NEWS 2011
2011
27th November 2011
The Fairhurst Team would also like to
thank several people that often work behind the scenes to help the team
out with very little recognition, so thanks to Hilary and CatherinePrior,
Chris Clark, Geoff Coleman, Gary, and Gary Maynard. The Fairhurst’s
would also like to thank their dedicated team of mechanics that keep the
car out on track each week. Also a big thank you to everyone who contribuated
photo for the wesbite - Chris Clark, Micheal Jenkins, Catherine Prior, Nikki
Mellor, Paul Tully, Stoxjack249, and Carl H.
A
selection of 2011
photos
Derek has been very impressed with Lee and the way he has handled himself
when being interviewed on the TV during the season on Premier Sports TV’s
coverage as well as for the filming of the BBC 1 “Gears and Tears”
show. He has proven to be a articulate, knowledgeable and a good ambassador
for the sport, and the team’s sponsors.
The Fairhurst Team still race on a very limited budget, so are still seeking
additional sponsorship to help with the diesel costs involved in travelling
to the meetings.
As previously mentioned, the goal for 2012 is to keep Lee competitive on
tarmac as that is the surface that he excels on. So with limited funds,
that is what they are going to concentrate on as they would rather put 100%
effort into the tarmac racing rather than a diluted effort split between
tarmac and shale. However if a diesel sponsor can be found, then the team
plan to complete another shale car and get Lee back out onto the shale again
and attend as many meetings as possible so that he can compete with the
top drivers in the sport on both surfaces and hopefully challenge for the
National series title.
If anybody feels they are able to offer any assistance with sponsorship,
please get in touch with the Team.
24th November 2011
Another exciting season of
BriSCA formula 1 stock cars has drawn to a close, so it’s time to reflect
on a season that has had its highs and lows. As per usual, the racing was
fast, frantic and very hard hitting and provided a great spectacle each
week for the dedicated travelling fans. Some highs included F2 superstar
Mick Sworder making a full time switch to the big league and after a short
period finding his feet, he won the European title at his first attempt,
not dissimilar to Lee winning the title at his first attempt in 2009, but
Mick had more experience in the sport behind him.
The highlight of this season was seeing Paul Harrison finally achieving
his dream of winning the World title after 23 attempts, and to add the icing
on the cake, he also won the British championship title as well.
The race for the silver roof also saw a new face, if not a new name, claiming
the shootout honours when Craig Finnikin won the title in a close run points
battle that went all the way to the final race. Craig following in the footsteps
of his father Bert, who won the National points title in 1983.
Low points however included the retirement from the sport of two top drivers,
260 Dave Beresford and five times World champion 391 Andrew Smith. Also
due to the nature of the point shootout system, the racing became too destructive
at times, which led to some major car damage, but thankfully no injuries,
thanks to the safety measures built into the modern cars.
For Team Fairhurst, the 2011 season pretty much went the same way, a season
of highs and lows. Starting the season with the newly refurbished tarmac
car that had been totally rebuilt over the winter, the car appeared with
a stunning new metallic blue and red colour scheme with gold highlights.
Lee was immediately on the pace in the car and proved his potential as a
future World champion when he won the UK Open championship title at Skegness
Raceway in May. This was Lee’s second title in three years, following on
from winning the European title in 2009.
The new shale car, built in-house at the Fairhurst workshop, finally made
its debut in the latter part of the season, just in time for the world championship
semi-final at Belle Vue, where Lee started near the front of the grid. Unfortunately
bent steering from a first corner incident put Lee out of the semi-final
in the early stages, but he was to later qualify for the World final when
he finished in third place in the consolation semi-final race at Northampton
in September.
Having only raced on tarmac in the first half of this season, Lee qualified
as one of the 12 drivers in the shootout for the National series, or the
race for the silver roof. He achieved this from only racing at 15 tarmac
meetings, as opposed to most of the other drivers who had been racing on
both tarmac and shale to get into the shootout.
After a few early “new car” teething troubles, Lee finally started to get
to grips with racing on the shale as the season drew to a close and he started
to get some good finishes on the loose stuff.
The 2011 season also presented the team with a few unexpected technical
problems with the Fairhurst transporter. The old girl is getting on a bit
and needed some loving attention during the season after a couple of fuel
system issues caused either delays en route, or late arrivals home after
the meetings.
