Castle Combe regular James Wren is hoping to put an accident-blighted 2003 season behind him when he brings his rebuilt Van Diemen RF92 to Silverstone for the Formula Three support races on April 18th.

Wren made a comeback last year after two seasons spent concentrating on his degree and repairing the damage sustained in a heavy frontal impact in the 2001 Easter meeting. He was delighted to finish in the top ten in only his second race back, but then had to spend the summer repairing the substantial damage sustained in a startline accident at Thruxton. Wren’s immaculate RF92 reappeared for the September Combe double-header, only to be sent rolling down the track at Bobbies by an identified rival. Despite some health concerns after the accident (as James had to undergo tests for an irregular heartbeat, a problem thankfully rapidly resolved) and the prospect of another long rebuild, Wren decided to return to racing as soon as possible.

“It would have been a knee jerk reaction to stop,” he said. “Undergoing the medical tests was a little scary and my family were very concerned, and all the weekends and evenings spent rebuilding the car weren’t easy, but we knew in our hearts that we enjoy FF1600 racing too much to walk away.”

That James is racing at all is remarkable. He was a highly successful karter in the mid-1990s before a spine-shattering road accident temporarily confined him to a wheelchair. Wren recovered in time to make his FF1600 debut in 1998, but thanks to a lack of money and time as well as his recent ill fortune, 2000 remains his only full season of racing to date. He finished a promising 11th in the Combe championship that year and feels he needs some more uninterrupted racing if he is to recapture the form he showed in karting.

“The accidents last year have definitely set me back,” he said. “I lost a lot of time in the car and too much of last year’s budget had to go on repairs rather than getting the track time I need. I need to work on the ‘mental formula’ for going quickly again, that’s the area where there’s the most room for progress.”

Assuming the Silverstone meeting goes smoothly, James intends to return to Combe for the Spring Bank Holiday and Formula Three meetings before racing in some Southern Championship events in the summer.

“I still see Castle Combe as the strongest series in the south but we wanted to take advantage of the possibilities offered by King of Kents and experience some of Britain’s other great tracks,” he explained. “We’re all really looking forward to racing again. It’s not just me saying that – we’re a family based team and everyone involved is very keen to get back into the fun of FF1600.”