Bamber impressive in V6

HE MAY have had a disappointing rookie season in the Formula Toyota series in New Zealand, but Wanganui's Earl Bamber impressed when given the chance to get behind the wheel of a Formula V6 Asia car in the last few days.
Driving the new Renault-powered FV6/Asia car on Monday the Collegiate teenager set the fastest ever recorded lap for cars on the Sepang F1 circuit in Malaysia.
The car he was driving was previously raced by Matt Halliday last year and was also raced successfully over the weekend by Marchy Lee in the two-car Meritus line-up for the 2007 season.
Last week Bamber set the pace last Wednesday testing at 1m 01.30s on old tyres, in his very first time behind the wheel of a FV6 single seater, and then reduced his lap times to 1m 00.70s on new tyres the next day. Lee reduced the lap record once again in qualifying (1m 00.20s) but he couldn't match the Wanganui driver.
Come testing at Sepang on Monday and Bamber scorched around the circuit in 59.40s, breaking the one minute barrier for the first time.
"It was great to drive the 400hp FV6 and the straight line speed was incredible at 275kph," Bamber told the Chronicle from Malaysia.
"When I heard the team offered the drivers a bonus if they broke the 60-second lap barrier, I spent the entire weekend watching the testing, qualifying and racing and I found what I thought was a better overall average lap race line."
"When the team bolted on my new set of tyres on my second full lap I couldn't believe [it] when the computer was flashing the sub 60-second lap time," he said.
Meritus team manager Firhat Mokhzani said they were very pleased with the youngster's efforts.
"He has done a great job during the test sessions that he ran. From the on-board computer data, and if Earl had completed a perfect lap he could have lowered the time to 00.58.90secs," Mokhzani said.
"If Earl has the minimum race fees to compete in the 2007 FV6 he would be on the podium for each and every event and with a bit of luck he could repeat his 2006 F.BMW/Asia success."
And if Bamber fails in his bid to find the sponsorship to continue his international motorsport career he has found a second career that will keep him in the sport until his retirement.
Jonathon Green, the F1 commentator who was covering the FV6 Asia live broadcast, invited Bamber to join him in the commentary box.
It was such an informative and professional commentary the Wanganui teen has been invited to commentate on the series for the remainder of the 2007 series.
"I got 10 minutes of coaching from Jonathan before going live and I discussed the races from a driver's point of view answering Jonathan's questions on air," Bamber said.
He said testing with the FV6 was a "wonderful experience".
"I'm now more determined to work harder to find the sponsors to make it all happen. If I can go to Europe as FV6/Asia champion I am sure I can get a subsidised drive in GP2 or World Series."
Formula V6 Asia has been a stepping stone for other drivers to the European GP2 Championship. And Kiwi Matt Halliday, whose car Bamber now fills, has used the championship as a springboard into the USA Champ Car series.
The formula V6 race car is an all carbon-kevlar high-tech formula car with the same physical size, as well as many of the latest technological developments of a modern F1 car.