and then latching onto Richard Kemp. At the chequered flag, Nick found his best time from his reduced number of laps was 57.854 seconds, which was enough for 6th on the grid and John’s best time of 57.962 was 8th on the grid.

David Nye had returned after his multiple roll from the previous day in a borrowed Fiesta Si but as he’d changed cars, he was now classified as 2nd reserve which meant that John was in – and 8th on the grid!

Another full grid of 32 Fiestas waited for the red lights to go out but when they did, Nick made a mess of his start and John flew past him on the run into Paddock Hill Bend. Brian Roper caught the side of Nick’s car and he lost his wing mirror – again!

Nick switched to the inside line and made up a couple of lost positions and had john on his bootlid exiting Druids hairpin. Exiting Graham Hill Bend, Nick was on the bootlid of Brian Roper when he suddenly braked and Nick gave him a nudge up the rear before realising that the red flags had come out signalling a race stoppage. This was due to three cars coming together at Paddock Hill Bend with Simon Cope sitting on his roof. John also nearly ran into the back of Nick for the same reason.

There was more drama as the cars lined up for the re-start as just as the green flag lap was about to start, David Ellesley was frantically waving to the marshalls as his car engine had died and he couldn’t get it re-started. The marshalls pushed him off the circuit into a safe position and the formation lap started with a frustrated David sat on the sidelines.

As the lights went out, Nick made a much better start and made up a position by getting past Phil Simpson also in a Fiesta ST. Richard Kemp had got a good start and he made a move up the inside of Nick exiting Clark Curve – Nick had a car on his outside and moved over to the inside and squeezed Richard a bit more than he realised and Richard tapped the corner of Nick’s rear bumper making the car’s rear end move about at quite a high speed. Nick managed to hold onto his 4th place when halfway around lap 2, out came the red flags for a race stoppage again.

It was quite clear to see the reason for the stoppage when the cars returned to the pit entrance as four Fiestas had come together exiting Clark Curve with two looking very much like re-shells. One of the seriously damaged cars was the Fiesta Si belonging to Stephen Brown and the other being David Nye in the borrowed Fiesta Si – not a good weekend for David!

As the timetable was very tight and due to the Fiesta mayhem (!), the cars returned to the paddock with a view to re-run the race at the end of the day’s racing, if the 6.30 curfew had not been reached.

There was just enough time before the Brands Hatch curfew to run a 10minute Fiesta race and all the cars that were able to race rushed to the grid to make the start of the re-run race.

Nick and John both got decent starts with John initially getting alongside Nick but Nick had a good run down Paddock Hill Bend and passed Phil Simpson to get 6th position.

Thankfully, David Ellesley had made the re-start once he’d diagnosed his fuelling problems, being very lucky that the race was re-run since he missed the previous start. John was mixing it with Phil Simpson & Richard Kemp in Fiesta STs with Nick a little further ahead.

After all the earlier drama, the quick 10 minute race passed in a more processional manner with Nick unable to pass Brian Roper to set about catching the greatly improving Gordon Tomkins.

Richard Kemp passed John and Phil Simpson and was on a charge but he was a safe distance behind Nick who settled for 6th place on the road at the chequered flag with John coming home in a strong 9th position.

Considering the amount of damage sustained during the weekend, Nick and John were glad to come through without any major damage. Although John was gutted about not racing on the Saturday, he was on the pace all weekend and is now looking forward to the next meeting.

A 3rd and 4th place for Nick in the Fiesta STs has moved him up to 4th in the standings (3rd when taking into account the two dropped scores). There are 4 rounds of the championship left with the next rounds at Anglesey on 6th/7th September.

The Fiesta championship made its annual visit to the south coast of England in deepest Kent to the 1.0 mile Lydden Hill circuit. Nick had raced there before in 2007 where he had a mixed meeting, running out of fuel on the final lap in race 1 (!!!) and charging from the back of the grid to finish 6^th in the second race. There would be no repeat of the mistake in 2008!

Nick also had a new team mate for this meeting with Kempster Ford Director, Ian Fletcher, making his full race debut in the borrowed car of John Findlay who is currently taking time out. Unfortunately, at Lydden Hill, testing is very restricted due to local population so Ian would have to learn the car and circuit straight away in qualifying.

Due to the number of Ford Fiesta entries, each class had its own qualifying session and races over the weekend – the first time that the new Class C Fiesta ST series has had its own separate race.

Due to the very lengthy journey to Lydden Hill, the grid size was slightly reduced for Class C with eight Ford Fiesta STs out in the qualifying session.

As is the norm for Ford Fiesta racing, the weather produced light rain as we were about to qualify. Nick completed seven steady laps in the rain on slick tyres but after a spin at North Bend, he decided to take a chance and flew into the pits to switch to wet tyres. NSR mechanic, Dave Bolton, completed the tyre change with a speed that F1 teams would be proud of and Nick was back out on track and managed to get six laps of the circuit completed on the wet tyres before the chequered flag fell.

