AUSTRALIA is a long way from the established capitals of Motor Sport in Europe and the USA.

But if you are a young Aussie, ambitious, and have more in your pocket than a one way air fare, the lure of climbing the ladder of International Motor Sport success is just as powerful as ever.

In 2018 there a number of young Aussie Racers doing great things in Europe, Asia and the USA. Few of them known to the wider public at home and indeed many talent spotters in the Supercars pit lane. One reason is the road to a career overseas has evolved in recent years as many young drivers serve little or no apprenticeship in local racing series other than cutting their teeth in Karting.

The demise of the National Formula Ford Championship is arguably one of the prime motivators for our young stars to leap from Karting straight to a European, or even a USA based series. Formula 4 has not replaced the level of competition that Formula Ford offered, a demonstration clearly on show by Formula Ford’s return to top line events at the recent Supercars Championship round at The Bend.

Looking at some of these young guns reveals a new path to Europe.

Jack Doohan, son of Mick: Karting since 2013 and now racing British Formula 4.

Joey Mawson: Karting Champion in Europe since 2014 F4, F3 and now running GP3.

Oscar Piastri – at only 17 years of age – Karting straight to Europe and now in the 2018 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup Championship.

Alex Peroni: Formula Renault since 2016

Daniel Ricciardo of course moved to Europe not even knowing if he wanted to commit to a full time motor racing career but that is now consigned to history!

Wind the clock back and the path to Europe was somewhat different.

Karting then State and National Formula Ford, then with a couple of years of open wheel racing under the belt all in Australia, a ticket to the UK.

The Race Torque spoke to two of the highest profile Supercars stars who took this more traditional pathway chasing their dreams.

Will Davison was destined to drive racing cars. His family dynasty almost guaranteed it. There was no doubting Will’s talent from a young age and when he progressed to the National Formula Ford Series, he won it in a canter. His Team Manager, Mick Ritter and father, Richard Davison put the wheels in motion for Will to head overseas. Davison takes up the story.

“I think things were a bit more clear cut back then, than now,” Will told The Race Torque.

“Winning the Formula Ford Championship in 2001 was a bonus as I was able to wrap up the title in September with the final round not until December. We had decided either way to head off to the Formula Ford Festival in the UK, so it was cool to have the Championship done and dusted.

“Greg ‘Pee Wee’ Siddle was looking after me in Australia and we put a deal together with a guy who ran a custom Van Diemen Team. It was big deal going to England for the first time. I remember being picked up at Heathrow and it was all a bit of an unknown. It’s a whole new world. British Formula Ford had a real aura around it in the early 2000’s, it was a ‘who’s who’ from every county going to the Festival. You were really quite respectful to be there with 100 other guys driving a Formula Ford Zetec at Brands Hatch. The Festival that year was such an eye opener and really set me up for what lay ahead of us. The trip also got us thinking – ‘do we do Formula Ford or Formula Renault?’ We met with John Booth at Manor and Motorworld – the team I ended up driving with in Formula Renault. We took all those options back to Australia over the summer and decided what our best path would be.”

Davison settled on Formula Renault in 2002 and put in a great ‘rookie’ season to finish 4^th in the British Championship.

“I remember rocking up to the first test. I felt very green. Had a lot of catching up to do and did not know the circuits at all. I had missed the winter series but my teammate Rob Bell had just won the series up against a new hot shot by the name of Lewis Hamilton. In hindsight Formula Renault was the right decision. You very quickly became part of the scene over there and people get to know and follow your progress.”

Formula 3 was the next step and despite some excellent performances, the constant pressure on funding was starting to take its toll.

“I did a test with Doco (Alan Docking) at Silverstone and on the first day really clicked in the car. I will never forget the first time I drove a Formula 3 car, so we headed home and did everything we could to raise the budget to go and kick-start our F3 campaign. I won my fifth race from Pole at Croft so we did get off to a good start. We had help from the CAMS Foundation and a number of great Australian businesses who go behind me, but still needed to raise more. We put on a big fund raiser in Melbourne and had the likes of Peter Brock, Shane Warne and a host of business leaders and well known socialites attend. Looking back now I really don’t think we could have done any more to keep going in F3,” Davison said.

At that time British Formula 3 offered up one of the biggest pools of young talent to team owners.

