On the 2nd of August we hosted the Formula Fast Festival to celebrate our 2nd year running at Milton Keynes, and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made it such a memorable day. Here are our highlights…
It started with a vibrant display of race cars out in front of the venue, generously provided by Geoff Stanley and Michael Fisk (pending good weather of course), which generated a lot of interest and “Can I have a go in this one” type questions throughout the day… Nice try.
Michael’s friends, Will and Eleanor, also put on a fantastic hog roast – with just enough left over for myself and Phil to devour on our lunch breaks for the start of the week. Our track-side viewing area also remained busy throughout, as people spent their time discussing and arguing about racing lines and lap times – I believe the term was ‘racing banter’..?
So firstly, karting – the main attraction. We’d had a competition set by Britains Got Talent’s Bailey McConnell earlier that month under the tag: #BeatBailey. The challenge was to beat his time of a 34.898, you can see his challenge request in the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct-0n_da9rI
During the festival we had over 100 people try and #BeatBailey with only 17 people succeeding – so, if you’re on this list below, Congratulations!
| Position | Racer | LTime |
| 1 | Lewis Manley | 32.98 |
| 2 | will tregurtha | 33.067 |
| 3 | Ben Tuck | 33.27 |
| 4 | Max Salthouse | 33.58 |
| 5 | Ashley Owen | 33.62 |
| 6 | Kyle Morby | 33.638 |
| 7 | Paul Davis | 33.798 |
| 8 | Gary Llewellyn | 33.834 |
| 9 | Leslie Kemmett | 33.866 |
| 10 | Cody Hill | 33.894 |
| 11 | Kim Enson | 33.931 |
| 12 | Nigel Owen | 34.214 |
| 13 | Emma Young | 34.271 |
| 14 | Darran Hemmings | 34.388 |
| 15 | Harry Macaulay | 34.454 |
| 16 | adam manley | 34.53 |
| 17 | George Reed | 34.896 |
Sticking with the laptime challenges, we also made use of our brand new Sodi 2-Drive kart. This advanced bit of kit is mainly used for our Access Karting Project, but also serves well in our Private Tuition sessions. This 270cc beast features fully adjustable dual (or single) steering with racing harness, easy access and fantastic instructor control features including power cut-out & braking options from the passenger seat – this made for the most challenging of today’s events. For the Festival, we took our extra barriers and the 2-drive outside for the car-park laptime challenge. Our winner was once again, Lewis Manley, with a 45.9 second stint.
Next up was the Racing Simulator, this addictive piece of gadgetry was provided by Ben Turner from the SimplyRace venue in Milton Keynes, and comprises of 3 large HD screens, a force-feedback steering wheel and a vibrating seat (appropriately named – the Butt Kicker).
Using the Red Bull Audi RS4, you had only 3 laps to bomb around Donington Park for a chance at winning a free session at SimplyRace. Ginetta Junior driver Will Tregurtha was also on hand to provide tuition and helpful driving tips to anyone having a go at the challenge. Well done again to Lewis Manley who wins again, with a 1:31.869 as his best time.
It was great to see so many friends and familiar faces at the venue and look forward to celebrating many more years to come. A special mention to Leslie Kemmet, who completed his 500th session with us during our Festival. 
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the day, and are always looking for feedback from customers. Let us know what you think and email me – Ollie.fox@formulafast.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you at the venue.
Ollie
Sales & Marketing Director
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