— Press Release —
For the second year running the Motomaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship (MRFKC) has selected a driver to attend the Radford Racing F4 U.S. Scholarship Award School. This year the driver selected was Nolan Bower of Whitby, Ontario.
As a ‘karts to cars’ initiative, the school is a collaboration between Parella Motorsport Holdings and the Radford Racing School in Arizona. The program brings some of the top kart racers from around the world to get acclimated in a race car by learning the basics of vehicle dynamics, shifting, handling, and car control. The school utilizes a Ligier JS F4-16 chassis, a Honda 2.0 litre engine, and Hankook slick racing tires; the same formula that is used in the Formula 4 United States Championship.
Bower’s karting career began in 2013 with Honda cadet before progressing into the Briggs & Stratton categories. In 2017 he made the jump into two-stroke classes. This season was especially successful for Bower, who won the 2023 MRFKC Rok Senior championship as well as taking home the 2023 Motomaster National Karting Championship title in the same class. After a standout season, Bower was awarded the yearly ‘karts to cars’ scholarship after the final race in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.
“To win the championship, and in turn the scholarship, means everything to me,” Bower said. “It proves to myself and everyone else that we have the ability to compete with the very best.”
Although this won’t be Bower’s first time ever in a race car – he had the chance to test a NASCAR Canada machine in 2020 – it will be in fact his first time driving an open-wheel car. The driver from Whitby says he is looking forward to honing the “key fundamentals when it comes to successfully driving a formula car.”
As the second graduate to attend the Radford School from MRFKC, Bower is in very good company. Last year’s MRFKC Rok Senior champion and scholarship winner Patrick Woods-Toth went on to win the 2023 F4 U.S. driver’s championship. For Woods-Toth the long journey to his unlikely championship season began last December at the Radford School.
For many young drivers in the MRFKC and in Canada – Bower included – Woods-Toth’s success has been an inspiration.
“With Patrick being the F4 U.S. champion in his debut year it has brought so much attention to Canada within the open-wheel categories,” Bower said. “Patrick and I are former teammates, and having him there to help me get accustomed to the Birel and further my development has been extremely helpful.”
Bower sees Radford as the first step on the road to a motorsports career and looking past this weekend he’s hoping he will have the opportunity to compete in the 2024 F4 U.S. championship season.
“One step at a time, we will see how everything goes,” Bower said.
Bower now leaves for Arizona where we he will participate in the three-day school and “cut his teeth,” so to speak, in F4 U.S. equipment.
“I want to thank my mom and dad for all of their support and help over the last decade that we’ve been racing. I want to thank Trevor Wickens too for all his help this year as well as Tyler Ripani, and Ron and Lynda Fellows, for this opportunity.”