The decision proved to be the correct one as he improved his lap times considerably, with a best time of 52.764 seconds which was a front row position.

Ian improved as the session wore on but on slick tyres and achieved a best time of 55.813 seconds which translated into 7^th position. He also dived into the pits for wet tyres but the session finished before he could get back on track for any quick laps.

Once again, as the Fiesta STs were about to go out onto the grid, light rain came down leaving the drivers with the dilemma of choosing between slick or wet tyres. Having watched the earlier Si and Zetec races, all the ST drivers opted for a wet setup and 8 cars took to the grid for the first ever ‘Class C ST Only’ race.

As the lights went out, Nick got a reasonable start and tucked in behind Ben Roper but David Ellesley was all over Nick’s bootlid. On the opening lap, Nick had to defend at Devil’s Elbow, North Bend and Paddock Bend, with Ben slightly increasing his lead. On the second lap, it was exactly the same with David appearing much faster. At Paddock Bend, Nick gave David enough room to go through to allow him to catch Ben as he was much faster than Nick. Nick reported that the car felt down on power and changes were made for the next day’s racing.

Ian had started well but had an ‘off’ early on, missing the tyre wall by inches but managing to rejoin. Once he’d settled down, although the 7^th place car was too far ahead, he set about closing the gap down and set some impressive lap times - on one lap being only 0.13 seconds off the fastest lap set by Nick on that lap.

As the race progressed, Nick managed to slowly close the gap back to the second placed Ellesley but didn’t have enough to mount a serious challenge and the race finished in that order with Nick 3.769 seconds off Ben Roper’s overall time at the chequered flag.

For Nick, this was a fairly quiet race but a strong 3^rd place and thankfully with no damage!

The Fiesta ST race on the Sunday was again met with light rain but not enough to switch to the wet tyres. All drivers opted for slicks as they formed the grid with Nick in 3^rd position and Ian in 8^th position.

As the red lights went out, Nick got a decent start but Gordon Tomkins got a cracker and flew past both Nick and Richard Kemp into Pilgrims. Nick held on to 4^th place and was on Gordon’s bumper at the Devil’s Elbow. There was some contact behind with Al Daly spearing into the side of Richard Kemp’s yellow ST at North Bend, resulting in quite a bit of damage to Kemp’s car and a spin dropping him to the back of the field.

At the end of the lap, Nick had a big wobble at Paddock Bend but gathered it up however, Ian also slid into the same corner and after catching the kerb, he was speared off into the gravel and across the track. Ian managed to rejoin but the steering and suspension felt damaged and after an exploratory half-lap, he decided to pull into the pits. It later transpired that the brake calliper and suspension were full of stones but he made the sensible decision as he didn’t know that at the time.

Nick had a big moment next time around at the Devil’s Elbow with a major slide sideways across the track and grass but he controlled it well and remained in the right direction, although losing a place to Al Daly.

Next lap he closed Daly down and Al made a mistake at the same corner which Nick took advantage of. At this point, Gordon was well ahead in 3^rd place but Nick set about closing the gap down.

After a while, Nick closed onto Gordon’s bootlid and made many lunges to get past, the closest one being side-by-side into Paddock Bend but Gordon got a better drive out of the corner and moved over to block Nick.

On the final lap, Nick made another lunge which was blocked by Gordon who held on to take 3^rd place with a very solid drive.

At the front, David Ellesley having harassed Ben Roper throughout the race made a move stick and he took his first ever Fiesta ST race win – congratulations David!

Although Nick would have liked to have challenged at the front, two reasonable results with no damage was a good result for the Lydden Hill race weekend.

Ian had a tough debut weekend but learnt a lot about the car and now knows that he can produce consistently quick lap times when he stays on the tarmac!

Ian will be testing at Brands Hatch before qualifying which was a major disadvantage for him at Lydden Hill due to the lack of available testing.

After two great results in the previous rounds at Snetterton (2nd place and a race win), NSR were aiming to continue the good results at the picturesque Cadwell Park circuit in Lincolnshire. Nick had raced at Cadwell Park before in his XR2 championship winning season in 2005 where he took pole position, a race win, fastest race lap and a new lap record so he was hoping to continue in the same vain in the Fiesta ST.

NSR team mate, John Findlay, was missing for the meeting and will not be back out until later in the season so we only had one car to look after over the weekend.

Nick opted to do the afternoon testing although the weather did not help with re-familiarisation of the circuit. Nick went out on slicks in the first session but the rain got worse and the circuit was very slippery. The second session was on wets due to the amount of standing water and Nick got to grips with the circuit, gradually getting quicker as the session wore on.

In the third session, we were back on slicks but again, the track was slippery in places so it was difficult to get full fast laps in but Nick was satisfied that he was somewhere close to the front runners.

