Intro | 86-87 | 88-93 | 94-97 | 98-99 | 00-01 | 2002| 2003

1986

This year I won my first title - the Swedish Junior Formula Ford Championship. Parallel to that, I also made my international debut as teammate to Johnny Herbert in the Quest Team in England. It was a great experience. With Benetton as my main sponsor. I even dyed my hair white some 15 years ahead of Jacques Villeneuve. However, sometimes we went over the top. I remember one occasion when a fellow Swedish racing driver and myself decided to sort things out once and for all. We did it by racing backwards (in reverse gear) 10 km side by side on small roads and through a small village in north western England. When I went back to that village a couple of years ago they still talked about the "crazy Swedes."

1987

Van Diemen gave me a car to use free of charge for the whole year. However to protect their own works team they never gave me any setups. Every time I asked, they answered that theirs is nothing special - they only use "standard setup". I knew that this was not true but I could not figure out a way of getting the information I needed. But through lots and lots of testing I found my own way of setting up the car so it was fast. On the last day of practice before the final championship race I lapped at exactly the same speed as their official driver, Eddie Irvine. But just before the session closed, we decided to carry out a little practical joke. The last time I passed by the pit lane, a member of my team Jan "Flash" Nilsson, a very good racing driver himself, showed a lap time on my pit board that was half a second quicker than the lap record. The whole pit panicked. Eddie threw himself in his car again, only to find that the track was closed. Later we sat in our bus laughing when it knocked on the door. The vice president of Van Diemen came by to congratulate me on my fantastic lap. First, he said, "We got you fastest out there, Kenny" then he took a deep breath and asked, "By the way, what springs are you running lad," I answered, "Well - exactly as you I guess, the standard setup."

Half an hour later, Eddie's car was in pieces. Even the president of the factory was on his knees in oil trying to figure out what was wrong with the car.

The next day, I qualified second. Eddie Irvine qualified 21st. With a great deal of luck where the main championship competitor fell out, he managed to win the championship. It took over 10 years before I dared telling them what was going on that day at Silverstone!

However, it was a very successful year for me and in the end of the year I was offered to drive Van Diemen's works Formula Ford 2000 the next season. Even if that was the best drive available in Formula Ford-crazy England, I decided to turn it down because I had already committed to Swedish Formula 3.

Click on Pics to Enlarge.

Intro | 86-87 | 88-93 | 94-97 | 98-99 | 00-01 | 2002| 2003

All photographs copyright © 1999 - 2002 Kenny Brack, Inc. All Rights Reserved.