Princeton resident enjoys fast Formula Ford debut
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Forrest Hull only has his driving permit, yet the 16-year-old has doubled the top allowable speed in New Jersey.
The Princeton resident has hit speeds approaching 130 mph in his first year of racing Formula Ford cars. Hull still has another year until he can drive by himself off the track.
”It is kind of comic,” Hull said. “There are new drivers on the road, and I’ve driven for longer than plenty of those people. It’s two entirely different skills.”
There’s no word on Hull’s expertise around the Princeton Borough roadways, but his first year of Formula Ford regional racing results has been encouraging. In four races, he has won three pole positions and reached the podium three times, including earning two wins. He finished second at Saturday’s race on the Thunderbolt track at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville despite clocking the fastest lap during the race. It was the third time he has clocked the fastest lap of a race this season.
”It’s been a really terrific year,” Hull said. “It’s been a good adjustment from racing karts to much faster cars. I’ve enjoyed it — the competition and getting to drive an actual-sized car. It’s a lot larger and faster.”
Hull previously did quite well racing go-karts, but at 16, he was ready to move up. Gaining experience was the main purpose behind this year as Hull went from the much smaller go-karts to Formula Fords, which are something like an Indy car without the wings on the side between the wheels.
”The reason we picked Formula Ford is, it’s something I can do for a really long time,” Hull said. “It’s a family effort. I get to work on the car with my dad. A lot of other series, you’re very much just a driver and you don’t work on the car.”
Hull is interested in pursuing engineering in college, and there’s something about tinkering with and racing cars that feeds his curiosity. Hull found out better how they handle this season.
”I learned to get a lot more comfortable with the car,” Hull said. “The actual racing, the mind games that go on, I learned a lot of that from kart. This year was focused on getting really comfortable with the car, shifting and getting used to not having contact with people around you.”
He already has returned to his junior year at Stony Brook (N.Y.) School, where he competes in cross country, basketball and track, but he has one final driving race in 2009, the North Atlantic Road Race Championship Runoffs at Lime Rock, Conn., on Oct. 3.
Hull’s high school sports are new to him. He has been racing cars since he was 10, when he was attracted to the sport by his father, who didn’t take up racing Porsche 911s until he was an adult. His father, Brandon, admits he was never as good as Forrest is. Forrest is still early in his career.
”This year, we’ve only done regional races in Connecticut and New Jersey,” said Hull, who graduated from Princeton Charter School’s eighth grade. “Next year, we’re hoping to raise the competition and go against a lot of the national drivers. I’m looking forward to seeing how I stack up against very good drivers who’ve been racing for 30 years.”
Hull’s father and his mother, Lynette, have been instrumental in their son’s development. So has Matthew DiRenzo, who is Hull’s engineer and driving coach. DiRenzo has been in the racing business for seven years.
”I started working with him last year,” DiRenzo said. “He has a lot of experience coming out of go-karts. For his age, he’s very intelligent and mature. That goes a long way.
”He’s been very successful. He’s won almost every race that we’ve entered. He’s made a lot of progress. He has a lot of experience under his belt.”
When Hull was younger, he dreamed of a professional career as a driver. He knows now that that path is a difficult one without monumental resources, not the least of which is time. Hull has other interests that also command his attention. During the summer, he can practice or race almost every weekend. During the school year, he’s lucky to get in a car once a month.
”A lot of becoming a better driver is seat time and how much driving you can do and analyzing how you’re driving,” Hull said. “You do that (analysis) when you’re off the track. I think it’s plenty of time to develop your skills.”
Hull is a black belt in tae kwon do though he hasn’t had time to focus on the martial arts with his academic studies and playing three sports at Stony Brook. Driving, too, remains an important passion.
”It’s to get an interesting set of skills,” he said, “and see how I am compared to other drivers. Formula Ford has been around so long. I can look at the records and try to see if I can break them. It’s very much me trying to become the best driver I can become because I really enjoy it.”
Hull didn’t take long to prove he had potential. After three races, the Sports Car Club of America awarded him his national license. It will permit him to make another jump next year.
”The plan is to do national racing next year,” DiRenzo said. “It’s much more competitive. It leads to the national championship at Road America at Wisconsin. At the end of the year, all the top guys meet at that one track.
”It’s hard to say how well he’ll do,” he added. “We’re a long ways away. He has talent, and he ran a race earlier this year where he raced some of the better drivers in that class and he did well. I think his chances would be very good to have a strong finish.”
Hull knows there is room to improve, but he also understands it’s been a promising start, something that he attributes to quite a support team.
”The biggest reason for my early successes would be Matthew DiRenzo,” Hull said. “He knows everything there is to know about these cars. He knows how to set them up. I couldn’t have done it without him telling me everything to do. He’s been very important to the learning process.
”There’s always so much more you can learn about driving. I’m not nearly there. There’s still plenty of stuff to be learned.”
Forrest Hull has made rapid progress in his first year of Formula Ford racing, but just in case he needs a reminder of how far he has to go, there’s always something in his back pocket. That learner’s permit.