The field was made up of 24 Fiestas, 9 of which were the Class C Fiesta ST model. The conditions were much improved and Nick set about putting in a fast lap on the slick tyres. There wasn’t much time to get a good clean lap in with only a short 15 minute session and after completing 7 laps at the chequered flag indicating the end of the session, Nick found that his best time was some way off where he wanted to be and would be 6th on the grid overall.

Round 6 commenced at Cadwell Park on a wet circuit with the full field on the ‘wet’ tyres. Nick started on the outside of the 3rd row in 6th place and as the red lights went out, he got a cracking start but was boxed in behind Sasha Pearl – guest driving in a Fiesta ST for the first time – and had to slot into position behind Brian Roper’s Fiesta Si in 6th place.

At the hairpin on the opening lap, Brian got very sideways on the slippery surface and Nick just managed to avoid hitting his Fiesta Si before nipping up the inside and making the move stick at ‘Barn’, the next corner – see below photo!

Nick then set about catching Sasha who was holding 4th place and was some way ahead. On lap 3, Nick got onto Sasha’s bootlid and tried every trick in the book to get passed. Sasha however knows her race craft and defended well to hold onto her 4th place.

On the next lap at ‘Mansfield’, Nick made another move which Sasha blocked and Nick nudged into her rear bumper although he did his best to avoid contact. The contact was minimal though and neither car sustained any damage.

After a few more attempts at passing, Nick made a good move on the next lap out of the ‘Mountain’ when he went up the inside line but she moved over (as entitled to) and put Nick’s wheels onto the grass. Nick had to back out and when he moved across back onto the circuit, there was contact with the recovering Brian Roper. Nick said after the race that this contact could have been much worse as he didn’t realise Brian had got alongside him!!! Although Nick re-caught Sasha, the chequered flag came out and he had run out of time to get past.

Ben Roper won the race from David Ellesley who both dominated the race. Sandy Forrest came home in a lonely 3rd place with an excellent debut drive from Sasha in 4th.

The second race of the weekend began in very uncertain conditions. After a large downpour, the conditions improved so a big decision had to be made as to whether to go out on the slick tyres or a wet set-up. The team made the big decision – it just happened to be the wrong one in a major way!

After settling for medium suspension settings on slick tyres, Nick went to the assembly area and just as the Fiestas were about to go on-track, the heavens opened and the track became very wet. After the original green flag lap, thecars lined up and the clerk of the course got all the Fiesta drivers together to explain that the race was declared a “wet race” (meaning that the whole field should be on the wet tyres). This was not communicated to the drivers/teams as although a ‘wet race’ instruction was given over the tannoy system, it was two races prior to the Fiestas so it was assumed that the instruction was for the previous race.

The matter was irrelevant as there was no time in the race programme to change to wets and the race had to get underway. As soon as the red lights went out, Nick knew it was going to be tough as the slick tyres just wheelspinned on the very wet track. Alan Donnelly in a Fiesta Si (on wet tyres) absolutely flew off the grid and drove past quite a few cars before the first corner. Sandy Forrest, also on wets, disappeared into the distance with the extra grip.

Behind Nick, some cars spun on the starting grid which proved how slippery the track was with standing water in the centre of the track. Nick had a few ‘moments’ on the opening lap with the car sliding all over the circuit. He was following Sasha Pearl, also in a slick-shod Fiesta ST and both cars were struggling for grip. Scott Stevens in a 1400cc Fiesta Zetec was on Nick’s bumper and far, far quicker which shows how much Nick was struggling for grip.

It wasn’t going to last and after a few major moments, Nick hit too much standing water going into the ’Hall bends’ and it was ‘exit-stage right’. The car slid wide, onto the grass and into the tyre wall with quite a hefty impact. Nick tried to drive the car off the grass but with a combination of wheelspin and not knowing the damage done to the car, Nick decided to call it a day as he wasn’t going to make up any time on the slick tyres anyway.

Brian Roper also came off the circuit at the same point as Nick but fortunately, he managed to steer the car away from Nick’s stationary car which would have severely increased the damage to the car.

Sandy went on to take a dominant win from Ben Roper who drove a storming race also on slick tyres. Alan Donnelly took his first ever Fiesta Si win with an excellent drive finishing 3rd overall on the road. A very disappointing result for Nick, all due to making the wrong choice of tyre in changeable conditions.

Not a good weekend for the team with a 5th place and a DNF and fairlysubstantial damage to the car. At first inspection, the damage is predominantly bodywork damage although two alloys are also shattered which will need replacing.

The Kempster Ford prepared NSR Fiesta ST will be back in immaculate condition for the Ford Open Day at their Technical Headquarters at Dunton, Essex where it will be on the Ford Racing stand.

Also, Nick has a new team mate in Ian Fletcher, Director of Kempster Ford for the next three meetings as he will be standing in for John Findlay who will hopefully be returning to the championship for the final rounds at Donington Park.

