Dempsey takes the positives from Hayes Trophy weekend

Jordan Dempsey is pleased with his performance and how he responded to the difficulties the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone presented to him over the weekend.

Dempsey went into the event as the 2019 trophy winner and following a tricky outing at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch the weekend before – and though he made the Hayes final – he was forced to retire after another driver ran into him.

Back at home in Mullingar on Monday morning, he summarised the event: “Disappointed with the outcome. I had some great sponsors on board for the event, so it would have been nice to get the win for them, and obviously for me as well, but I’m coming out of it happy with how I did.

“I don’t think I was quickest in any practice or test session – normally if the car is underneath me, I’m quickest, so I didn’t have the pace I usually have, but I was able to keep my head, work on the car, get it sorted and had it in a good place come the final, and I have every belief that if I’d made it through those few laps in the final (more on that below), I would’ve been able to win the race.”

Jordan said he started the event well in the first practice session, last Wednesday morning. The track was wet for that, but when it dried later on, his car began to understeer and his pace fell away.

He was surprised at that, considering he had shown good speed at Brands Hatch, and he normally goes better at Silverstone. “We only had three or four laps in the dry, so we put that behind us and when we went out again, in the wet, we were reasonably comfortable, but not 100 per cent happy. On Thursday I couldn’t get the front of the car set up right, and we were probably only sixth or seventh quickest, and on Friday it kept getting worse, and I was really struggling.”

On Friday evening, he told his team he wouldn’t be able to match the other times on the leader board, so they decided to investigate the car more thoroughly, and found a crack in one of the chassis bars.

“When we went out the next day, we still couldn’t get the car to do what I wanted it to do, and what it did the year before. The team and I looked through the car and couldn’t find what was causing these symptoms. The team were very thorough, but the car just wasn’t working for me, for whatever reason.”

They thought there might have been another crack in the chassis but couldn’t find one and couldn’t be certain. Nonetheless, they did make progress on the set-up, and Jordan qualified fourth for his heat.

That race was delayed because of the rain, but he managed a good start and got into the lead, lost it again, and regained it at Brooklands corner, before he made a “silly mistake” at Copse on the next lap. “I understeered out over the kerb and because there was so much standing water, I hit a puddle, got massive wheelspin and lost two places.

“On the next lap, the heavens opened, and going through the quickest corner on the track flat out in fourth (110/120mph), aquaplaning, you can’t even see whether you’re on the circuit. It was quite scary to be honest. You can’t even see your own car, never mind anyone else’s.”

The race was red-flagged after the second placed car, which was in front of Jordan, went off the track, and another four or five cars went off on the pit straight.

After a short break, the race re-started: “I still didn’t have the pace I would’ve liked but I managed to hold on for the win. Then I started the semi-final from second, but I made a bad start and dropped to third. But I was happy to hold station. We had been working on the car and I had more pace and a reasonably good set-up, and I was able to stick with the others.”

Considering how bad the conditions were and that there had already been a number of accidents, Jordan took a cautious approach and held back so he’d be in good shape for the final. He finished second in the semi-final and stared the final from third.

“We only got two laps before there was a safety car, but my car was mega. We’d made a few changes after the semi and it was starting to work better, and I think we had the quickest car in the final – we had the fastest lap before I got taken out.

“I was trying a few moves and teeing up where I would pass the cars in front, and had it worked out how I was going to do it. I was ready to go.

“But, I don’t know what Josh Fisher was doing. I was stuck behind the two leaders and he came from – it must have been eight car lengths back – and hit me in the back and spun me. He didn’t even lock up, and it looked fairly bad. That was my race over. The exhaust was broken, he hit me so hard.”

So the weekend ended in disappointment. Like every other sport, motor racing has been curtailed due to the pandemic, but Jordan is still looking to a possible future in GT racing or F3. He is also considering using his father’s Formula Ford to race in the UK next year. “It would be good fun to run with the family team again,” he said.