Launceston karting ace Lochie Dalton is burning up the track in more ways than one over a switch of vehicles.
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Not content in becoming the first Tasmanian ever to take out the Australian kart championship amid its KA1 class five-round format, the 17-year-old is set to sample a 500-plus horsepower Shaw Motorsport trans-am next.
The feat has now blasted Dalton to debut in the 2020 Toyota 86 racing series, but the looming postponement of the opening rounds has left his engine humming.
Tasmanian-based team principal and driver Tim Shaw said bringing Dalton on board for the new two-car Camaro team was about "putting something back into motorsport" after many years of navigating the journey.
Shaw had discussions with Launceston Kart Club president Stuart Lee last year to seek out talent from the club to test an emerging driver with an eye on the Australian trans-am championship.
Dalton just stood out as a seriously obvious contender.
"He has been a fantastic competitor in karts for quite a long time now," Shaw said.
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"The fact he has raced overseas as well as nationwide, we just wanted to give him just a little taste just to help him and his profile a little bit. I think he's going to be a star of the future."
Shaw also believes Dalton will get a head start on future rivals at the start of his career that includes a place in the AWC motorsport academy as karting's poster boy.
As Holden has left motorsport in doubt after the company's demise in Australia, the man who raced at the recent Adelaide Superloop 500 with both vehicles firmly in the top ten has little doubts in their abilities.
"These things are awesome cars - they are just very, very quick and I think they will be the future of Australian motorsport," Shaw said.
"Speed-wise they are very close to a supercar - they're about three seconds a lap off them at most tracks.
"They are very, very quick, they are over-powered, they are under-tyred, they really move around, so they are quite exciting to watch and they are a handful to drive."
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