Ian has raced in a one-off meeting in the ‘winter series’ at Anglesey in 2007, hiring the NSR Fiesta ST and achieved a win and a 3rd place. He will be making his fully competitive debut in the Ford Fiesta Championship at the next rounds at Lydden Hill, Kent on 2nd & 3rd August 2008, where Nick will also be fighting to improve his place in the championship standings.

Having gained two good podium finishes at Silverstone, Nick was determined to continue his good form at Snetterton Race Circuit in Norfolk for the Bank Holiday weekend meeting. This was the first ever visit to the circuit for Nick however; he admitted he did know the circuit quite well from watching British Touring Car Championship DVD footage and Playstation racing games!

NSR was also featured in the weekend programme with a footnote stating “Nick Sanderson’s immaculate Ford Fiesta ST” – a credit to the race preparation by Kempster Ford and DB Motorsport.

The team booked a pit garage for the weekend with all four cars sharing the costs. There was to be four 50 minute test sessions with the aim to get lap times in the region of 1:25 / 1:26 seconds to be on the pace. Due to some logistical problems, Nick’s car didn’t arrive in time for the first practice but as Stewart Scott wasn’t testing until the afternoon, Nick drove Stewart’s car for the first session. Although the main aim of the first session was to gain familiarisation of the circuit, Nick got faster as the session progressed, with lap times down to 1:28 seconds.

In session two, Nick was out in the NSR car and improved the lap times to 1:26.6 seconds and then reduced them further to 1:26.3 seconds in the next session. Nick finished the test day with a 1:26.3 as his best time and confident of being on the pace in qualifying.

Ryan Stirling, John Findlay and Stewart Scott also got quicker as the daywent on and were not far off Nick’s times by the end of the final session.

Another bumper grid was made up of 33 Fiestas, 11 of which were the new Fiesta ST Class C model. The problem that comes with having a large number of cars is trying to get good clean laps for a grid position at the front.

Nick struggled to get clear laps and there was also a red flag, halting proceedings for some time with two Fiestas stranded on the circuit. Nick couldn’t get the hot lap he wanted and had to settle for a disappointing 1:26.626 which eventually put him 6th on the grid. David Abbot put his Fiesta Si on pole with an excellent 1:25.924 second lap.

Ryan managed a 1:27.012 (8th), Stewart a 1:28.184 (11th) and John a 1:28.623 (15th).

After three mediocre starts in the previous rounds, Nick was determined to sort out his start off the grid and when the red lights went out, he got a storming start, putting him up to 5th by the first corner. There was a lot of dicing on the first lap with the top six or seven cars all jostling for position.

At the start of the second lap, the front cars all went into the first corner at full throttle but found halfway around the corner that someone had dropped loads of oil and all five front running cars went straight off the circuit as there was no ‘slippery surface’ warning flag on entry.

Nick managed to avoid the out-of-control cars and re-join in 3rd position. He was pushing for 2nd place when the red flags came out, signalling a race stoppage due to the dangerous conditions.

As there had only been one full lap completed, the cars were re-gridded back in their original positions so Nick lost out on all the hard work and was sat on the grid back down in 6th place.

At the re-start, he again rocketed off the grid and was up to 4th place very quickly. The first few laps were pretty hairy between Riches and Sear corner as the cement dust covering the spilt oil meant that it was impossible to see the approach or braking area for the corner!

On lap 3, Ben Roper, who had just taken the race lead slowed and went into retirement with a broken drive flange, elevating Nick up to 3rd position. Nick was pressurising David Ellesley for 2nd and on lap 7, all three front runners had a big moment at The Esses as Gordon Tompkins had lost his water from this radiator onto the circuit on the previous lap. The positions stayed the same until the next lap when David again hit the water and went down the escape road, with Nick going through into 2nd place.

Nick was pushing hard for the lead and got the gap down to 0.406 seconds on lap 8 but Sandy Forrest drove well and kept Nick at bay, taking the chequered flag by 1.671 seconds.

When the results sheets were issued, Nick found he’d also set the fastest race lap with a lap time of 1:25.006 seconds, which counts as an extra championship point. Ryan finished in 8th place, Stewart in 9th place and John in 11th.

Although the weather forecast showed rain clouds, the Bank Holiday Monday race day was run in sunny conditions. The second race of the weekend is gridded based on the finishing order from race 1 so Nick was starting on the front row of the grid with Sandy Forrest in pole position.

As the lights went out, Nick again got a cracking start and instantly moved across in front of Sandy to take the lead into the first corner. At the end of Lap 1, Nick was leading by 0.435 seconds and set about pulling away from Sandy but Sandy was also driving well and the gap was never over a second throughout the first 10 laps.

On lap 11, Nick and Sandy were lapping the Fiesta Zetec 1400cc cars andNick made a great move at Russell’s chicane, diving up the inside of two Zetecs late on with Sandy not being able to get past until after the chicane.This gave Nick the slight advantage he needed, although only small, to pull away from Sandy and open up the gap to 2.431 seconds. They remained in the order and Nick took the race win by 2.336 seconds at the chequered flag.

