Recently crowned New Zealand Formula Ford champion Taylor Cockerton has completed a successful Formula 4 test at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria, Australia. The 17 year old set the fastest time of the day with a time of 1:26.30 amongst six of other drivers attending the ‘shake-down’.
It was the first experience of both an international circuit and a ‘wings and slicks’ single seater for Cockerton.
“The car is very cool,” commented Cockerton. “It’s quite different to Formula Ford with more aero and sticky slicks (tyres). It takes corners so much quicker and the brakes are just awesome.”
“It’s quite a confidence thing first off. The braking distances are very similar to Formula Ford but you are going 50km/h quicker! With no turbo lag the engine is great with a constant push.”
The high school student also took a liking to the Winton circuit. “It’s a cool track, tight and technical like Timaru (NZ) requiring you to be brave in some corners. You’re constantly focussed with little time to relax.”
The Formula 4 has been designed to run in the same configuration worldwide and therefore offer a direct path to the European single seater series such as GP3, GP2 and F1. They run a 160hp Ford engine coupled with a steering wheel mounted paddle shift 6 speed gearbox and feature extremely “sticky” slick tyres which enable them to achieve high mid corner speeds and extremely late braking.
New to Australian single seater racing, the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship season gets underway in Townsville in July. The new category focuses on driver development with minimal costs. The seven round series will run at selected V8 Supercar Championship rounds with up to 20 cars on the grid.
“All in all the day was a great success and highly rewarding for both Taylor and I,” commented father Dean Cockerton. “This series is certainly on our radar depending on budgets”
The 17 year old will return to Winton in early May to test an Australian Formula Ford with Greg Woodrow, the Australian importer of the Mygale chassis. Straight after the Winton test Cockerton will head back to New Zealand for a Toyota Racing Series test at his favourite track, Hampton Downs. Again more horsepower and aerodynamics will be available with the TRS car powered by a 1.8 litre Toyota engine producing over 210 hp.
Taylor Cockerton Racing acknowledges the support of McDonalds NZ, Safetystep NZ Ltd, Pearce Brothers, Pinnacle Hill Logistics Ltd and Neale Motorsport
