It’s certainly been a learning year for Stephen Jelley, who started the season fresh out of Formula Ford and ended it with Formula 3 class victories at
Donington Park,
Oulton Park and
Thruxton.
Crash.Net caught up with Stephen as he was putting next year’s new National Class engine through its paces at Donington on Thursday where he discussed what has been a highly successful year for him.
Crash.Net
You’ve been testing the new engine for next year’s Formula 3 Championship National Class. What are your impressions?
Stephen Jelley
It was all good really. I didn’t do that many laps but what I did do was very positive. It’s a very smooth engine, progressive on the gas. It all feels good.
Crash
What are the differences you’ve found in terms of top end and torque out of the corners?
SJ
Last year’s engine was a bit more raw, a little bit raspier, it sounded a lot different as well. There’s always been a sound difference between the Honda and the Opel anyway but the engine I drove today was a bit quieter and a lot smoother. It’s difficult to explain but I think smoothness is the best thing. Its been manufactured to be strong.
Crash
Do you think that it is more suitable to National Class Formula 3 than the old engines for when drivers are cutting their teeth in the category?
SJ
Definitely. One example of how it’s good to have this engine is that you can over-rev it to 9,500rpm. Last year if you went over 8,200rpm on an over-rev you were in the crap, your engine goes and you’ve got an eight grand rebuild. Now you can do it safely up to 9,200.
I over-revved my engine a couple of times last year while I was just learning in the first couple of months and its such a pain when you do it because it’s your day over. You can go out there and say you’re having your first F3 test and you over-rev going down the gearbox and that’s it. This new engine is bulletproof and you won’t be that much down on power.
Crash
Do you think that SRO have hit the nail on the head in wanting to increase participation in the class with that engine?
SJ
Yes, the National Class is a perfect learning area. I don’t think there is any other car that comes close to a Formula 3 car in terms of learning how to drive a racing car fast. Once you’ve learned how to drive an F3 fast you can move into anything, from touring cars or
Formula One like
Takuma Sato did.
