Canadian driver relishes challenge

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 15

Canadian driver relishes challenge

By

JOHN HAWKINS

Dressed in his street clothing, Paul Tracy looks anything but a race driver. The Canadian, aged 19, is quiet spoken and almost withdrawn, but once he dons his fireproof race suit and slips into the narrow confines of his Ralt RT4 cockpit, he becomes a changed man. After being rated as one of the world’s top junior karters in 1984, Tracy moved into Formula Ford 1600, winning the Canadian championship. In 1986, the Toronto resident took fifth place in the World Formula Ford championship at Brands Hatch. A successful campaign in the British Formula Ford 2000 Grandstand series was followed by more FF2OOO in Canada in 1987, where he ■took four wins from seven starts. Four races at the end of the season in the East Coast Formula Atlantic series in the United States were small preparation for taking on seasoned campaigners like Ken Smith and Paul Radisich in New Zealand, but Tracy has acquitted himself well in the

Digital Computers series, being hampered only by . a series of engine problems prior to the New Zealand Grand Prix last week-end at Pukekohe. Anyone who witnessed his tigerish start in the Grand Prix will testify to his commitment,. Tracy relishing the challenge posed by the more powerful Pacifies. “As well as the power, these cars run on much wider rubber and harder springs than anything I had driven previously, it has taken some getting used to,” said Tracy. He has found the New Zealand circuits somewhat smaller and less complex than most of the tracks he has been used to in the United States and Canada, and is looking forward to the fast Wigram circuit. Tracy sees his immediate future as a professional racer in the United States rather than Europe, although Formula one remains his ultimate ambition. He likens his own problems gaining sponsorship in Canada for a European campaign to those experienced by Paul Radisich in New Zealand.