So dominant was the 21-year-old Anglo Australian Motorsport team driver that Simpson managed to not only win all six rounds but also take out 16 of the 18 race wins. In the two races that he didn’t win they were captured by his nearest rival in the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship all year long, and fellow Anglo Australian Motorsport team driver, Tom Tweedie. 

Heading into the Championship finale all Simpson needed to do in order to clinch the overall championship honours was finish inside the Top 5 of the opening race, and that was exactly what he did. The weekend kicked off with qualifying, with Simpson getting proceedings off to the best possible start when he came out on top in the session with a best lap of 1:38.0429 ahead of Nathan Morcom, Tom Tweedie, Daniel Lewis and Bruce McCabe in fifth.

Tweedie, who heading into the final round was the only hope of denying Simpson the championship honours, didn’t get his weekend off to the best of starts due to a blown engine during Friday’s practice sessions. 

Joining the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship for the first time was youngster Tom Williamson, who has a rich Karting background and was driving for the Brad Jones Racing supported team aboard a Van Diemen RF04, and running with the Team Sydney outfit was Bruce Simpson (Listec Wil05). Making a return to the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship for the first time since running the complete championship back in 2006 was Andrew Taite driving his Mygale SJ04. The three drivers in question finished the qualifying session with mixed results with Williamson 6th, Simpson 12th, and Taite back in 14th. 

The opening race, over a distance of six laps, on Saturday afternoon saw Simpson lead from start to finish where he took a comfortable victory over Morcom and Tweedie in what was a trifecta for the Anglo Australian Motorsport team. Lewis managed to qualify in fourth and finished there too, ahead of McCabe, a fast finishing Taite, Williamson, Greg Watson, Russell Newell, and in 10th was Derryn Harrison.

Simpson’s win in the opening race resulted in him wrapping up the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship crown for 2008. 

The second race (five laps) on Sunday morning resulted in Simpson taking yet another strong victory and following him home in second and third respectively was Tweedie and Taite. Taite in particular was making a good fist of his return to the Formula Ford ranks after a poor qualifying results, by finishing sixth in the opening race, and then improving on that with a third place finish. Williamson finished the second race back in fourth, and McCabe once again scored fifth.

After a slow start from the front row, due to a wrong gear selection off the start line, Morcom charged his way back to finish in sixth, and he was followed across the finish line by Lewis, Newell, Harrison, and Don Holland in 10th place.

 There was action aplenty in the third and final race, the trophy event, of the weekend which resulted in Simpson completing a clean sweep of the round, the fourth occasion he had managed to achieve that, when he downed Morcom and an impressive Williamson in second and third place. Two of the front running contenders, Tweedie and Taite, failed to reach the finish in the final race as they were both forced to retire due to mechanical woes. Lewis greeted the chequered flag in fourth place ahead of a fast finishing Harrison, McCabe, Newell, David Holland, Don Holland, and Greg Watson rounded out the Top 10 finishers. 

McCabe was successful in securing the Pre-2000 class after a consistent performance throughout the year, to add to his third place in the outright NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship. 

Greg Watson was the pick of the bunch in the historic car field where he finished inside the Top 10 outright in two out of three races. Cas Galjaardt had done enough to secure the 2008 trophy for Historic Cars, in what was a highly supportive field throughout the year with 10 different drivers scoring points in the Historic class, in some classic machinery. 

It was certainly an impressive and dominant year for Simpson and the Anglo Australian Motorsport team in this year’s NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship, and a clean sweep of six round wins to back that up.

With two championships in a row for Anglo, the pressure will be on their 2009 drivers to continue the trend. 

As in previous years a number of this year’s NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship drivers are likely to step up to the Australian Championship next year, such as Simpson, Tweedie, and Morcom. Their places are looking to be filled by some newcomers to the category with a good degree of interest already arising; many of these drivers are graduates from the Karting ranks.  

Final NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship Point Standings (after six completed rounds):

1 Ryan Simpson – 530 points

2 Tom Tweedie – 412

3 Bruce McCabe – 348

4 Daniel Lewis – 338

5 Nathan Morcom – 325

6 Adam Lucas - 234

7 Derryn Harrison - 219

8 James Stewart - 191

9 Russell Newell - 155

10 Matthew Howard - 132