To demonstrate how well both Nick and Sandy drove, the nearest rival was a further ten seconds behind with Ben Roper driving a storming race from the back of the grid after his Race 1 retirement. The drama wasn’t over then though as Nick had received the ‘driving standards’ flag during the race and had to visit the clerk of the cour se due toreports of ‘corner cutting’. Nick maintained his innocence and although he did admit to running over the kerbs at the Russell chicane, no advantage was judged to have been gained.

The clerk of the course gave him a warning but allowed the results to stand so a very relieved Nick took his second-ever Fiesta ST win!

Stewart finished in 10th place, John in 20th with braking problems and Ryan did not finish as his clutch gave out early in the race.

Nick also won the ‘free-entry’ draw when his grid slot number was pulled out

The NSR Fiesta ST was repaired by Kempster Ford and back in first class condition after the damage sustained at Mallory Park. Nick had not been on track at Silverstone before so intended to get on the pace quickly and make amends for the disappointment of retiring from the opening round of the championship.

A new look set-up was in place from this meeting onwards with Nick, John Findlay, Stewart Scott and Ryan Stirling all working together at trackside (although there would be fierce rivalry on track of course!). Ryan was making his debut in a brand new Fiesta ST, with Stewart joining the series in his new car having tested at Knockhill prior to this meeting.

All four drivers opted to test at Silverstone with four 45 minute test sessions available. Having checked the previous year’s lap times, Nick knew that the aim was to get into 1:11 second laps, in dry conditions.

The weather couldn’t decide what to do with rain patches throughout the day. Although all four sessions were on slick tyres, the track was very slippery and it was difficult to get clean, fast laps.

At the end of the fourth session, Nick’s best was a 1:12.2 with Stewart Scott putting in a 1:12.6. John and Ryan had in-car timer problems but they both also appeared to be on the pace, ready for the next day’s qualifying session.

A bumper grid was made up of 32 Fiestas, 12 of which were the new Fiesta ST Class C model.

Although the conditions were dry, again the track was slippery in places but Nick worked at getting a good lap and after a few 1:12 second laps, gained his fastest lap with a 1:11.991 which would be close to the front of the grid.

With only a 15 minute qualifying session, Nick managed 12 laps and at the chequered flag, it was Ben Roper again taking pole position with a 1:11.791, with Nick on the front row of the grid in second position, missing pole by 0.200 seconds.

Ryan put in a blistering lap which would have put him third on the grid however, upon scrutineering, his car was found to be 13 kgs under weight and he was therefore penalised and moved to the back of the grid with a 10 second penalty.

At this point, Ben Roper led with David Ellesley on his bumper with Nick a couple of seconds behind. He set about closing Ellesley down but the safety car was deployed on lap 3 with a Fiesta Si stranded in the gravel at Becketts.

After two laps behind the safety car, it pulled off into the pit lane signalling the re-start and the top three Fiesta STs broke away from the pack. Nick caught Ellesley and was all over his bumper but couldn’t quite get past, which also allowed Roper to pull away in the lead.

They remained in this order when with a couple of laps to go, the rain started and the track became treacherous, especially through the Luffield / Woodcote complex.

All three drivers experienced some hairy moments with major slides and had to narrowly avoid a spinning backmarker at Woodcote.

Nick kept pressing to try to catch the impressive Ellesley but he had pulled away a little and was in turn pressurising Roper for the lead. At the chequered flag, Nick came home in a solid 3^rd position – so finally some good points on the championship leader board!

Stewart came home in 8^th place; Ryan made it up to 12^th from the back of the grid with John finishing in 13^th with some braking problems.

Result : Nick Sanderson – Position 3^rd (3^rd Fiesta ST) - Fastest Lap 1:11.746

After sunshine all morning at Silverstone, it came as no surprise that the rain started half an hour before the Fiestas were about to race! There was a lot of activity in the paddock as all the drivers decided which tyres to use.

After a lot of consideration, Nick decided to opt for the dry weather slick tyres, hoping that the track would dry out and the rain stop. Others opted for the wet weather tyres hoping that it would continue to rain.

Nick didn’t get too bad a start but the cars on wet tyres got amazing traction and were far quicker off the line. Nick locked the wheels a little into the first corner and had a monster slide, at one point being broadside across the circuit before pulling it back in line and having to change down to 3^rd gear to gain momentum – fortunately, he wasn’t collected and didn’t actually lose that much speed.

Sandy Forrest, gambling on wet tyres, went past Nick and then Ross McColm, also on wets drove straight past in a straight line. Nick was down in 6^th place and struggling as the opening few laps were very tricky with the car sliding about with slick tyres on a wet surface.

