NEWS
Harrison in the Merlyn at the WHT
Harrison signs for CTM
Samuel Harrison has signed to contest the 2022 Historic Formula Ford season with Classic Team Merlyn . The 17-yearold former karter has raced familyowned Royale and Elden Formula Fords in both Classic and Historic Formula Ford over the past two seasons , with some success , and also races his Dallara in the HSCC Geoff Lees Trophy , often impressing in wet conditions and winning at Silverstone .
An important success came at this year ’ s Walter Hayes Trophy when Harrison drove superbly in Mike O ’ Brien ’ s Merlyn to win both the Pre-Final and Historic Pre ‘ 82 Final for the Carl Hamer Trophy , the latter after a four-way lead battle and a breathtakingly close finish with Richard Tarling .
Team boss O ’ Brien said : “ Samuel came to my attention with some determined drives in his Elden Mk8 , particularly at
Cadwell Park where he threatened to beat Cam Jackson . I could see he had a lot of natural talent and felt that in our environment he could flourish into a real race winning proposition – it couldn ’ t have gone any better in initial testing and subsequently at the Walter Hayes itself , so I am looking forward to next season with great optimism for what I expect to be another closely contested season of Historic Formula Ford .”
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Drybrough returns
Historic Formula Ford racer Ross Drybrough made a welcome return to racing at the HSCC Silverstone Finals Meeting , just over three months after suffering a nasty hand injury at Brands Hatch . The Sussex dental implant surgeon was injured when an inadvertent tangle of
Ross Drybrough ’ s welcome return
wheels flipped his Merlyn at Druids , and his left hand was damaged when caught between the roll hoop and the asphalt . The little finger was badly damaged and shortly after the incident Drybrough elected to have the finger amputated .
His Merlyn Mk20 sustained considerable damage although the roll hoop stood up very well . A new chassis is now being prepared before the car can return to racing .
Instead , after extensive physio on his hand , Drybrough was back racing in his other Formula Ford , a rare March 709 for the season finale at Silverstone .
His return to the grid was welcomed by his friends and rivals in the Historic FF fraternity . “ I ’ m having a lot of physio on my hand and I wanted to get back out before the end of the season ,” he said . “ I ’ d not raced the March in the dry before ,” he said after finishing 11th overall and third in the Over 50s class in both of Saturday ’ s races .
Drybrough ’ s close friend and rival Cormac Flanagan also rejoined the grid at Silverstone in his Alexis Mk14 for his first race in two years . Following a major rebuild , the Alexis was damaged in qualifying at Donington Park in June but is now back to immaculate once again .