It was a very appropriate venue for Begg to announce his plans and unveil his car for this season, a Mygale SJ08, surrounded by the racing cars built at Drummond by his great uncle George Begg.
The recently turned 17-year-old, a year 12 student at Central Southland College, pulled the covers off the Mygale along with his father David in front of family, sponsors and supporters at the launch.
He also detailed his plans to contest Class 1 in both the New Zealand and South Island Formula Ford Championships after a stellar debut season in Class 2 of the South Island Championship last season.
Begg will run the Mygale under the Racing Projects banner, the car already having won multiple New Zealand titles including one in the hands of Formula 1 Kiwi, Liam Lawson.
Begg has only had a short shakedown in the car so far but said he would love to win the championships.
"However, I will go into the season with hardly any seat time, so realistically race wins and pole positions would be ideal."
The step into a Class 1 car is a significant one for Begg as he is still very much in the very early stages of his motor racing career. From a karting background his first foray into cars came in Class 2 of last year’s South Island Championship.
Mechanical issues hampered his early season results but as the series came to his home circuit at Teretonga Park he overcame those to finish second in his class for the round before the next round at Timaru where he took pole and won the round with two race wins and two third placings.
At the final round of the series at Euromarque Motorsport Park, he qualified on pole for the class and won the first two races to take a 41-point lead into the final double points race only for a broken driveshaft to cost him the championship.
While the driveshaft breakage left him runner-up in the championship, it was a stunning result in his rookie season.
"The Formula Ford was definitely different to karts. I didn’t get much seat time before the championship started and I hadn’t driven a car at all. I didn’t know how to change gears. I had to learn to drive a manual. I did a lot of learning in a short time. It was very character building."
At season’s end, Begg was selected to take part in the Elite Motorsport Academy in Dunedin, recognition of a fine rookie season, where he finished third of the eight young drivers present.
Begg’s first outing in the Mygale will be at the first round of the South Island Championship at Timaru International Motor Raceway over the weekend of November 2-3.
He was grateful for the support he received including that of his family, Lennon Motorsport & Performance, Steph at NRG Health and Fitness and that of his large group of sponsors which stands at 44 and climbing.
- By Lindsay Beer
