Team USA Drivers Visit Multimatic, Gain GB3 Taster at Bedford

BRACKLEY, England – The adventure continues for this year’s Team USA Scholarship drivers, Max Esterson and Andre Castro. After a stellar performance this past weekend at the 50th BRSCC Formula Ford Festival which attracted almost 100 entrants and concluded with Esterson and Castro finishing second and third, respectively, in a thrilling Grand Final, the pair of American youngsters on Monday enjoyed a visit to Multimatic’s facility in Thetford, Norfolk. Today they gained an exciting taste of a GB3 Championship Tatuus with Douglas Motorsport at the Bedford Autodrome.

Multimatic produced the distinctive and successful Ford GT.

Headquartered in Markham, Ont., Canada, but with facilities dotted around the globe, Multimatic supplies components, systems, complete vehicles and a broad spectrum of engineering services. Multimatic is perhaps best known in the racing industry for its range of dampers which are used on cars in a plethora of different racing series, but the company also developed the Le Mans-winning Ford GT cars, and in recent years has fielded the Mazda DPi prototype cars successfully in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.

“Visiting Multimatic was an eye-opening experience,” said Castro. “Rob Taylor showed us around the different stages of production, quality control and assembly in their sizable factory. Multimatic has a campus with several buildings interacting with one another. The sheer size was impressive, and some of their projects, such as Ford GTs and dampers for the upcoming Porsche LMDh, were truly cutting edge. I saw so many complex dampers and inerters – the intricacies of the parts were incredible. Rob also provided Max and me with our first rides in a Tesla, which was a pretty cool experience in itself!”

Next on the agenda was a trip to Bedford Autodrome for a few laps in a Douglas Motorsport GB3 Championship car.

“Although I had already driven the car a few months ago, the speed of it compared to the Formula Ford that I’m used to still felt amazing,” said Esterson. “It definitely took some getting used to again, but it was a blast to experience that much power and downforce, so thank you to Wayne Douglas and team for the opportunity!”

Douglas Motorsport brought a pair of its Tatuus GB3 cars.

“My first drive in GB3 machinery was a real thrill,” added Castro. “The last two corners of the circuit were taken in fifth gear, and I spent all my track time developing the confidence to use the downforce to my advantage in those corners. Going faster and closer to the limit in those corners was mega, and left me itching for more. It was also beneficial to rotate the car using the throttle in low to medium speed corners, which I very much liked the feel of. It was so different to Formula Ford, but both are amazing in their own ways!”

The two young Americans certainly left a favorable impression with team principal Wayne Douglas, whose own racing accomplishments included a British Formula Vauxhall Championship and nomination for the prestigious McLaren-Autosport BRDC Award before establishing his own race team in 2012.

“Max and Andre produced fantastic performances in the Formula Ford Festival, and we were delighted to support the Team USA Scholarship by giving them a run out in the GB3 Championship car,” said Douglas. “We were hugely impressed by how both drivers performed behind the wheel on the day, and it’s clear they have huge levels of talent and potential for the future. We wish them the best for the Walter Hayes Trophy this weekend.”

Castro and Esterson’s busy few weeks in the UK will continue tomorrow at Silverstone with the first of three days of testing in preparation for this coming weekend’s annual Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford event.