Motorsport: Youngster 'with the goods' a real head-turner

Nick Cassidy at Western Springs Speedway. Photo / Janna Dixon

Greg Murphy hails him as a kid with "the goods". A prominent Australian team owner feels his potential is "unlimited". Rivals praise his aggressive style.

Nick Cassidy is a 16-year-old Kiwi motorsport prodigy turning heads on both sides of the Tasman. Aside from his mature racecraft and speed around a track what stands out is his technical understanding; an almost uncanny ability, at such a young age, to understand the mechanics of a racing machine.

Australian Formula Ford team owner Josh Evans says: "I've worked with some Australian champions in the past and he is every bit as good as them."

In July, in a one-off drive in round five of the Australian Formula Ford championship, the then 15-year-old Auckland schoolboy was the youngest in the field. Some of his competitors were up to five years older.

"It was a big challenge," remembers Evans, "on a street circuit, with a new car, a new engine, a new team and a much higher competition level."

He finished a respectable eighth in the first race, improving to sixth in the second but sensed something wasn't quite right. Team engineers eventually agreed to make changes he suggested. Cassidy roared around the track to finish third.

"I don't know of any other driver that has gone out in their first race meeting and ended up on the podium," says Evans.

Says Murphy: "That kind of performance doesn't happen by luck and it was an enormous test. To be able to do that and be competitive first time out - those are the performances you need to get noticed."

Cassidy attributes his technical expertise to a long apprenticeship in karting when he and father Peter would spend hours tinkering. Starting as a 6-year-old, and following in the tracks of Scott Dixon and Murphy, Cassidy swept the field in karting, winning the national under-12 title as a 9-year-old.

Fellow karter (and current V8 Supercar driver) Shane Van Gisbergen remembers Cassidy as always taking the gaps - "a very aggressive driver."

Cassidy moved into single seaters in 2008. At Pukekohe in his first Formula Ford race, he grabbed pole position and won all three races. Since then he has accumulated 23 wins (46 podiums overall) from 66 races.

This season, he will compete in the Toyota Racing Series with Giles Motorsport and is close to sealing a deal to race in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Cassidy will return to Speedway where he starred last year, in a midget car. Later in 2011 he hopes to secure a European test drive in a class one or two tiers below Formula One.

Cassidy prides himself on being quick but controlled; fearless but not reckless.

"During testing I like being right on the edge. It gives me a real thrill. I want to be the guy who brakes the latest at the end of the straight."

Evans: "Some young guys are aggressive and try to make moves but you can sense they are at the edge of their ability.

"Nick always seems to be in control and operating within his comfort zone."

Murphy: "His racecraft is a standout. He is very good at putting his car in the right positions. For a young guy that hasn't had a lot of experience in cars, the speed he showed last summer was remarkable."

The Westlake Boys High student says every series from now will seem like make or break. "In some ways it is disheartening but it also gives you more inspiration."

Murphy says Cassidy needs a break and support. "The financial side of things tend to decide the future in this game."