Cast your mind back to December 2019. The F1 Atlantic Team driver Harvey Smith had just cruised to his second victory of the weekend to win the F4-S Sharjah Grand Prix, sealing second place in the final F4-S Championship standings.
Since then, a lot of water has passed between his sponsons and not all of it has been calm. When PRW caught up with the young man from the English Midlands he was about to collect his trophy for another second place, this time in the CPA British National Championship Formula GP Light category.
He’s the first to admit that the 2021 season had been a frustrating one. A disappointing sixth place finish at the UIM F4 European Championships held in Viverone, Italy back in September seemed to have summed up his season. Now all that’s about to change.
The boat I was racing in the British series and the European Championship was a 2015 Moore. So being an older model we took out as much weight as possible. We tried to push it as hard as we could, but we just weren’t getting the results for which we were hoping.
Now a new season brings a new sense of optimism, especially as he has the Moore hull back in the workshop that he used to excellent effect in his F4-S campaign
In terms of how I see my skill progressing I feel that I’m ready for a hull that has a lot more surface area, so it comes out of the corners a lot quicker. I’m ready to take that next step in racing where I can push myself a bit harder to get those satisfactory results.
Smith has raced a Moore hull for several seasons now and is a huge fan of the French boat builder.
They are fast, reliable, and by far the best-looking boat in the series.
Me and David Moore have built up a great repour about how I think the F4 hull needs to progress but obviously it’s a fine art making the perfect boat that suits every driving style. We’ve started speaking with him about coming over to Britain to have a test day with us. That should give us the opportunity to go over a few factors that we’ve seen which could improve our boat and future versions.
This year Smith plans to race the 2018 Moore hull in the British National Championship, along with the German series starting in Traben-Trarbach in May. The European Championship in Latvia and also rounds of the World Series are also on the agenda.
One of the drivers I raced against in the F4-S series was Max Stilz. He beat me to the 2019 F4-S Drivers Championship but he’s a great lad. He was the ADAC Motorboot Masters Champion back in 2016 and he told me how good the series is. I believe this year though he’s going into F2.
With an increase in driver numbers racing this season in the British Formula Grand Prix class (F2) has he given much thought to joining those ranks or following in the footsteps of Stilz?
I’ve been offered the chance to test an F2, but I have never seen the need for it. If I got into the boat all it will show me is how slower my F4 is. If I start looking towards the future of getting into F2 then I will lose my objective of winning in F4. I want to get ultra-competitive and competent before stepping into an F2. Yes, getting into F2 at some point is a long-term aim but right now I have unfinished business with F4.
