Garth Tander

He goes, oh, I've got this kid, Kai Allen, coming over to do some laps in a Formula Ford.

And at this stage, Kai, I think was 14 or 15.

And he goes, oh, I want you to come over and run him for me, because I think he could be good.

So Brett flew me over, which he'd never, never done.

He's flown me over and said, run this kid, run this kid in the Formula Ford for the afternoon.

And Kai, at that stage, Kai had never been to Perth, never been to Wanneroo Raceway, never been in a Formula Ford.

He'd driven a radical, I think, for like 10 laps.

And he went out and within an hour, he was under the pole time from the previous race weekend.

And I'm like, whoa, okay.

I remember this kid.

This kid was good.

So it's like that little, in the back of your head, that was like a little bit bigger.

I was like, yeah, right.

Certainly keeping an eye on this kid.

Because the view was that Brett and I were getting our Formula Ford team going again and we were going to run Kai in Formula Ford, but that didn't eventuate.

And then so Kai went off and did his thing and did Toyotas and then Super 3 and Super 2.

And yeah, I was like, I said to the Groves, I was like, man, if this kid becomes available, we need to seriously consider whether he's worth getting.

I've seen him from when he was in go-karts.

This kid's the real deal.

So he became available and they got him.