Mid-race, the track began to dry quickly and Nick started reeling in the cars in front. First, he took Ross McColm on the exit of Becketts and then set about reeling in Sandy Forrest. Although the track was drying, the complex was still very slippery and Nick found that holding the inside kerb and completely staying off the power was the quickest and safest way around the corner.

Back on the power, he got a good run on Forrest and as expected, Sandy left plenty of room knowing that Nick was much faster now that the wet tyres couldn’t cope.

Nick had Stewart Scott in the 4^th placed Fiesta ST on his bumper for much of the race but with a few laps to go, Brian Roper was much faster in his Si and Nick opted to let Roper go through before the complex (the Class A Si not being involved in the Class C ST points) so he could concentrate on keeping Scott at bay. This also allowed Roper to catch David Nye for the overall Class A lead, with Nick also passing Nye who was also struggling on wet tyres.

At the flag, Nick took a solid 4^th place overall and 3^rd place in the Fiesta ST Class C. Roper and Ellesley were well out in front in this round but all-in-all, two great results for Nick and no damage to the car.

Stewart finished in a well deserved 5^th place, Ryan in 7^th place and John in 15^th place once his wet tyres couldn’t cope with the drying conditions.

Result : Nick Sanderson – Position 4^th (3^rd Fiesta ST) - Fastest Lap 1:12.166

Although Nick would have liked to have been challenging the leaders in the second race, two good 3^rd place finishes with no problems experienced with the car is a great result after the Mallory Park disappointment.

The next rounds are at Snetterton on 4^th/ 5^th May which is the Bank Holiday weekend. We have already booked full testing on the Saturday as we haven’t raced at Snetterton before but we intend to be at the front of the grid!

Championship Points
Position	Name	Points
1	Ben Roper	38
2	Sandy Forrest	37
3	Richard Kemp	34
4	David Ellesley	28
5	Gordon Tompkins	27
6	Nick Sanderson	26
7	Stewart Scott	23
8	Phil Simpson	21
9	Al Daly	20
10	Ryan Stirling	19
11	Ross McColm	16
12	John Findlay	13
13	Andy Neate	0

The NSR team arrived at Mallory Park with the car looking in first class condition with the all new 2008 design. Unfortunately, there are only test days at Mallory Park on Wednesday mornings and the team was unable to make this due to logistical reasons and work commitments however, Nick had raced and won at Mallory Park in his championship winning XR2 season, so he was confident that a good result could be obtained without any prior testing.

The grid was made up of 26 Fiestas, 10 of which were the new Fiesta ST model which is a great improvement in numbers from the inaugural season in 2007, with more STs still to join the championship.

It was difficult to gain clear track space due to the amount of Fiestas on track and the shortness of the 1.35 mile Mallory Park circuit. Nick got to grips with the car and circuit and put a decent lap in early on and then concentrated on gaining good track space. Out of the 19 laps he completed in qualifying, only 7 laps were really clear laps judging from the individual lap times.

At the end of session, Ben Roper took pole position with a 54.654 second lap with Nick in second place with a 55.049 second lap, 0.395 seconds off pole and 0.396 seconds faster than the next Fiesta ST of Sandy Forrest who was out for the first time in the national series.

Nick was pleased with getting a front row position and confident of a good result during the race.

At the start of the race, Ben Roper got a slightly better start than Nick and took the lead into the first corner with Nick slotting into second place. On the exit of the corner, Ben slowed up having seen a red flag, signalling an immediate stop to the race – Nick also saw the flag and eased up but the cars behind didn’t and very nearly slammed into the back of the NSR car!

At the time, the front running cars were unaware as to why the red flag came out but upon entering the main straight, it became quite obvious as there was carnage near the pits with the two heavily damaged cars of Andy Neate and John Findlay. Three STs had come together at the start with Andy being spun around and John collecting him before hitting the pit wall. Both cars were severely damaged and will require major work to be ready in time for the next rounds at Silverstone.

Whilst awaiting the re-start, Brian Roper’s Si in third position on the grid suffered a major engine related problem and he also had to retire. Other cars were involved in the start line incident trying to avoid each other and were also forced to miss the re-start.

After a lengthy delay, the re-start got underway with Ben again taking the lead and David Abbott storming past Nick into second off the line. Nick had to defend from David Nye around Gerrard’s but kept his third position into the Esses.

Across the line after lap 1, Ben led with David Abbott second and Nick in a comfortable third place. Nick was catching David and ready to make a move when coming out of the Esses, the rear end of the car got loose and completely caught Nick unaware. Exiting stage-left at high speed, Nick tried to steer the car away from the Armco as best as possible but the rear end caught the barrier lightly, spinning him around and then into the Armco with a hefty impact with the front end.

Nick managed to get the car moving and back onto the circuit but the steering was caught on the bodywork and he decided to pull into the pits for a check, not knowing the extent of the damage. Upon inspection, it was ‘race over’ as the bodywork was too badly damaged with fluids spilling out underneath.