Davison was noticed and was quickly speaking to the likes of Flavio Briatorie at Renault F1, met with the Williams Team at Monaco and was invited to a head to head test at Hockenheim in the Mercedes F3 team against Jamie Green and Danny Watts. Will admits it was like a whirlwind with even Autosport magazine touting him as the next Mark Webber. But results are critical and the Davison budget was running perilously low.

“We were dropping off a bit at Doco’s and made a late season change to Menu Motorsport. Our backers agreed to do the last two few rounds in 2003 and to see what happens. We had good results in those races. We scraped together some funds for 2004, but really needed a Carlin or an ART seat to make it happen. We got a last minute injection of funds and did the first five rounds with Menu, and were on the podium multiple times but the debt was running up so we just had to call time. We were out.”

The final ray of hope was the test in the Minardi F1 at the end of 2004 and although Will did an excellent job at the test, that signalled the end of his overseas journey.

“I look back now and, with no regrets, realising what an amazing opportunity it was. It is so different now. Kids driving Formula 1 at 17 years of age after only a couple of years racing.”

Fellow Supercar driver Scott Pye embarked on a very similar path to Davison.

“I received a scholarship through the CAMS Rising Star program which catapulted me from Karting to racing cars. Together with Scott’s Transport and the CAMS funding we were putting it all together,” He explained.

“To race in Europe was something I had really wanted to do. I wanted to be a professional race driver and so my plan was to be in the minority and separate myself from the pack and race in Europe. I felt if I did that, and was successful, people would take notice. If I then decided or had to come back to Australia it would help set me up.

“In 2009 my old man passed away. Dad was always a big supporter and we had talked about going to Europe. So I guess that year I made it my mission to find the budget, speak to teams and the most cost effective category for me was Formula Ford. I hooked up with a guy who I had been in contact with for some years to help manage me. He found the funds to allow me to go there to do the 2009 Formula Ford Festival.

“Off the back of that we had some good discussions with teams for the following year including the Championship winners, Jamun. The budget was not that much more than the Australian Formula Ford Championship, but it was subsidised and with CAMS and Visa Global logistics we raced in the 2010 British Series. The results that year were really dominant. We won a whole bunch of races and took out the Championship pretty comfortably.”

Pye’s next step was very similar to Davison’s albeit some six years later. He too was approached by Mercedes Benz with the promise of an F3 contract leading to a factory DTM drive with the team. Like Davison, Scott also had a number of hurdles to jump to make this happen.

“Mercedes had approached us with an offer to be a factory driver with HWA AMG consisting of a five year contract. I had two years of Euro F3 and three years in the DTM on offer. Although we had a pretty good year in F3 including a race win and couple of podiums I just couldn’t put together the budget. I had also changed management with Roland Dane looking after me from Australia. We were getting a fair bit of attention on what I was dong over in Europe and an opportunity came for me to move back to Australia to race in the Development Series (now Super 2).  That is where the European dream kind of ended. We just couldn’t put together the budget to keep going.

“For me going over there and having raced was the best thing I have ever done. Leaving home so soon after my Dad had passed away was a good opportunity for me to get away and just focus solely on driving race cars. It was a period where I really grew up fast. I learnt a lot and came back to Australia a better driver.  So my plan to separate myself did work with a full time career in Supercars the end result,” Scott said.

Pye is very philosophical about those who ‘make it’ in Europe. He concedes that the underlying issue for all Australian drivers is funding. With so many young international drivers, many with huge backing, focusing on only a handful of seats to progress all the way to Formula 1.

“For me the closer you get to realising the dream of Formula 1, you realise it is not twenty of the best drivers in the world. It is maybe a few, but the rest are actually very, very wealthy kids. It does taint your dreams a little, as I grew up looking at the F1 drivers as the best in the world. The closer you get to it you think that maybe some of the best drivers in the world are actually back here in Australia racing Supercars, based solely on merit. I never underestimated how hard it would be to get into Supercars, so my time in Europe certainly helped make that step when I returned to Australia. I knew I was never going to be able to buy my way in anywhere!” Pye concluded with a wry smile.

Davison and Pye took what was considered the natural road to an International career.

They arrived in Europe well versed in their trade and with high levels of success in their early campaigns. However will a move straight from Karting to a racing series overseas, as we see now in 2018, prove successful for the next generation of Aussie driver?

With Daniel Ricciardo and Will Power flying the flag so well on the international stage it should produce more outstanding careers and ultimately add to the emergence of new and exciting stars in the Supercars Championship back home as Davison & Pye have proven.

WORDS: Dale Rodgers
IMAGES: Supplied