MALVERN MKII PREPARES FOR FORMULA FORD

Jon Malvern tries brother Scott's championship-winning Duratec Mygale for size. Photo: www.jakobebrey.com

Jon Malvern, 19-year-old younger brother of 2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Champion Scott, is hoping to follow in his successful sibling’s wheeltracks next season and make a name for himself in motorsport.

Jon enjoyed his first proper taste of a single-seater at the Formula Ford Sampler Day at Silverstone on Friday, going behind the wheel of a Duratec-powered Ray chassis and also Scott’s championship-winning Jamun Racing Mygale.

“I have been watching Scott from the sidelines for three years now,” said Jon, a business student at Bournemouth University, “so when this opportunity presented itself I leapt at it. I would love to do Formula Ford and see how competitive I can be.”

Jon has schoolboy karting experience but gave up the sport when he grew too large to be competitive. “I was very overweight and had to stop. Watching Scott go racing successfully was the spur I needed to get a grip and lose the weight,” added Jon, whose personal fitness regime was so successful that he now trains racing drivers, Scott included, to get fit.

The boys’ father, Dominic, hopes to put together a deal to run Jon in a Duratec Formula Ford next season: “With Scott’s career taking off I have the time now to focus on Jon’s ambitions. Hopefully we can put together a budget which will allow him to race an older car next season as an introduction to single-seaters, and we’ll see where we go from there.”

Meanwhile, the provisional calendar for the 2012 season has been announced. The all-new EcoBoost Formula Ford challenger will enjoy top billing in the UK and mainland Europe in 2012 in its maiden season of competition, with races at all of England’s top circuits as well as mainland Europe events at Zandvoort, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring. For full details see http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk/news/2011/041211.htm