No guts, no glory for young gun Cao

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-21 09:28

SHANGHAI - Young maverick Martin Cao is shaping up as a hot prospect in Formula BMW Pacific, flashing the kind of guts and gusto that could lead the next generation of Chinese drivers to glory.

Cao, who recently turned 17, also has the advantage of being born on the mainland, which means Chinese sponsors and fans can more easily identify with him than with an overseas-born Chinese.

Kenneth Ma, founder of leading Chinese race organizer and promoter FRD Motor Sports, said Cao already has a leg up on Tung Ho-pin given his age and experience.

"Both of them are good," said Ma, the man who claims to have discovered Cao. "If you put them in the same race, Tung Ho-pin would win, but Martin Cao would not lose in terms of lap times. For a single lap, I think Martin Cao can be the same or similar, because he is very, very aggressive."

When Tung was Cao's age he was still racing go-karts and had no aspirations of entering the rough and ready world of F1. But Tung's position in the wings of F1, and Cao's steady progress outside the limelight, may serve as blessings in disguise.

One of the biggest handicaps in the world of Chinese motor sports is the refusal of Chinese parents to let their sons develop at a natural pace. One taste of success and the boy is pushed too hard, too fast - putting him in a sphere like Formula 4 or Formula Renault where his inexperience causes him to fall flat on his face.

Then all the hype, interest and sponsors evaporate in a puff of exhaust fumes.

No guts, no glory for young gun Cao

"That is the end of their career," said Ma, whose company also helped develop Formula BMW Asia star Marchy Lee, and Franky Chang.

Ma said he finds it a struggle to generate interest in the sport among the Chinese public.

When he started training a battalion of drivers in 1997, he had to pull 98 percent of them from Hong Kong. Seven years later, at the launch of his training school in Shanghai, "not only did the mainland Chinese not know what motor sports were, they didn't know how to drive," he said.

But with China now ranking as the world's biggest automobile market - it eclipsed the United States last year - interest in the internal combustion engine is heating up. This trend is likely to trickle into the world of motor sports sooner or later.

The country already has three top circuits in Shanghai, Beijing (Goldenport) and Zhuhai, an island next to Hong Kong. Copycat tracks are starting to spring up in other cities like Chengdu, provincial capital of Sichuan.

Meanwhile, Beijing held its inaugural Race of Champions last November at the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium - the same venue where Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt shocked the world 15 months earlier at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Now the scouts will be watching to see if Cao and his peers can continue their fledgling success. Cao had an outstanding season in the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) last year alongside two other prodigies: Jiang Tengyi and Andy Yan.

Cao won the fifth race of the calendar for Changan Ford with a two-second lead to become the youngest race winner in the championship's history. His comments after the race indicate how quickly his on-track education is coming along.

"When I moved up to the lead (in the second lap) I was forced into a close fight with the other drivers and I learned a lot from them," he said.

Changan's project director Paul Hui said he took flak at the beginning for the season for putting three young drivers in the hot seat. But the gamble paid off.

"I am happy that we proved to everyone that our plan is working and our young drivers will become the leaders of the next generation racing drivers in China," he said.