North Canterbury teenager Jackson Culver is back in action in the Australian AU4 championship this weekend as the series moves to Adelaide for two rounds.
After a dominant opening round in the Gen1 category, Culver slipped to second place last time out at Sydney Motorsport Park but has been working hard since in an effort to make amends at The Bend.
“I can’t wait to get back in there, and I’m hoping for a couple of wins. It’d be good to get back up to the front of the championship,” said Culver.
“To do that, I need to improve my qualifying, so I’ve been working hard on that on the sim, and hopefully I can show that at The Bend.”
It will be the first time the combined Formula 4 car field has raced at Adelaide’s The Bend this season, in a back-to-back double-header at the South Australian circuit.
This weekend’s round uses two different track configurations: the shorter West Layout.
“It looks like a very fast, flowing but also quite a windy track at the same time with a couple of hard braking corners,” observed Culver from his simulator sessions.
“I think it will be good for the likes of me purely because I like the more fast-flowing, winding tracks over slow ones,” he said.
Culver will get just a single test day at The Bend on Thursday, prior to the normal three-day meeting, with official practice on Friday, two qualifying sessions and the opening race on Saturday, then two races on Sunday.
To prepare for his racing debut at the circuit, Culver has been busy with sim sessions to get as familiar as he can before going on track for the first time.
“I’ve got a bit more confidence going into this one, especially with a bit of a longer break between rounds and going on the sim for that bit longer as well. From the sim point of view, I’ve kinda taken a liking to the track.”
Culver said the fast, flowing component of The Bend is similar to Sydney Motorsport Park, where they last raced, but the opening sequence of corners may well hold the key to a fast lap.
“Just trying to hold the lines while you’re going quite fast, especially through the likes of Turn 1 and 2, trying to get a good run into Turn 3, a long right-hander. It looks like a short corner, but it’s actually quite long on the right,” he noted.
“Figuring out those lines and how fast I can take it through those certain corners as well will be a focus.”
Between the rounds, the 14-year-old Rangiora High School student has been preparing on the simulator, where he says he focused on brake points, when to pick up the throttle, and getting nice brake and throttle shapes on the data, which he hopes will give him a head start. Many of his competitors have already tested at The Bend, and some have raced there before.
Apart from simulation, Culver takes his physical preparation equally seriously.
“I’ve been concentrating on just about everything, fitness, working on stamina and especially building up my neck [muscles] for the fast-flowing tracks. Now that we’re going into The Bend twice, and then Sydney [Motorsport Park], they’re all fast-flowing tracks to finish the championship.
“I need to make sure I’m physically fit going into these rounds, so I’ve also been working on my endurance, long runs, long bikes, and long gym sessions.
“Working on the sim as well, which is quite physical, even though you’re sitting down, it’s still quite physical for your arms and legs with hitting the brakes. The brake pressure is not the same as the real car, but it’s there or thereabouts, and I have the steering a little bit heavier, just so that I can work on trying to get those turn-in points right down to the millimetre.”
Aiming to retake the Gen1 championship lead, Culver says he knows what’s required.
Living rurally, Culver has developed his own training regimen at home, as he lives too far from professional gyms to commute regularly, although he does make the most of his secondary school gym classes.
“It’s a fast and competitive group of drivers I’m with, so I definitely need to keep my A game for the full season and keep pushing, working on myself and improving the car where we can.”
Culver is one of three New Zealand drivers in the AU4 championship, the other two being old enough to compete in the newer generation 2 cars, which have a minimum age limit of 15. Marco Manson is currently leading the overall series, with William Beck also racing in Gen2.
Header Image: Supplied