Having refurbished the tarmac car in the previous off-season, the Fairhurst
team were hoping to have very little work to do on it this winter, but fate
played its hand and Lee was unfortunate to get caught up in a major pile
up in the final at the last tarmac meeting of the season at Northampton.
The car suffered substantial damage to the roll cage and luckily Lee emerged
without injury, but the resultant damage means the hope of a quiet winter
has gone out of the window, while repairs are made in the car is rebuilt
again.
Overall, the team viewed the 2011 season as a success. Lee secured another
title, the UK Open championship, maintained Star grade throughout the season,
qualified for the World championship final and made it into the National
series point shootout as one of the top 12 drivers in the sport.
The Team would like to thank all their loyal sponsors for their continued
support during 2011 and hope that they remain on board for 2012. Thanks
in no particular order to T R Car Sales, Shaw Tyres, Go Goodwin’s executive
coach hire, Jamie Davidson scrap metal processors, Mike Ashcroft, Hi Spec
race engines, Wayne Helliwell Racing, Boundary Garage, Stevenage Insurance
Services, Stoxphotos.com, 3-D Haulage, Keith Clement Auto Electrical, Chris
Johnson and Sinemaster Paint Supplies and to Hil and Catherine for maintaining
the website.
Looking ahead to the 2012 season, the Fairhurst team wish to welcome aboard
a new sponsor, SPX Service Solutions.
SPX is the industry leader in providing special tooling solutions to the
automotive industry.
SPX manufacture and market products, components, services and technologies
that are integral to meeting today’s challenges and tomorrow’s needs. SPX
transform ideas into powerful solutions to help their customers meet their
goals, overcome business challenges and thrive in a complex, always changing
marketplace.
Lee and the Fairhurst Team are looking forward to being the newest addition
to the SPX sponsored stable of drivers, and hope that they get to enjoy
and share the same level of success with the team, that the other sponsors
have enjoyed the past seasons.
The 2012 season looks to be an exciting one for Team Fairhurst with some
major plans a foot. The main priority is to rebuild the tarmac car back
to the usual expected high standard. With the 2012 World final taking place
at Skegness Raceway, a track that Lee has always performed well on, the
aim for next season is to make sure that Lee is competitive on tarmac. With
this in mind, the team has some plans to put into action and more details
of this will be revealed at a later date.
Following on from a one off drive at the final Belle Vue meeting of the
season, in a car borrowed from Dylan Williams Maynard, Derek Fairhurst is
hoping to return to the driver’s seat on a more regular basis during 2012.
8th September 2011
This is an article that Chris Clark has written for the "press"
Going for Gold and Silver
Lee Fairhurst’s season in BriSCA Formula
1 continues this weekend when he will be attempting to win another major
title to add to the UK Open title that he won in May.
Northampton Raceway hosts the 2011 World Championship Final on Saturday
evening. 32 of the sport’s top drivers will line up on the grid hoping to
claim the coveted gold roof that the winner gets to wear for the next 12
months. The grid is made up of 20 UK drivers who have qualified over the
year and raced to top 10 places in the semi final races which were staged
last month. 10 places are reserved for overseas drivers with entrants from
Holland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa taking part. The final
two grid spots are up for grabs in the first race of the day on Saturday
which is the consolation race, open to any drivers that failed to qualify
from their respective semi final race.
Lee lined up the third row of his semi final race at Belle Vue stadium in
Manchester two weeks ago but was forced to retire on the opening lap with
steering damage after taking a big knock on the first corner of the race.
So he will be going all out to qualify for the World title race by trying
to finish in the top two places in the consolation race on Saturday, but
he faces a mammoth task as he is starting from the back of the 28 car grid.
However Northampton is a track that Lee has enjoyed previous success at,
winning the 2009 European Championship and a few meeting finals on the fast
tarmac surface that he enjoys racing on so much.
For the past two season’s Lee has solely raced on tarmac tracks as he only
had one car at his disposal. Only racing at 15 tarmac meetings in the first
part of the 2011 season Lee has also qualified for the end of season National
Series Shootout. The shootout is contested by the top 12 drivers in the
country, the winner of the 10 round shootout gets to carry the silver roof
for the following season.
Lee qualified in 9th place but all scores are reset for the start of the
shootout with a point awarded at the start, for each meeting attended during
the season. Since Lee had only raced at 15 meetings, he started 11th of
the 12 eligible drivers in the shootout points, but he was up to 5th place
after shootout round 1 at Birmingham wheels where he finished in third place
in the meeting final.