Ben Roper also had a nightmare start to the season as after leading by a long way, a rear wheel bearing failed and he had to pull into the pits with two laps to go. Sandy Forrest went on the take the race win at his first attempt and his first drive in the car – well done Sandy!

A very disappointing opening weekend to the season after such a promising grid position. Nick is not entirely sure what caused the spin although we think it was a combination of cold tyres, weather conditions and the possibility of grease/diesel on the circuit. Nick had the in-car television camera so hopefully, we may gain some information from the footage.

On the brighter side of things, only 13 of the 15 rounds count towards the overall championship scoring so as Mallory Park was only a single race meeting, that is only one DNF to count (rather than two as we wouldn’t have been able to fix the car in time for a second race).

The car needs a lot of work prior to the next rounds as the front end took a lot of damage. It is currently being stripped down at Kempster Ford for initial assessment.

The next rounds are at Silverstone on 12^th/13^th April where we will be ready to make amends.

Championship Points
Position	Name	Points
1	Sandy Forrest	16
2	Richard Kemp	14
3	Gordon Tompkins	13
4	Phil Simpson	12
5	Al Daly	11
6	Ben Roper	2
7	Nick Sanderson	0
7	John Findlay	0
7	Andy Neate	0
7	David Ellesley	0

Nick Sanderson Racing Ltd was established in 1999 when starting out in motorsport with Nick Sanderson (Director) taking part in the Scottish XR2 Championship. After developing our racecraft and motorsport mechanics, we progressed in the series, dominating the 2005 season to become XR2 Champions with two rounds remaining. Whilst taking a year out of motorsport in 2006 due to work commitments, NSR built a brand new Ford Fiesta ST and raced in the national www.dees.co.uk Ford Fiesta Championship in 2007, eventually finishing 3^rd overall in the Fiesta ST class.

After this initial development season during which we achieved excellent results, we are now aiming at an assault on the 2008 championship title.

The www.dees.co.uk Ford Fiesta Championship is run by Ford Racing UK in association with the British Racing & Sports Car Club (BRSCC). The series incorporates three models of Fiesta, all running on slick and wet Dunlop control tyres – Class A for 1800cc Si cars, Class B for 1400cc Zetec cars and the new Class C for 2000cc Fiesta STs. Although more powerful than the Si cars, the Fiesta ST is materially heavier and the Championship Co-ordinator has striven to make both these classes run at as much a similar pace as possible. This was evident during the 2007 season where Si cars could be found at the front of the field. The championship had an average of 30 cars during the 2007 season; on occasions, the only limiting factor being the number of cars a circuit is licensed to race.

There are eight meetings over the course of the season consisting of 15 championship rounds. All rounds score points with the best 13 results out of the 15 rounds counting towards the overall championship points tally.

The Ford Fiesta Championship gives very good value for money, due to the cheap cost of the bodyshells and engines and the fact that performance modifications are not permitted. Television coverage is confirmed again for 2008, giving a huge incentive for sponsorship, with an estimated viewing audience of over 70,000 people per programme.

The calendar below shows the race dates for the 2008 championship. NSR has won races at three of these venues and the majority of circuits were learnt during the 2007 championship season.

Round No.	Date	Venue
Round 1	24 Mar 08	Mallory Park
Rounds 2 & 3	12-13 Apr 08	Silverstone
Rounds 4 & 5	4-5 May 08	Snetterton
Rounds 6 & 7	14-15 Jun 08	Cadwell Park
Rounds 8 & 9	2-3 Aug 08	Lydden Hill
Rounds 10 & 11	16-17 Aug 08	Brands Hatch
Rounds 12 & 13	6-7 Sept 08	Anglesey
Rounds 14 & 15	1-2 Nov 08	Donington Park

In return for any sponsorship received, a sponsorship package can be agreed that will typically include the following: -

· The racing is reported on numerous motorsports websites and professional photographers attend each meeting so pictures of the car are distributed across the internet.

All the above items offer maximum exposure for your company. We can offer large packages for company decals on the main panels of the NSR Fiesta ST or alternative packages in prominent positions for smaller budgets.

Our ethos is that once a company commits to supporting us, they become part of the NSR team and join us in our goal of becoming the 2008 Ford Fiesta ST Champions.

Although sponsorship packages can be tailored to individual company needs, the table below highlights some of the typical packages available.

Package Type	Cost
Complete car re-sprayed in full company livery	£5000 + re-spray cost
Race Tyres (Slicks & Wets at £150 x 18)	£2700
Race Entry Fees (1 race at £150 x 15)	£2250
Major decal coverage on car	£1000
Large decals on wings	£500
Large decals on bonnet	£300
Vehicle Number Plates	£150 each
Wing Mirrors	£75 each
Small company / personal name on car	£50

The table below shows the full expenditure of running the NSR fiesta ST over the course of the 2007 season (including building the car from new) and demonstrates the commitment from NSR invested into this programme.

