Dec 30, 2003
\nChristchurch, New Zealand \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Three talented young American racers enjoyed a very promising first test session today in preparation for the forthcoming six-race Talley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New Zealand International Formula Ford Series.<\/p>\n
Joe D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Agostino, 18, from Plantation, Fla., Charlie Kimball, 18, from Camarillo, Calif., and Ryan Millen, 19, from Newport Beach, Calif., put the trio of Team USA Scholarship-entered Stealth\/Van Diemens through their paces at Ruapuna Park Raceway and left local team owner John Crawford astounded by their speed and attitude.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really impressed — extremely impressed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d declared Crawford, himself a former New Zealand Formula Ford Champion whose Canterbury Motor Racing School team will oversee the preparation of the Americans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cars. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The boys settled in very quickly and were on the pace right away. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a force to be reckoned with, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for sure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In very warm weather and far from ideal track conditions, D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Agostino turned the fastest lap of the day at 1m30.2s, an average speed of 85.31 mph, which is within a half-second of the lap record for the 2.14-mile (3.44 kms) track. Kimball also turned some very competitive times during the hotter afternoon period, while Millen was equally impressive despite getting started a little bit later and ending his day early due to an engine problem.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a really good first day of testing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Agostino. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The team did a good job and it was great to start working with our engineer, Andy Neale [also a leading Formula Ford contender in the early 1990s who later worked as a chief mechanic with 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve and the BAR Honda team]. We all got along very well and were able to compare data and learn from each other.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It took me a little time to reacclimate myself with a carbureted engine,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added Kimball, who finished third in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Formula Ford 2000 Zetec Championship in the U.S. and more recently placed third in the British Formula Ford Zetec Winter Series. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It has a big flat spot compared to the fuel-injected motors I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting there. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good that I can sit down tonight and think about things, then get ready for our next test tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a great track,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d continued Kimball. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really technical and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a little of everything \u00e2\u20ac\u201c some long, sweeping corners, some fast tight stuff and some tight, twisty hairpin corners. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little bit of elevation change too; just enough to make it interesting.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Said Millen, who won last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New Zealand South Island Formula Ford Championship, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get much time in the car and we still have an older-spec engine in it right now. All things considered, it was good to get back in the car, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking forward to getting some more miles tomorrow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The Americans will test again for half a day at Ruapuna tomorrow, then enjoy the New Year celebrations before going on to test at Levels Raceway, Timaru, on Saturday. The first two races of the International series will take place at Timaru on January 11, with subsequent events at Invercargill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Teretonga Park Raceway (for the prestigious New Zealand Grand Prix) on January 18 and then a return to Ruapuna for the final two races on January 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dec 30, 2003 Christchurch, New Zealand \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Three talented young American racers enjoyed a very promising first test session today in preparation for the forthcoming six-race Talley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New Zealand International Formula Ford Series. Joe D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Agostino,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1527,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions\/1527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}