The youngest ever winner of the New Zealand Formula 1600 Championship has today confirmed he will be competing in the Australian Formula Ford National Championship in a factory-backed Spectrum Formula Ford race car.
Young gun Callum Hedge will head to Australia for the remaining six rounds of the series, having missed the season opener in March.
He’ll treat the season as a learning year as all of the circuits on the calendar will be new. His challenge will begin with a test at Winton this week.
“I can hardly wait until next week when I get the chance to do some laps in the Spectrum FF car at Winton next week,” Hedge said.
“I know that I am going to have to up my game against some seriously quick and experienced Australian drivers like Hunter McElrea, who clean swept the first round at Winton and all the tracks are new to me.
“However, with the help of Motionforce Simulators co-owner Garry Croft, I am aiming to be up to speed pretty quickly.
“My biggest challenge will be the intensity of the competition as there are a number of top drivers coming up through Australian Formula Ford this year and most of them are far more experienced and older than I am.”
Hedge in action on his way to the National Formula 1600 Championship title
Racer Products’ Mark Petch, who oversaw Hedge’s successful NZ campaign, has knitted the Australian deal together. It involves some very experienced player including Australian Formula Ford Series legend Mike Borland.
“It’s been a bit of a financial challenge to put it all together,” said Callum’s mother Natasha Hedge.
“With Mark’s help and lots of perseverance, it’s finally all come together. We are also really excited to be working with Mike and Callum will be there on the grid for the second round of the Championship at Queensland raceway on April 20-22.”
Callum’s mum and dad will take turns to head over to Australia for the remaining six rounds to support him, with one staying to manage the family business.
“It certainly hasn’t been easy,” Petch said.
“The Australian National Formula Ford Series was all but dead three years ago, and now its booming with 30 car grids and Australia’s best young drivers competing and it’s still seen by those in the know as the best proving ground for talented youngsters emerging from the karting scene.
“The challenge we faced was securing a competitive car and engine, as there have been no new FF Duratec engines built in the last five years.
“This is partly because unlike the old Kent engine, the Duratec engine will do several seasons without the need for a rebuild plus there was a negative impact on the class when CAMS dropped its Gold Star status in favour of Formula 4.
“The biggest hurdle we faced was finding a good engine with a record, as like all controlled engine series there are some engines that seem, for whatever reason, to be better than others. Naturally enough our first hope was to secure one of those known motors.
“But we haven’t been able to find one, We couldn’t build a new motor in time for the first round at Winton three weeks ago, so unfortunately we had to skip the first round.”
Petch said getting a competitive platform for the team to work with was difficult.
“We raced a Mygale chassis in New Zealand so naturally we were keen to stay with something we knew. During the engine search, however, I talked to Mike Borland who designs and builds the Australian manufactured Spectrum FF cars. Mike suggested that we consider buying the ex-James Golding car, which won the Winton round last year in the hands of Aaron Cameron.
“One thing lead to another and now with Mike’s full factory support, we have been able to put together a deal with their official factory team, the Brett MacLennan-owned Junior Racing Development Team to run Callum in the remaining six rounds of the Championship.
Comments