Expenditure Category	Total
Purchase of Fiesta ST	£8,250
Conversion of Fiesta ST into race trim	£13,617
Race Entry Fees	£2,010
Test Days (prior to race meetings)	£875
Dunlop Tyres (Slicks & Wets)	£2,700
AST Racing Wheels	£735
Race preparation Costs / Mechanics	£5,315
General Running Costs	£909

Total Costs	£34,411

Sponsorship Received	Total
Kempster Ford (ST Specialist Dealer)	Undisclosed
Orion Engineering Services Ltd	Undisclosed
Vortech Signs Ltd	Undisclosed

Total Sponsorship Received	£5,100

Total Season Expenditure for NSR (£34,411 total costs - £5,100 total sponsorship received)	£29,311

As previously mentioned, NSR can offer sponsorship opportunities for any company, irrespective of the level of sponsorship that budgets will allow.

The brand new Fiesta ST was introduced to the series in 2007 and, although NSR committed to the full championship, the first season was going to be a development year in an initial two-year programme. Refining the new Fiesta ST and visiting untried racing circuits would prove to be a steep learning curve.

The cars would not be ready in time for the opening rounds at Silverstone so these would already count as our two ‘dropped scores’, meaning that we had to get results at all the remaining rounds.

The NSR Fiesta ST was delivered the day before the Anglesey meeting and, although not completely finished or tested, it was close enough to race. Amazingly, NSR put it on pole and went on to win the race at the very first attempt!

A 2^nd place in the second race saw a solid start to the season which was soon followed with another 2^nd place in torrential rain at Oulton Park.

Disaster struck at Lydden Hill when additional laps were run in the first race that we were not prepared for, running out of fuel on the final lap but a charge through the field from 19^th place to finish 6^th at the tight Kent circuit was deservedly recognised by nature of the ‘driver of the day’ award.

The series then moved over the channel to France for a two-race meeting at Croix-En-Ternois near Lille. Two cracking races resulted in another two 2^nd places with both races ending with nothing between the front two cars.

Next on the calendar was Rockingham where the meeting was also the RS Owners Club day, attended by 20,000+ visitors. Again, the weather played a major part with a difficult first race on the Saturday and the Sunday race being cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions.

The first meeting at the famous Brands Hatch circuit followed, where the season really took a turn for the worse. During the qualifying session, an uncharacteristic error at Paddock Hill Bend resulted in an impact with the tyre barrier at 70+ MPH, resulting in a severely damaged car (and a very sore driver!). The mechanics did a fantastic job with the car and we were able to compete in the two races. Although the car did not handle properly, we did manage to achieve two finishes.

The final rounds were again at Brands Hatch at the Formula Ford Festival – one of the most prestigious meetings on the Ford calendar. After just missing out on pole position, both races involved a lot of contact and incidents but another two good results ensured NSR took 3^rd position in the Fiesta ST championship.

The table below shows the final championship standings with the two ‘dropped scores’ incorporated. Considering the NSR Fiesta ST was not ready in time for the two rounds at Silverstone, a solid 3^rd place in the debut development season is a great achievement which can now be built on.

Position	Name	Points
1	Daniel Rose	190
2	Ben Roper	180
3	Nick Sanderson	154
4	John Findlay	107
5	Richard Kemp	60
6	Stewart Scott	24

The following is a summary of the 2007 championship achievements in our initial development year:

Out of all the circuits visited during the course of the 2007 season, NSR had only raced at Oulton Park previously so, although there was a steep learning curve with the new Fiesta ST and new circuits, the results are commendable. Now that the development is done, NSR will be right on the pace from the start in 2008.

After backing the NSR team in the 2007 development season, Specialist ST dealer, Kempster Ford has confirmed their backing for the 2008 championship campaign. This is a major boost for the team and we look forward to working with Kempster Ford throughout the season.

Similarly, Orion Engineering Ltd has also confirmed their continuation of support based on the 2007 successes.

New to the NSR team for 2008, we are proud to announce new sponsors, Tom Lord Driving Solutions, Vacuum Pouch Company, Simply French Knickers, Anthony Barton & ST Owners Club.

We are also speaking with other potential sponsors and hope to make new announcements shortly. Details of all out sponsors can be found below.

The NSR fiesta ST is currently located at the Kempster Ford dealership in Heywood. The new 2008 livery will be unveiled at the Kempster Ford open day on Saturday 16^th February where media representatives (including Fast ford Magazine) have already confirmed their attendance.

Home	^News	^Features	^Calendar	^{News Archive}	11/56 MotorSport
Home	^Reports	^Gallery	^Links	^Classified	11/56 MotorSport

The recruitment engineering business is complemented by Energy, IT & Telecoms, Rail, Office People and Industrial division providing the expert knowledge and quality of service which is synonymous with the Orion brand.

Visit www.orioneng.com for information