Young Victorian driver Lockie Marshall spent last Friday in the hot seat at Winton Raceway testing the Dallara Formula 3 car that he will driving in the Forpark Scholarship Class of the Australian F3 championship this year.
Under the watchful eye of former Australian F3 Champion Tim Macrow, Lockie started to get a feel for the wings and slicks machine. After a few tentative laps Lockie got used to the 6 speed sequential box and started to come to terms with the greater acceleration and braking performance of the car compared to his previous Formula Ford. "Its very different to driving a Formula Ford, there is so much grip and the braking power is brutal" Lockie said after returning to the garage following his first session. After several sessions Lockie settled into a rhythm as he got more confident with the car. " Flat shifting using the ignition cut took a little while to get right and I was initially left foot braking but I had a problem with brake/throttle overlap which resulted in some brake fade so I changed back to right foot heel toe braking which felt much more natural".
Tim was very happy with Lockie's improvement through the day and commented that "As the day progressed Lockie adapted very well to the downforce and speed of an F3 car".
Lockie's next test day is at Phillip Island later in the month and his first race will be at the Clipsal V8 meeting around the Streets of Adelaide on the first weekend in March. "I have a lot of work to do to get the car up to speed now" Lockie said, "I am really looking forward to this season and especially
because we have a number of new sponsors that will be supporting us in 2012. We are finalising a couple of deals at the moment and we will be making a formal announcement in the next few weeks. "
Lockie would like to thank Tim and Peter Macrow and also Jeff and Taylor Stenner from A1 Signs for coming up and helping during the day
For more information please visit www.lockiemarshall.com . You can watch a Replay 1080 HD video of Lockie in the Dallara by clicking on the You Tube Watch button on Lockie's website.
