FEATURE : SAMUEL HARRISON
He ’ s shown good pace in the Dallara
Teenage
At only 17 years of age , Samuel Harrison is one of the rising young stars of historic racing . Paul Lawrence found out more about him . kicks
The teenager from Ripon in North Yorkshire has made a big impression in the historic world over the last two seasons , starting in the shortened 2020 season and continuing this year . He cut his car racing teeth in an Elden Mk8 in both Classic and Historic Formula Ford and , more recently , has also joined the Geoff Lees Trophy grid in a Dallara F389 . There is an F2 Lola on the stocks for next season . Samuel clearly has bags of natural pace and that was developed in an impressive karting career , which also explains his instant pace when he switched cars . He explains : “ I raced in Rotax karts . I started in Mini Max and then moved up to Junior Max and I did the British championships for two years . And during my last year in Juniors , I raced in Senior Max in Europe .
I managed to qualify from the British Junior Championships in 2018 to go and race in the World Finals , which I was happy with . I ’ ll be 18 on Christmas Day and I ’ ve just started in year 13 , doing my A Levels next year .” In karting terms , that ’ s some record .
At age 16 , cars beckoned but the modern single-seater route was out their financial league . Consider for a moment that the newly-announced GB4 category talks of being more affordable with annual budgets of £ 120,000 to £ 150,000 .
Instead , they looked at historic single-seaters as a good way to advance Samuel ’ s career . “ My dad Tim has always liked historic cars and I ’ ve grown up around historic cars . It is cheaper than modern stuff and you get a lot more seat time . All credit to mum and dad and the guys at Mk8 Motorsport .”
Racing the Elden in Historic FF1600
Samuel Harrison
The prime focus for this season has been the Historic FF1600 Championship and , despite three non-finishes over the first half of the season , an overall top six placing and a first win are within reach .
“ We ’ ll just finish the season with the Elden in Historic Formula Ford and bring the Formula 3 Dallara out some more as well . The main priority is Formula Ford and try and beat Cam Jackson . But I ’ ve got a bit of work to do to get there . He ’ s very fast and he ’ s a very good benchmark . Coming out of go karts , you never would have thought you could get so close in cars .”
Samuel is clearly enjoying his racing and back at base a Lola T240 is being prepared for Historic F2 racing . “ I like racing historics : it is really , really good . We ’ ve got a Formula 2 Lola coming as well and we ’ re hoping to be out in that next year .”
Looking a little further ahead , he is realistic enough to accept that Formula 1 is out of reach , but a professional career is his aim . “ I ’ d like to get a career as a racing driver . I ’ d like to race in GT cars and maybe race at Le Mans . Formula 1 is too late for me . They ’ re picking them up too young and I ’ ve not got the background . I don ’ t see myself leaving historics even if I did get into GT cars , because of the fun and you won ’ t get it anywhere else .”
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