Brandon McCaughan made his GB4 debut in style at Oulton Park. After winning the series’ Shootout for Formula Ford drivers late last year, he was victorious in his second-ever race in slicks-and-wings machinery, but the Irishman is only set to race in the first two rounds of the GB4 season. Having been on a unique journey to this point in his career, Feeder Series spoke to McCaughan to learn more.

By George Brabner

GB4 was never on the cards for McCaughan until he won the 2023 rendition of GB4’s Shootout for National Formula Ford drivers. He won out against Canadian competitor Nathan Yu after a test day at Snetterton with Fortec Motorsport and simulator sessions with the esteemed Daventry-based team, earning himself a £20,000 contribution towards a 2024 GB4 drive. 

Following this victory, which came one year after losing to 2024 GB3 driver Colin Queen in the same competition, McCaughan secured a deal with reigning teams’ champions KMR Sport – an opportunity that he is “so thankful” for despite its part-time basis that currently expires after round two at Silverstone.

“I can’t thank GB4 and MSV enough because, if it wasn’t for the shootout prize, I would have been sat at home watching,” McCaughan told Feeder Series. “I don’t come from money, like I have to work full-time and all that sort of drag! 

“It’s given me an opportunity to do these first two rounds, try and make an impression and then get sponsors from there because, you know, [I] worked hard all winter and had very little luck with sponsors. So this gives me something to work with, really.”  

Quick to adapt

Having been provided with only a short window of opportunity to prove why he should be on the grid long-term, the pressure was on McCaughan’s shoulders straight away at Oulton Park.

“I was coming into this weekend knowing that anything other than my best wouldn’t have been good enough,” he said. “I needed them results, I needed to put them in. I needed pole, I needed a race win and I just had to do everything I could to basically then go to a sponsor and say, ‘I deserve to be here.’”

But needless to say, McCaughan was quick to find his footing despite the expectation. He took a pair of pole positions on Saturday morning, beating experienced Ginetta Junior drivers Alisha Palmowski and Finn Harrison, as well as teammate and second-year driver Harry Burgoyne.

A slow start in race one would see him drop down to fourth off the line but he would come home third at the end of the 18-minute contest. In race two, he would lead start-to-finish to win in treacherous wet conditions. Although the weekend ended on a sour note with a retirement caused by a spin early in race three, he was “still happy” with his maiden weekend in GB4.

“Bit disappointing after that last race, just dropped a wheel on the grass trying to set up a move. But it is what it is,” he said.

“A win in the wet on my first weekend and a podium in the dry., iif you had told me I’d be coming away with this at the start of the weekend, I would have taken your hand off for it, definitely!”

A unique journey to GB4

McCaughan’s motorsport career is far from conventional. In the years prior to his GB4 debut, he didn’t start racing in karting, which is the route taken by almost all single-seater drivers, but in rallycross back at home in Northern Ireland with lightly modified, low-powered Vauxhalls and Fords.

“I never did any go-karting. So I did Northern Irish Junior Rallysprints in a Vauxhall Corsa, a year of Junior Irish Rallycross in a 1.2-litre Ford Fiesta and then into Formula Ford.

“So a very different way to get here from the rest of them, I’m sure,” he aptly evaluated.

Following his time on the dirt, McCaughan began racing in the BRSCC National Formula Ford Championship at the end of 2021, which continued into full-time campaigns in 2022 and 2023 where he finished seventh and fourth with Oldfield Motorsport, respectively.

But in the run-up to the 2024 season, McCaughan only had four days behind the wheel of a GB4 car, which made for a “very, very full-on” first weekend. 

As a result, he was forced to draw from his past experience in racing at Oulton Park, which despite demanding a juxtaposing driving style compared to the Tatuus F4-T014, he found “helped a lot.” In the rainy race two, his earlier exploits were particularly helpful as he sailed to victory.

“Obviously, because I’ve been having to learn everything on the go, [experience with Formula Fords and rallycross] brought me into it with a car racing mindset, if that makes sense. So I know what I have to do. I know I need to come in, get my head down, need to make whatever changes to my driving style I need to make. It’s definitely helped.

“And then with the wet especially, just the car control of Formula Ford and then rallycross before that definitely helped a lot.”

Working away from the track

Whilst many single-seater drivers can waltz back to their luxury motorhomes to relax after a round at the track, McCaughan’s post-race routine consisted of flying back to Ireland just hours after action curtailed at Oulton Park with a full-time job to clock into the next day.

“I’ll be on the way up to Manchester Airport [next], probably get home at like two this morning and then up again at six for work! I work full-time,” he said.

“I used to work prepping powerlines. I worked in England for half a year and then I designed diversions and that sort of stuff.

“Not very exciting,” he concluded. “But it gets a bit of money coming in anyway! It has to be done.”

Having not raced on the mainstream UK karting ladder or any high-profile series before GB4 – and with a workplace to return to in just over 12 hours from our interview – McCaughan carried a sense of easy-going normality that can be rare in a racing paddock. 

Being a part of the British GT package is something that he simply could not have envisioned just a short while ago, which makes this burst of GB4 competition even more special. 

“[It’s] something else, the experience is just crazy. I never would have thought I would ever have been in the middle of everything like this. It’s just great.

“I’ve enjoyed it anyway because it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. I might not get to do it for very much longer. I’ve just made sure to enjoy it anyway as much as I’ve worked hard,” McCaughan said.

“Again, thanks to GB4, thanks to the team for getting me out on track. I’ve been given an opportunity basically to keep my racing career going so I just have to take it whilst it’s here.”

Header photo credit: Artie C Photo