News this week that the 2020/21 South Island Formula 1600 Championship will have three newly imported Ray chassis on the grid. Two of the three will be brand new 2020 models while the third is a Ray GR08 (2008) with some significant history.
Formula 1600 rookies Zac Christensen and Ryan Low will both step up to compete for the South Island title having purchased their chassis in time for the coming summer competition. The third new Ray GR20 chassis will appear on the grid with a yet to be named driver who also competed last summer.
Christensen was a standout driver finishing third overall in the 2019/20 South Island Formula 1600 Championship in a Class 2 Van Diemen RF92. Low finished eighth overall in a Van Diemen RF88 while winning the Class 3 title. Both were driving South Island Formula Ford Scholarship cars which have been made available by their owners for helping new drivers into the category.
Low has opted for a Ray GR08 chassis for the coming season and will look to be competing at the ‘pointy-end’ of the grid.
“After my first season this year I was keen to move up to have a crack with the front runners,” said Low. “We came across an old ad for a different car but found out about this one. It’s coming from Norfolk in the UK and is currently on the water heading to NZ.
“We bought it sight-unseen, but the seller was fantastic and more than accommodating.”
The Ray chassis has some very special history being the car that current IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden’s (see main picture) used to win the 2008 Formula Ford Festival held in the UK. Newgarden went to the UK at the end of 2008 as part of the Team USA Scholarship to compete in the prestigious Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy.
In the Walter Hayes Trophy event he made a rare mistake, having started from pole position, crashing out from the lead and finishing sixth. Newgarden moved to the UK and competed in the British Formula Ford Championship finishing runner up to Brit James Cole (Mygale SJ09).
“It’s not the newest but will be competitive and I plan on it being that way,” said Low. “I’ve purchased a Scholar engine out of the UK as well. The Ray had a Scholar engine in it, but the owner has kept hold of that one.”
Fifteen-year-old Zac Christensen is expecting the delivery of a brand new Ray GR20 in early June, in time for testing in the spring for the 2020/21 SI champs.
“I’m looking forward to driving it and comparing it to the Van Diemen I had last season,” commented Christensen.
Father and team manager Dene says that the chassis is approximately three weeks away from completion at Ray Formula Cars in the UK.
“It wasn’t a hard decision to go with a new Ray,” commented Dene Christensen. “I liked the simplicity and design of the chassis. It is well engineered and very good through the air (slippery).”
The team had looked at the popular Spectrum chassis out of Australia.
“I was impressed with Josh Behune’s Ray GR17 car. The Spectrum is a physically larger chassis than the Ray which in the end was our preference.”
Pricing for the Ray is competitive with the landed price, including a good gearbox but excluding an engine, for less than $50k.
“We haven’t decided on an engine yet but looking at some options within New Zealand.”
Meanwhile Zac had been hoping to attend the Elite Academy of Motorsport in the winter which has now been cancelled.
“Really looking forward to the coming season,” said Zac. “We will be aiming for top three in qualifying and podium finishes. Then maybe we’ll look at the nationals the following season.”
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