Ammonite’s Colin Queen, plus Oldfield Motorsport duo Lucas Romanek and Brandon McCaughan were the lead teenage drivers in the 2022 Avon Tyres National Formula Ford Championship. Each will now head to the shoot-out at Snetterton on 18 October, where they’ll drive Fortec GB4 machinery in pursuit of the £20,000 prize.
19-year-old McCaughan is in his first season of National Formula Ford having raced in his native Ireland in 2021, before taking part in the Formula Ford Festival.
He has improved rapidly this year, culminating in a run of 13 consecutive top-10 results, with his best results coming at the penultimate event of the year on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, on the way to seventh overall in the standings.
“I raced over at home in Ireland last year in Classic Formula Ford so coming over here has been a baptism of fire,” McCaughan says. “The level of competition is completely different with the modern car, it’s all so different. I feel I’m finally getting into it and I’m nearly on the pace now, so we’ll see where next year takes us. “We’re keeping our options open, it may be we do another year of Formula Ford or we look to move on to GB4.”
His chances of racing in GB4 would be boosted should he claim the £20,000 shoot-out prize in October.
“I’m really excited for it, I’ve never driven a slicks and wings car before so it’ll be really good to get used to downforce and how it feels. It takes a very different driving style so I’m looking forward to trying that out. I’m excited to be learning a lot of different things.”
Despite the changes he’ll need to make to his driving style, McCaughan reckons he’ll get up to speed quickly in a slicks and wings machine.
“I’m hoping I adapt well, any changes in category I’ve done before I’ve adapted quickly enough so it’ll be nice to find out how quick I can adapt. I think we get half a day in the car at Snetterton, so it’ll be nice to see how much I can come on in that time. It’ll be my first time in a slicks and wings car.”
McCaughan not only sees the financial benefits of the potential prize, but also the heightened exposure the opportunity also presents.
“It’ll be very helpful, not just from the money side of it but also but also in raising my profile. It’ll help me get my name out there and hopefully help bring in more sponsors to complete a deal for the year.”
