Here at Blayze, we love to celebrate our clients and highlight their successes. In our first Athlete Spotlight, we are excited to introduce you to Andrew Wait, a long-time Blayze athlete who has seen a significant increase in his performance.
Andrew comes from Marin County, California, and started racing over seven years ago in a Lola T203 Formula Ford. He battled for “two very long, very frustrating years” before he decided to give Blayze a chance. Now driving a Historic Formula Ford, Andrew loves that he is consistently on the podium at nearly all his races.
Goal: Speed and Fun!
Before Blayze, Andrew was struggling to not only find more speed on the track but to also have fun. He was slow, with “drama,” and after 18 months of driving, he was ready to throw in the towel and quit. Luckily, a close friend had been working with Blayze Coach Dion von Moltke and was winning Spec E30 and E46 races. This friend got so fast that he was within hundredths of a second of the track record holders! It was enough evidence for Andrew to find out if structured training and education would, at minimum, keep him in the sport, and at best, make him more successful – a regular top 10 sort of driver.
Hard Work Leads to Success
Andrew’s Blayze coach Dion has been essential to him achieving his goals. Of course, Andrew was more than willing to put in the hard work and make an investment of time and energy. The advice he was getting in the paddock and from his own experimentation was NOT working. He jokes “It’s like teaching yourself juggling by messing with flaming knives. You’ll learn something but probably not juggling.”
The process he and Dion have pursued over the past four years first focused on the fundamentals. Once Andrew had a solid foundation of racing fundamentals, they moved on to pace, and then focused on race craft.
Fast Times – Little Drama
The biggest change Andrew has seen since his time with Blayze is he is achieving dramatically better lap times with much less drama. This was a fundamental requirement for him. Another huge change in his performance comes from his mental preparation. He has rituals in place and processes that he is committed to so that he will perform at his very best every time he is out on the track.
“I have gained nine places in qualifying out of 60 cars (P14 to P5), just with help with mental preparation.”
Current Exploration
Andrew and Dion are now working on the last few hundredths of a second. “I am on the pole, and usually win, but not by much.” He wants to continue focusing on time improvement and to do so, they are working on maintaining the fundamental skills and also working on tire management and set up.
Personal Development and Mentorship
While he might race in a Historic Formula Ford, Andrew frequently watches the IndyCar series. “It’s great racing” he says, “but I love to watch all of it. Drifting, WRC, The Goodwood Revival. It is all great to watch for enjoyment and inspiration.”
One of Andrew’s personal missions is to build camaraderie between drivers in the Crossflow Cup. “A lot of us came for the racing and stayed for the people and for the pure fun of it.” Many of his best friends have come from racing in the Crossflow series. “If you think about it, out of 50 drivers, maybe 4 can fight for a win, so the other 45 have to have a really strong motivation to be there.” That is where developing camaraderie and friendships help! Ethan and Rebecca Shippert run the Cup now and do an amazing job of providing that environment.
The Crossflow Cup works because they are specific and focused on building a culture of friendly competition. “If you are there to crush your competitors at all costs and willing to leave your competitors with only unpleasant choices going into a corner, you don’t belong in the group.”
Andrew also likes to impart his experience and knowledge to newer drivers. He strongly urges all new drivers to look into coaching, no matter their ambitions.
“Driving a car on the street, regardless of how good you think you are at it, is a miserable metaphor for driving on the track. Very little really transfers, which surprises and disappoints newbies. We hear about people who win their first race on their first try…that doesn’t really happen. It’s an amazing sport, maybe the single most exciting thing you do; but to be happy, you need to squeeze every drop of value from your time out there. If you have th time to get out there a lot, or add a dimension like karting, great. If you need to take a more sustainable approach, great. Regardless, coaching will accelerate your progress, keep you safer, and maximize the fun.”
And remember “the brakes are way more powerful than the engine.”
Dion von Moltke on Andrew Wait
It’s been a real joy watching Andrew grow as a driver while working together over the past few years. When we started Andrew was pretty quick because he had the confidence to slide the car around but didn’t have the fundamentals to take him to the next level and control the car consistently at the limit.
We started his journey by taking a step back to re-learn our fundamentals to build our way back up to the limit. Andrew could have easily just kept doing what he was doing, but he was willing to listen and most importantly he was willing to put in the work. Those two things are really what has enabled him to separate himself from the field and grow into a consistent race winner against the super-strong competition.
Once he started winning he didn’t stop his focus on improvement. We’re now working on finite details like timing of when our eyes should transition from the apex to our exit reference point. These are the things that may make you a few hundredths faster in every corner, but that adds up to a few seconds over a race distance which can be the difference between winning and not even making the podium in the Crossflow cup series!
Q&A with Andrew
What is your favorite racetrack to go to?
Laguna Seca!!
What is your favorite race to participate in?
The Season Finale of the Crossflow Cup. It always comes down to the wire!
What is one track you are dying to go to you haven’t been before?
Brands Hatch
What is your proudest accomplishment so far in your racing?
Driving my Formula Atlantic at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Street races are rare for amateurs and kind of intense.
What series do you currently race in?
The Crossflow Cup Championship, Rok Sonoma Karting (Masters Shifter class), and occasionally I jump into a friend’s Mini for the Velocity or Rolex Reunion.
What makes Formula Ford so much fun to drive?
To go fast you have to be at the limit, but it's not scary or unpredictable there; its just fun.
What is the most challenging aspect of driving the Formula Ford?
Equal cars. We are fighting for .1 sec and it is hard to find an advantage. So you have to be ultra-smooth but assertive; it’s a hard balance.
