DANIEL BURGIN / GEDLICH RACING
RACING LINES
A bit of Spanish sun in February? Don’t mind if I do. A recent trip to Valencia to catch a GT and single-seater winter series was just the tonic, even if it was a left-field turn from the mainstream.
The series is run by German promoter and track-day specialist Gedlich Racing, and I must admit that I expected a throng of wealthy amateurs making a meal of GT3 and GT4 exotica. There were one or two of those – but mostly what really struck was the glut of young, hopeful talent who pitched up, using the winter series to get their eye in ahead of the season proper.
A huge field of 38 Formula 4 cars, drawn mostly from the Italian and Spanish series, had congregated as a fresh cohort of kids straight out of karts jostled for space.
Fifteen-year-olds with braces on their teeth, unruly hair, the odd skin blemish… They looked so young, and I felt so old, especially when I tried to get them chatting. Syllables in the count of one, mostly. But boy, could they drive.
OVER THE LIMIT
The trouble was that too many of them kept steering off the track – yes, sometimes into gravel traps, but often on purpose. Broaching track limits with all four wheels because the hard run-off makes for quicker laps is the most tiresome blight on modern motorsport.
A few old-timers I bumped into raised their eyes. Thirty years ago, if they kept their foot in beyond the white lines, they were on the grass and into a barrier. Most race tracks are safer now, but they’re easier too.
I had seen it all when, in the first qualifying session, so many violations were registered that almost the entire field was black-flagged. The stewards blamed the youngsters and binned the whole session. But for the previous two days, they had pounded the circuit in open tests, in which track limits hadn’t been policed. So what did the stewards expect?
Like VAR and football officiating, motorsport is tying itself in knots on this one. As 1988 Le Mans winner Jan Lammers said while watching his son René take his first single-seater steps: “If they’re all doing it, where’s the advantage?”
TALENT SPOTTING
It’s always a buzz to spot fresh talent. There was plenty on show in the F4 field – at least when they were let off the leash from the incessant stream of safety car interruptions. Nearly 40 teenagers going at it in identical Tatuus single-seaters, on a circuit seemingly bu
