Tom Harvey languished uncharacteristically off the pace at the beginning of 2010, only couldn’t work out quite what was amiss – but after a new chassis rectified his problems and proved the catalyst for an immediate return to form, the young South Wales karting hotshot is now revved up to do battle for British title glory.
Tom broke through at the end of 2009 as a genuine front-runner on the national scene with his maiden triumph in the penultimate round of Formula Kart Stars (FKS) – the same series that first set a certain Lewis Hamilton, no less, on the fast track to future F1 superstardom, and one that now boasts the prestigious official backing of both the sport’s youngest-ever world champion and its highly-influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.
That being so, the Bonvilston speed demon headed into 2010 widely regarded as a leading contender for the MSA Cadet class laurels – but initially, things went far from according to plan.
“We were slow and we didn’t know why,” he confessed. “Nothing made sense. I could just feel a lack of power. We eventually ordered a new chassis off Zip, though, and all-of-a-sudden everything lit up and it all just clicked. I could actually feel the power off the corners again. The other one didn’t have any release off the corners, whereas this one is like a rocket!
“That made a huge difference and has brought me on a lot. I put it on pole for the final in my first meeting on it and I just feel a lot better driving it, because I know I’ve got the equipment underneath me now to be able to push even harder.”
That first meeting was at Three Sisters near Wigan, where Tom scythed through the field like the proverbial hot knife through butter in his three heats – going from seventh to second, 20th to second and 15th to first – to comfortably annex the top grid position for the final, where he would unfortunately find himself on the receiving end of a rival’s over-eagerness no sooner had the starting lights gone out, being unceremoniously punted out of the lead and out of the action only seconds into the race.
“These things happen, and at the end of the day it was luckily only a club meeting,” he philosophically and phlegmatically reflected, displaying impressive maturity for his 12 years. “The team manager Dan Hazlewood calmed me down, and afterwards I went out and watched the rest of the day’s racing. The important thing was that we were back on the pace – and what great timing, just two weeks before the start of the national championship!”
Tom carried that scintillating form onto PF International last weekend, where he claimed seventh in heat one – despite his carburettor going down mid-race – and a ‘ballistic’ second place in heat two, leaving him to begin the all-important final from sixth.
“I got a blistering start up to third, and after that I just kept pushing until I saw my opportunity,” the Cowbridge High School pupil recounted. “I got into the lead and opened up a bit of a gap, but then the kart majorly gripped up which allowed the others to catch me again.
“I started to go backwards and fell as low as fourth, but I managed to recover to third in the end. I knew we could have won that one if we’d only got the set-up a bit better; I think we just went a little too high on the tyre pressures. It was still all a good learning experience, though, and I’d never had a podium at PF before – I’ve broken my podium duck there now!”
That he has, and whilst downplaying the significance of having got the better of Connor Jupp, the driver tipped to be his chief threat this year – “It’s not all about beating him, it’s about beating the rest of the field too,” he insists, evincing that laudable maturity once more – Tom admits that his latest two outings have given him a timely injection of confidence, as has the arrival of reigning British KF1 Champion Robert Foster-Jones as a mentor.
“Rob was watching me all day at PF,” the Fusion Motorsport star revealed. “After the second heat he came into the awning and told us what we had been doing right or wrong. He is a very successful driver and it’s a huge boost to have him helping me. I think I can learn a lot from him, from his experience on the last laps of races and other little tricks he can teach me. He’s a great driver, so hopefully I can pick up a bit of that and go on to follow in his footsteps.
“You wouldn’t believe how much of a confidence boost the past few weeks have been. At the start of the year I was beginning to think it would be difficult to do anything special in 2010 at all because of all the problems we were having with the chassis, but these last two weekends have proved that I can actually do it again.”
One minor fly in the ointment is the fact that as he approaches the curtain-raiser in the national Super 1 Series at Shenington in Oxfordshire, the Vale of Glamorgan ace is currently recovering from whiplash, the product of being shunted heavily into the tyre wall during practice at PF. Adamant that he will be fighting fit, however, Tom’s adversaries might do well to remember that the last time he had required medical intervention before a race meeting, he went on to clinch his breakthrough national victory.
“I went to the doctor and he gave me some medication, and I should be good for the weekend,” he explained. “Shenington is one of my favourite circuits – it’s really fast and flowing, and I won twice in a row there late last year during my winning streak that built up to my first win in FKS. I just want to start off well and be up there at the beginning of the season.
“The goal is to end the weekend sitting inside the top two or three in the championship. It would be great to win, but consistency is the most important thing. Look at George Russell; he was in the lead of FKS at the start of last season by about 100 points, and he went on to win the championship, so that helped him a lot. Alex Gill was the same in Super 1. You need to be up there straightaway to be in with a chance.”
Wise words indeed – and as Jenson Button would doubtless confirm, early points can make all the difference in the final reckoning.
