26/02/2005
NEWS STORY
This weekend sees Pitpass' very own Ben Constanduros competing in Silverstone's Race Academy Scholarship.
After qualifying through two days of intense driver assessment and training at the start of February, Ben will be among the cream of the 75 original entries as the final 20 battle it out. The prize is a fully funded drive in the BRDC single seater championship worth up to £45,000, the sort of funding that is so hard to find anywhere.
Originally Ben was sceptical that he had even made the cut. "There was such a competitive group of drivers: for instance, people who had been racing for years in Formula Renault. I felt way out of my depth," said Ben.
Once the first round of the competition commenced, Ben's feeling didn't improve. In his words he "mucked up" on three of the ten tests while during the heel-and-toe test, his accelerator started to 'droop' meaning he could no longer roll his foot from the brake to blip the throttle and thus was not actually heel-and-toeing at all!!
"I got on really well with the test car, a Formula First, and that really helped my cause, I suppose. Standing, waiting for the results was probably the worst bit. The weekend had been such fun but waiting for the results just wasn't!"
Ben was selected to progress into the final instead of some of the more experienced drivers but he's still in good company. Among the other finalists are Dean Smith, Formula BMW UK driver, Ollie Hancock, FFord 2000 star, Ruth Senior T-car scholarship winner - the list goes on, but is this a worry for Ben and his chances?
"Simply, no. It seems the scholarship is designed for the driver who would have no other way of racing at the proposed level. I'm coming from karting with no race car experience and hopefully I've made progress. I certainly learned a lot during the initial assessment. Whatever happens, in the end it is still a massive confidence boost to be selected and I will still have another exciting season of karting to look forward to."
The final takes place this Sunday (27th February).
We wish him the very best of luck... Go, Ben!