Fourteen-year-old Jackson Culver is set to become the youngest New Zealand driver to compete internationally this year when he lines up on the grid in Winton this weekend for his Formula 4 debut.
The Canterbury teenager will join AGI Sport for the opening round of the five-event AU4 Championship, stepping into the older generation Formula 4 machinery in a series that carries a minimum age requirement of 14.
The North Canterbury teenager completed a successful team test last month at Sydney Motorsport Park and recorded the fastest time of the night over both generations of Formula 4 car. Drivers of the much newer second-generation car must be over 15-years of age.
“Before I drove it, I can say I was quite nervous, a bit anxious, but it was an unreal feeling to drive that car. I got used to it pretty quickly. Overall, a completely different car to anything I’ve driven before, super good, super grippy, pretty cool,” said Culver after the Sydney test.
Getting to grips quickly with a new track is one of Culver’s strengths, and within five laps at Sydney Motorsport Park, he was hitting his lap time targets.
“I can usually click with a track in the first five laps, and after that it’s just a confidence thing, building up speed and braking.”
“There are definitely things I can improve on as I get more familiar with the car, but the engineer was happy with my data, but there’s a lot to improve on yet.”
Although Culver didn’t compete in the recently completed New Zealand Formula Ford championship, he spent many months developing a car and acknowledges that the data-driven approach to testing helped him hit the ground running in Australia.
“That testing was a huge advantage and helped a crazy amount, especially when I got into the F4. I can look at the data now and understand where the engineer’s coming from. As a driver, when you’re driving the car, you can understand the setup way more and then help the engineer and mechanic make the changes to go faster.”
Culver started his motor racing career as soon as he turned 12, the minimum age required in New Zealand to obtain a competition licence. He spent almost two seasons racing Formula First before taking on a test-and-development role in Formula Ford and competing in a handful of races. The switch to Formula 4 is his first experience of driving with slick tyres since his karting days.
“The combo with the tyres and the aero means the car’s a lot more grippier and it feels like you’re on a rail, whereas in a go-kart it can still be quite slippery as well,” he said.
“Building up the confidence for the fast-flowing tracks is a key area. At Sydney, you’re heading into the first corner at 220k (kph), whereas in the Formula Ford, the highest you’ll get around a corner is maybe 150, so it’s just building up the confidence.”
Heading into the Winton opening round, Culver will have a test at the track this Thursday before the official AU4 action kicks off on Friday with three official test sessions. On Saturday, there will be two back-to-back qualifying sessions and the first 25-minute race, followed by two similar races on Sunday.
“I know we’ve got a good team behind us, I’m confident with the car, confident with the team, so we’ll go out, give it a bit of a crack and see what we can get out of it.”
The series will visit both The Bend in Adelaide and Sydney Motorsport Park (SMP) twice after the opening round at Winton Raceway, Victoria.
2026 AU4 AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR:
- 01-03 May Winton Raceway30-31 May Sydney Motorsport Park17-19 July The Bend Motorsport Park, Adelaide (West layout)21-23 August
- The Bend Motorsport Park, Adelaide (International layout)
- 11-13 September Sydney Motorsport Park (GP Circuit)
Header Image: Supplied
