Three minutes with: Will Brown - National Formula Ford

With the upcoming National Formula Ford round in Queensland we had a chat with local fast charger Will Brown to see where he is at and where he is planning on going.

Will had a great performance in Round 2 of the Australian Formula Ford Series taking out the win in all three races. He enters round three in his home state as a definite favourite.

Hi Will. First up, tell us how old you are now, and when did you start racing in Karts?

I'm 18 now, and I started in karts when I was 12.

Toowoomba has produced some quick drivers in recent times. Do you think that this has been the Will Power effect, or is the local Kart scene particularly strong, or do you think it’s something else?

Not sure if it’s just Toowoomba, we do have a good Kart track here, and there have been a lot of good guys. Some have progressed and some haven't. But it seems like something is going on up here.

I think that you sprung a bit of a surprise with your clean sweep in Sydney. Was it a surprise for you, or did you go there being quietly confident?

Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise for me too. I hadn't done anything in the Formula Ford for six months because of my other commitments, but it’s always great fun to get back in one. I missed the first round, and now I'm really looking forward to playing catch up with the points.

So your intention is to do the remaining rounds?

Yeah. It'll be real hard to win the series from here, but my goal is to try and get into the top three.

You have been doing a lot of racing this year, with appearances in F4, Toyota 86s and of course Formula Ford. What do you think is the most obvious thing that each category has taught you?

The Formula Fords are great for learning race craft. Really good. I love every second of racing them. The F4 is more about learning to trust the grip level. Finding it with the aero and all that. Last year was good because of the level of drivers, like Jordan [Lloyd], and Thomas Randle. The Toyota is about learning to control the body roll when I'm getting on and off the throttle. Something that I need if my future is in sedans.

As I have mentioned, you are doing a lot of racing for a young guy. Your family is investing a lot into your future. Do you sort of feel a responsibility to succeed because of that, or are you just happy to go with the flow and see what happens?

We are doing it for the fun, but when that sort of money is being spent I do want to be successful. Winning the F4 rookie of the year prize last year, and receiving the scholarship this year has made things a bit easier on that side of things.

What is your end goal, and where are you hoping your next step will be?

I think the end goal for me is V8 Supercars, but I'm real interested in GT3s. For next year I hope that we can be looking to Carrera Cup, or maybe the Dunlop series.

The next round of the National Formula Ford series is at Queensland Raceway, home track for you and your team, BF Racing. Are you confident of a Sydney repeat?

You can never be confident in Formula Ford, it’s just too competitive. I'd be really happy if I can, and I really want to be going for the wins, but I'm not super set on it. The main thing is to get a really good haul of points to help me get past missing that first round.