The long awaited shale car that the family team have been building for the
last three years has finally made its track debut just in time for Lee to
race in the shoots out rounds, of which 7 out of the 10 rounds take place
on shale. Now with a car for both surfaces, Lee hopes to be able to score
enough points on both surfaces to try and win the silver roof National series
shootout.
Unfortunately the Fairhurst team have reluctantly had to put the new shale
car up for sale, unless much needed sponsorship can be found. Lee told F1
Stockcars.com “We’re just a small team, we just don’t have the funds to
run two cars, it’ll be a shame to sell the car, I would of liked to achieve
the same success I’ve had on Tarmac on Shale and prove I’m an all round
stock car driver, but for now that will have to take a back seat.”
That situation can change if further sponsorship could be secured. Anybody
wishing to help Lee achieve his full potential, who can offer the Fairhurst
team assistance with sponsorship, please get in touch through any of
The Team who on Facebook ( Suzzanne or Lee) or through the website. Thank
you
5th August 2011
After a long wait, the new Team Fairhurst
shale car is finally finished and will be making its debut in Lee’s capable
hands at Coventry on August 6th. The car was built by the Fairhurst team
in house at their workshop and is fitted with a Chevy prepared my Hi Spec
Racing / Gary Maynard / Team 51. The car was once again painted at Boundary
garage so a big thanks to both Chris Johnson and Mike Ashcroft. Signs as
always were left to the capable hands of Brian “the brush” Evans. All the
teams regular sponsors are still on board so a big thank you to them all.
Due to the current financial climate and the current high cost of diesel,
Derek has made the reluctant decision to put the car up “For Sale” as the
team simply can not afford the transportation costs to attend the extra
shale meetings as well as continuing to race at a high level on tarmac.
This situation however could change if a suitable diesel sponsor can be
found in the meantime. Lee will race the car on shale until such time as
it can either be sold or a diesel sponsor found.
Latest News is
that Lee is the new UK Open Champion, well done!!!!! A report and
photos to follow
from Chris Clark.
The 2010 F1 season proved to be pretty
brutal and Lee got stuck into the action wherever Team Fairhurst turned
up to race, as a result the tarmac car took quite a battering during the
season which resulted in the chassis requiring a lot of temporary repairs
to keep it on track in 2010.
So during the winter months, Team Fairhurst took the decision to totally
rebuild the tarmac car ready for the 2011 season. If it was bent or
looked bent, it was cut off and replaced and this basically meant the car
was stripped down to the chassis rails and roll cage. New nerf rails, bumpers,
and lower chassis have been constructed, the cage has been re panelled and
new engine bay panels made. So effectively the car looks like a new car.
The long awaited new shale car is also nearing completion in the Fairhurst
workshops and is expected to be ready for the second Coventry meeting at
the start of May.
Both cars have as usual been painted at Boundary Garage in Bury and have
both now been sign written by Brian “The Brush” Evans. Although the sign
writing is in the usual team Fairhurst style, the team have decided to opt
for a new look colour scheme for the cars this year, moving away from the
traditional silver. However until the cars are finished, the colours of
the tarmac car are a closely guarded secret but should hopefully be revealed
on this website first.
All the main sponsors have returned for the 2011 season and continue to
show their confidence in Lee and the team.
Team Fairhurst are proud to be supported by T.R. Car Sales, Go Goodwins
Executive Coach Hire, Shaw Tyres, Boundary Garage, Stevenage Insurance Services,
Stoxphotos.com, J Davidson Scrap Metal Processors, Hi Spec Engines, 3D Haulage,
Keith Clement Auto Electrical Services.
Expectations are high for a good season in 2011 with Lee having both a tarmac
and a shale car at his disposal, so Lee hopes to score enough qualifying
points on both surfaces to get a good starting spot in the semi finals and
all being well a good place on the grid for the World Final at Northampton
Raceway, the track on which Lee has had the most success.
Having a car to race on both surfaces this year obviously means racing at
more meetings during the season which is going to be a big strain on the
team to get to the meetings each week due to the rising costs of fuel for
the transporter.
So the Fairhurst Team continue to look for a diesel sponsor to enable them
to travel each week. There is plenty of room for a corporate logo on the
side of the bus, so if anyone feels they can offer assistance with either
fuel or fuel costs, then please get in touch with either Lee or Derek.
Chris Clark