| Media Release
23 March 1998
V8 TEAMS TO CHOOSE FORMULA FORD ‘BRAT PACK’ Ford’s top V8 Supercar teams will be watching this weekend’s Australian Formula Ford Championship races at Lakeside with special interest. They’ll be watching to select three ‘apprentices’ to join Ford’s junior driver development program, Generation XR. Ford’s Generation XR program includes a drive at Bathurst in a Tony Longhurst Ford Falcon for the 1998 Ford Motorsport/Slick 50 Australian Formula Ford Champion, and a day’s testing with Dick Johnson Racing for second and third in the championship. Ford Falcon racers Glenn Seton (Ford Credit Racing), John Bowe (Shell Helix Racing) and Mark Larkham (Stone Brothers Racing) will each take their team’s selected ‘apprentice’ under their wing, acting as motor racing mentors throughout the Formula Ford season. To be known as the ‘Brat Pack’, the three ‘driver apprentices’ will also attend a full day’s workshop at Ford’s Broadmeadows (Melbourne) headquarters, and be instructed in all aspects of professional motor racing including sponsorship, management and race-craft. The Generation XR program reinforces Formula Ford’s status as Australia’s premier category for young drivers, according to Formula Ford Administrator Margaret Hardy. "Formula Ford is where the future stars of Australian motorsport learn their trade, and the Generation XR program effectively takes this principle to the next level. "The ‘Brat Pack’ scheme helps three of the drivers in Formula Ford with a great deal of potential gain the off-track skills, like team and sponsorship management, to complement the racing skills they learn competing in Formula Ford. "When you combine that with the championship
prizes of a Bathurst drive with Tony Longhurst Racing for the champion
and a V8 Supercar test for the two place-getters, it’s a fantastic endorsement
of Formula Ford’s development role," Margaret Hardy says.
For further information: Craig Smith
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