SAMUEL HARRISON is racing for festival glory as he looks to further his motorsports career.

The annual Formula Ford Festival takes place this week at Brands Hatch in Kent, an event that has hosted some of the best racing drivers over the last 50 years with reputable names such as Jensin Button, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher.

Yorkshire-born Harrison, who is based in Ripon, has been dubbed by some as the ‘Yorkshire Verstappen’ after a dominant start to his career aged just 20.

Harrison, along with his father, Tim, will be tackling the event in a car prepared by both he and his father, in their 1970 Elden Mk8 as he prepares to take on the Historic Category at the festival, with goals to win the Historic class and become the highest-placed Histroic car in the main event.

The 20-year-old would continue his impressive career so far, having already won two consecutive national championships and the HSCC Formula Ford 2000 championship, where he became champion last weekend.

Speaking on his journey so far, Harrison told the Press: “I’ve been racing for four years, I started during covid in cars.

“Prior to that, I had been doing five years in go-karts and always did go-karts as me and my dad running them at all the levels.

“ We started off at club level, and then did national, then did international and I competed in the 2018 world finals. It was a brilliant experience.

“In cars, I went into historics because didn’t have the budget to go into modern racing, which I have really enjoyed.

“I first competed in classic Formula Ford in my first year and had a few podiums, which I was very happy with.

“I then moved into historic Formula Ford the year after, which is just a bit older cars.

“During that year, I had a really good weekend about four weekends in and got scouted for the year after to continue with the historic Formula Ford, but within a team.

“It was within Mike O’Brien’s team Speedsport. I did the 2022 season with them and managed to win the Championship, which was really good!

“Also during the 2022 season, I won more races than anyone else in the UK, so was the National Driver of the Year, which was very good.

“In 2023, I continued with Speedsport and I raced in the historic Formula Three championship, where I won every race and became champion.

“This year, I was lent a car from Adrian Reynard because he is a big name, and he lent me one of his Formula Ford 2000’s, which I have been competing in this year.”

Harrison has enjoyed an incredible career so far, even collecting podiums at events such as Goodwood Revival and the Abu Dhabi six-hour for Toyota, with his focus now turned firmly towards the upcoming Formula Ford festival.

He is no stranger to the festival, having competed in it in the past, and remains confident that he can provide a good test when competing for the historic final.

“The Formula Ford festival I have done a few times now, I think that I have done it three times.

“The last time I did it in a modern car, but sadly had mechanical failures which meant that I couldn’t continue.

“The time before that, I also did it in a modern car but just didn’t have enough adapt time to get used to it.

“Again, I got top ten, which I was very happy with, but was not quite where I wanted to be.

“This time, we’re going back to doing it in historics, which is what I had the first time that I ever did it, and I’m doing it in our historic Formula Ford Eldon.

“Once you put the visor downs, everything quietens down and you focus on the task at hand. That’s normally how it works for me.

“I’m looking forward to giving it a bash in that and hopefully winning the historic final.”

Harrison will be competing in the 1970 Eldon MK8, a car that he and his father have been working on to help the young racer for the upcoming festival.

The 20-year-old spoke on how the father-son duo first began building vehicles for his racing career, as well as the special bond which it helps create.

“He’s an engineer by trade, so he’s a self-employed engineer and I’ve helped him out a bit in his workshop.

“He’s always raced cars really, for as long as I can remember, and he raced bikes before I was born.

“He’s done it all himself and has tinkered around, so I have always been around that.

“When I moved into the car category and even the go-karts, I helped out and he enjoys that side of it.

“It does add an element of pressure, because I know that we are the ones that have to mend it if it ends up bent, and you never want that.

“It’s really good fun though, and it does add a bit of a bond with the car and with my dad.”

The Formula Ford festival is available to be streamed live on YouTube, whilst Harrison is still on the search for sponsorship.

For any enquiries regarding sponsorship, you can reach Harrison at samuelharrisonracing@hotmail.com.