Motorsport: Hamilton star plots a bright path

Richie Stanaway. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand's rich heritage in producing quick motor racing drivers continued at the Hamilton 400 meeting last weekend, when 17-year-old Richie Stanaway stepped up to the plate and stole the Toyota Racing Series limelight.

The youngster from Tauranga had only seen the inside of a TRS car at a test at Taupo, three days before the V8 Supercar meeting, but still promptly put the car on pole for both races. Proving that was no fluke, he romped away to win both races over the weekend.

In 2007, Stanaway won the SpeedSport Scholarship and Rookie of the Year, and went on to win at the New Zealand Formula First Association's Annual One-Hour Race at Manfeild.

Stanaway moved up from karts into the Formula Ford championship for the 2008/09 season racing a Mygale chassis for the first time in New Zealand. He clinched the title with one race to spare at the last round of the championship at Pukekohe along with the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy.

Other than Van Gisbergen, Stanaway is the only other driver to win the series in his rookie year. He has something else in common with Van Gisbergen - Stanaway is one of the very few drivers who can make a pass around the outside of turn one at Pukekohe look like he meant to do it.

"It is quite hard to do that but there was quite a bit of grip out there that day," said Stanaway. "It's a bit loose out there so you have to fight the car a bit to hold it on the track."

That's pretty good going to get to grips with a new car so soon but it's no TRS car, which develops more horsepower and has plenty of aero to help it stick to the track. "There's a lot of good people out there with good stuff so I pick their brains and learn as much as I can from them," said Stanaway.

That's all well and good during a test with no other cars around, but learning racecraft in a new car, on a new track with concrete walls all around it, is a different kettle of fish. To start with, a car that relies on aero to go through a corner fast doesn't like it when the down force disappears.

"The grip and the brakes are probably more noticeable than the speed. The brakes are better than in Formula Ford and with extra grip you can carry more speed into the corners. I had a few moments in practice at Hamilton but never touched a wall.

"It took about four laps to get used to the front grip disappearing if you got too close to the car in front but I still managed to get past," said Stanaway.

"After his showing around the streets of Hamilton there's no doubt he's a talented driver," said former McLaren Formula One team member Bob McMurray.

"I'll be even more impressed if he translate the skills he showed in a TRS around a street circuit on to a race track."

Perhaps the scariest thing about 17-year-old Stanaway winning a title at his first go is that his nearest rival for the Formula Ford championship was 14-year-old Mitch Evans.