Former Kiwi TRS driver Taylor Cockerton is quietly impressed with the brand-new CAMS Australian S5000 Championship single seater category after joining the grid for the opening round at Sandown Raceway in Australia last weekend.
“It was a really good weekend for us, particularly on Sunday. They are such an incredibility quick car,” commented Cockerton on his return home to New Zealand. “The concept is great, they sound terrific, they are appealing to the eye and they are challenging to drive like the old F5000 class.”
The concept of a modern Formula 5000 car has been in development for a number of years and after the weekend has shown that it is going to be a seriously quick category. Based on the French designed Onroak-Ligier carbon-fibre chassis, it’s coupled with a 5.2 litre quad-cam V8 Ford Coyote engine producing 560bhp. While the chassis is out of France, the engine is built in Queensland by InnoV8 with a Hollinger MFT six-speed sequential gearbox. The development of the car to being on the grid has been with Australian Supercars team, Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Cockerton was a late entry in the category, only confirming his involvement on the Monday leading up to the weekend.
“We had been talking for a while with Bruin Beasly at MTEC. They had a spare tub (chassis) as another driver had pulled out. However, they needed to finish building the car in the two days leading up to the first test at Phillip Island on the Wednesday. But thanks to MTEC and our backers, Pinnacle Logistics, we rolled out on the track mid-afternoon and essentially were only able to do an initial shake-down.
“Phillip Island has always been on my bucket list, so it was pretty cool to at least drive around it. It is an incredible circuit and I did get an idea of how quick these cars are. We were doing around 285km/hr heading into turn 1.”
Straight after the one-day test the teams and drivers headed to Sandown Raceway for testing on Friday before the race weekend.
“Taylor did an amazing job,” commented MTEC Motorsport team principal Bruin Beasley. “It was a massive call to come over and get in a car like that. I can’t say enough about him as he did a great job. He drove well and brought it home in one piece.
“In the old days they (F5000) were fast and scary. They had the wow factor and these S5000 retain those key ingredients. What’s more they sound so good. It’s a fantastic concept. They are both quick and difficult to drive, but you don’t want it to be easy. Drivers have to do a lot of work, that’s what it is all about, just like those F5000 days.”
Cockerton agrees with those sentiments.
“I haven’t driven anything like this before. The cars are heavy, so quite physical to drive with no power steering, quite a lot of castor and just heavy to turn. The key is getting heat into the Hoosier tyres cos when they’re dialled in they are a thrill to driver.”
“In some ways it was a real demonstration of what the category is going to be like. The competition was a lot stronger than I anticipated and to have ex F1 driver Rubens Barricello on the grid was quite surreal. He’s a really nice and approachable guy and seems keen to come back.”
“They are both a thrill and a challenge to drive at the same time. They are almost overpowered so demand respect. They require a lot of mental energy to learn as they can be quite unforgiving but with the tyres up to temperature they are a pure thrill.
“It is a really good class and has the potential to take off. There are 14-chassis at the moment and GRM will look at building another seven. I think that the category will attract young drivers, particularly if they want to drive something really fast.
“The teams are highly professional and MTEC were at the top of their game over the weekend. When you think that it was the inaugural round there were very few teething problems with the cars, for me, it was really impressive.”
Cockerton is keen to have more than another go at the category. “I’ve got Uni commitments at the moment so could well miss the next round at Tailem Bend. Competing at the 202 Australian Grand Prix weekend will be on my priority list as I loved racing there in F4 earlier this year.”
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