Reigning F1 World Champion Jenson Button might be Somerset’s most famous export on the motorsport scene hailing as he does from Frome, but the McLaren-Mercedes star would do well to look in his rear-view mirror in the not-too-distant future, as there is another young charger racing up behind him in his wheeltracks – and his name is Ryan Anderton.
A self-confessed fan of high-octane action, Ryan first tried out karting in the summer of 2008, when he went along to his ‘local’ track of Clay Pigeon in neighbouring Dorset – and swiftly became hooked.
“I’ve always been interested in engines and power, but when I got in the kart my dad told me to just take it steady and build my speed up gradually,” he reveals. “That’s exactly what I did, and I really enjoyed it. I thought ‘I like this, I really like this’, so we bought a kart and it just all went from there.”
As something that had begun as a hobby rapidly developed into something altogether more serious, Ryan slowly but surely gained the confidence he needed to pick up speed, and after initially dipping his toe into the competitive waters later that same year, in 2009 he entered the Clay Pigeon Club Championship.
Nervous to begin with, the Glastonbury-based hotshot’s progress was remarkable, as everything ‘just clicked’ as he notched up his maiden triumph over the summer and then went on to dominate the second half of the campaign to clinch the runner-up laurels in the final standings – and even plucked up the courage to branch out and try some other circuits, too.
“I had got used to racing at Clay Pigeon, so it was a bit of an adventure really going to different tracks,” he acknowledged. “I had to try to pick each of them up as I went round to learn the lines and braking-points – but whilst that used to take me up to a day, now it’s only about three sessions.
“At the end of last year, my dad said to me ‘let’s try a massive leap and join a national championship’, so we signed up to Formula Kart Stars (FKS). It was really nerve-wracking when we first went out in it, and I was wondering ‘am I going to be on the same pace as the others or will I be miles off?’”
Ryan’s apprehension is wholly understandable, given that FKS is the same series as had first set a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track towards future superstardom, and one that now boasts the prestigious official backing of both the youngest-ever F1 World Champion and also the sport’s highly-influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.
What’s more, the St. Dunstan’s Community School pupil found himself pitted against the very crème de la crème of homegrown talent at MSA British Cadet level, and Rowrah in Cumbria – an undulating and demanding quarry-based circuit – was hardly the easiest of places at which to make his national debut. He would, indeed, remain firmly mired in ‘B’ final territory until the second meeting at Whilton Mill, where he made it through to the ‘A’ final and wound up 22nd overall which, he reflected ‘we thought was absolutely brilliant at the time’.
The next day, he improved by a further two spots to 20th, and that mature approach – just chipping away with every passing race and continuously homing in on the lead pace – has reaped dividends for the 11-year-old, as has a mid-season switch to Fusion Motorsport. By common consensus the best team in the paddock for Cadets, the Dan Hazlewood-run operation is a superb training ground and offers excellent scope for driver development. With his potential palpable to see and under Fusion’s expert guidance and tutelage, Ryan has come on in veritable leaps-and-bounds.
“We went out for a test with them, and all-of-a-sudden we were right on the pace,” he recalled. “I was able to lap eight tenths of a second faster than I had done before, so we thought ‘we need to be with this team!’ Everyone is really focussed on working together to find the right set-up and just doing everything right.
“They give you all the information you need, walk you round the track and explain to you what you’re doing right or wrong. Dan goes round each and every one of us in the awning and talks us all through what we need to do. They’ve taught me so much, and really brought me on as a driver.”
The breakthrough was immediate, with 18th position on day one at Glan Y Gors in FKS’ third meeting of 2010 and tenth the following day, leading Ryan to quip that ‘after that, we knew we needed to stay with Fusion at all costs!’ Fast forward a few months, however, and it just gets even better.
Having found himself unceremoniously eliminated from his opening heat race on FKS’ visit to Three Sisters near Wigan – being removed from contention in an opening lap mêlée after getting caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time through no fault of his own – the West Country ace had to come through the ‘B’ final, in which
he triumphed, to line up 27th on the grid for the all-important ‘A’ final. He would go on to pull off a landmark result.
“My dad said before the race, ‘you need to really focus yourself for this’,” he recounted, “and I had a dream start. As the drivers on the outside line were unable to get across, I made up almost ten places by being on the inside. After that, I knew I needed to get to the lead pack as quickly as possible before they broke away, so I psyched myself up and every time I could see I was catching the driver or group in front, it was a real impetus for me to just keep on attacking and coming through – I was overtaking like mad!
“When I came back in, I took my helmet off and ran up to my mechanic and hi-fived him, and then ran up to my dad and gave him a massive hug! It was definitely the best result and biggest achievement of my career so far.”
Snatching a magnificent seventh into the very last corner, Ryan confessed that he ‘could never have expected’ to make up quite as much ground as he ultimately did, and taking the chequered flag a scant 1.7 seconds adrift of the race-winner only went to demonstrate what might have been but for his misfortune in the heats.
A great boost, the following day he went on to claim the ‘honour’ of being the only competitor to go over the finish line backwards, after tagging the leader who had drifted unexpectedly across his path and doing a tremendous job to control a 360° spin on the grass and salvage fourth spot – even if he confessed that his arms ached somewhat afterwards..!
In a typical Cadet dogfight in the final, Ryan subsequently came in 11th – incredibly, less than 1.4 seconds shy of the top spot this time and conceding that it had been a ‘massive scrap’ over the course of the last lap and something of a lottery heading into the last corner. Still, a second consecutive strong finish has helped to lift him to 18th in the title standings heading into the Ellough Park Raceway season-closer – only 18 points away from 13th position in a 51-strong field.
With his tail up off the back of a club meeting victory at Glan Y Gors and a brilliant second place on his maiden appearance at Kimbolton – despite having had to come from a long way down after being delayed by a first lap pile-up – he is bullish about his prospects of moving into the top 15 to earn himself a seeded number for 2011, when he will endeavour to convert everything that he has picked up during his ‘learning year’ into on-track success.
Promising to push all-out, that goal looks eminently achievable, particularly in the kind of form that Ryan is in at the moment, and Ellough’s nature as something of a drivers’ circuit, what’s more, is likely to suit him right down to the ground. Are you watching, Jenson?
