Lichfield racing driver Anthony Whorton-Eales tried something new as he made his single-seater debut at Donington Park.
The 16-year old raced in the first ever 750 Motor Club Formula Vee Winter Championship as part of his prize for winning the SaxMax championship in the summer in his Citroen Saxo, and he found the new formula a great experience in his relatively short motorsport career.
Driving an AHS Challenger chassis, Ant lined up against ten other 1300cc Volkswagen-powered single seaters in the formula’s first ever Winter Championship, which was decided over the aggregate of two races on a cold but dry afternoon.
Ant’s only previous experience of the car was in a wet test session at Bruntingthorpe, but he acquitted himself well in qualifying to line up ninth and eighth for the two races against more experienced opposition.
In race one he enjoyed a fabulous scrap with the similar AHS Challenger of Tim Hill, eventually coming out on top to take eighth place having lapped just a few seconds off the pace of race winner Ian Buxton.
The second race saw Hill drop out early on leaving Ant to lap on his own, and he showed some good controlled driving on his way to seventh place to conclude an accomplished single-seater debut, again clocking lap times just four seconds off Buxton who took his second win.
Ant said he enjoyed the experience but prefers saloon car racing, and is set to compete in the Mini Challenge run by MotorSport Vision in 2011.