Lennox-Lamb bucks convention to upset establishment

Jordon Lennox-Lamb has been showing his more experienced rivals the way in his maiden season of KF1 competition in Britain – and, as soon as the engine is up-to-speed, he is threatening to do the same thing on the European scene in KF2.

---

---

Photo: Kartpix
The Bedford ace may at just 16 be considerably younger – not to mention smaller – than virtually all of his KF1 rivals, but he has not let that discourage him as he has taken the fight to the likes of Lee Bell, Mark Litchfield and Chris Rogers with seasoned aplomb.

“Rogers, [Jonathan] Walker, Litchfield and co have so much experience behind them,” he explained. “You have to think about things a lot more – particularly overtaking moves – up against drivers like them, and strategy really comes into play.

“I like racing against them, though – it’s a good challenge and really puts a smile on my face. It’s especially fun when it’s really close between us, and we can have a good scrap for the lead.”

That has certainly been the case thus far in 2008, though as the only driver running with a Top Kart chassis in the UK the opening Super 1 round held at Three Sisters near Wigan proved to be anything but straightforward, as Jordon found his kart beset by electronic problems that left him down in tenth on the starting grid, more than seven tenths of a second shy of the leading pace.

Though he admitted to having ‘got it right for the finals eventually’, still a brace of sixth places – the first a meagre six tenths adrift of the podium and the second hampered by his front brake lever jamming on through left-handers, causing the front wheels to intermittently lock – was not what the former front-runner in BRDC Stars of Tomorrow, the same series that first set a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to future Formula 1 glory, goes racing for.

With his Top Kart team manager and mechanic having made the trip over from Italy for round two at PF International in Lincolnshire, strong form throughout practice – where Jordon was consistently quickest – was converted into a front row starting slot for the first heat race, a scant hundredth away from pole-sitter Richard Bradley.

“I was a bit devastated about that,” he confessed, “because I was thinking it was going to be my first KF1 pole. For sure the kart is good, though; there are no problems with that. We proved at PF that the kart is phenomenal.”

Indeed, the word ‘phenomenal’ could also be used to describe Jordon’s driving, as he survived comings-together with Rogers in both of his heat races to line up seventh for the first final. From there he would rapidly move up into second place, before going on to chase down and pass leader Litchfield. Just a lap later, however, disaster struck as his engine reed petals didn’t just break, they disintegrated, meaning it was game over and relegating him to the very back of the grid for final number two.

“A lot of people were telling me it was going to be hard to come through the pack,” he mused, “but I was determined I was going to get there.”

Indeed, the John Bunyan School pupil is no stranger to back-to-front charges, having overcome every obstacle to prevail in the first Stars’ outing of 2007 at Kimbolton. In an admirable performance at PF and one that was a near carbon-copy of his earlier drive – minus the agonising retirement – he quickly fought his way up to second place and set about tracking down established class pace-setter Litchfield.

“I was thinking it would probably take me about ten laps to get onto the back of him,” he related, “but it only took me two. I made my move and managed to stop him in the middle of the corner.”

That allowed Bell to get past the erstwhile race leader too, and as the pair of them scrapped over second spot, Jordon was able to pull away – proving that at such a young age he can not only out-race his rivals, he can out-wit them too. Fastest lap to his name was just the icing on the cake at the end of a drive that was alternately described as ‘intelligent’ and awesome’.

What’s more, the result has left the undisputed star of the KF1 Winter Series sitting fifth in the main series points’ standings heading to round three at Rowrah up in Cumbria, and having crucially earned the respect of his fellow competitors following his breakthrough triumph – what he acknowledged was one of the most significant victories of his increasingly impressive fledgling motorsport career.

“In the Winter Series if I won a race, the next time they would take me out,” he revealed. “Back then I was the new boy in the class, but I think I’ve blended in a bit better now and I’m just one of them.

“PF felt really good, and when I went across the line a lot of relief came off my shoulders. Rowrah is one of my favourite circuits, so I should be on top form there. Hopefully it will be a dominating third round!”

On the European stage, meanwhile, though Jordon may have endured a trying start to his WSK International Series KF2 campaign – with a cylinder seizure dashing his hopes of qualifying for the final at La Conca in Italy in a mammoth field of some 85 drivers, a better round two at Lonato, again in Italy, seeing him 59th on the intermediate rankings with his best results two 14th-places from the heats and a third round at Mariembourg in Belgium yielding a best finish yet of 19th place in the ‘repêchage’ (second chance pre-final) – he is hopeful of making consistent progress as the season wears on.

“I prefer competing in Europe,” he enthused. “The racing over there is fantastic. We’ve recently done another test, and are getting better and better all the time. We are a year behind in terms of development with the Comer engine because no one previously had wanted to do it.

“Getting into the finals in the WSK would be nice, but hopefully that won’t be too difficult from now on. I’m aiming to get top 15 finishes, but the competition is really hard.

“In timed qualifying in the UK, sometimes you get one driver two tenths up on anyone else; that kind of margin would cover as many as ten drivers in Europe. There are ten drivers doing 46.5s laps, ten drivers doing 46.6s… Every hundredth counts, and you absolutely have to get timed qualifying right.

“Hopefully we will be closer to the pace for the European Championship, though – that’s where we are aiming to arrive.”

In an entertaining postscript, the former BRDC Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner added that he is now an uncle, and that the Lennox-Lamb racing genes have clearly already been passed down to the next generation.

“I’d like to say congratulations to my sister and her husband Dan Hazlewood on their new baby boy Oaklee,” he said. “A helmet design is on the way, and a driving suit has been ordered to follow…”

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website