MOTORSPORT: It's go, go, go for Formula 4

Australia's new wings-and-slicks open-wheeler category finally goes racing this weekend – with 12 cars.

The Formula 4 cars, owned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and leased to participants, will have three races at the Townsville round of the V8 Supercar Championship.

They weigh 525kg, thanks to a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, and are powered by turbocharged 1.6-litre Ford engines producing 160 horsepower (119kW).

F4 is a category championed by the world governing body of motor sport, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as a "bridge" between karting and Formula 3 for talented young race drivers.

CAMS is promoting F4 as the best way for Australia to produce more top race drivers, particularly for Formula 1.

The F3 and wingless Formula Ford communities in Australia are peeved that F4 has instantly become the country's premier national open-wheeler category, with Australian championship status, while they have been downgraded.

CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca has said that F4 "is probably the most significant engagement that CAMS has had in motorsport from a growth and development point of view in its long history".

CAMS bought 20 F4 cars from French constructor Mygale and had hoped at least 15 would be on the grid in Townsville – the first of seven rounds in the initial season, all to be run in conjunction with V8 Supercar events.

The 12 F4 cars in Townsville have been entered by just three teams – five each by South Australia's Team BRM and NSW's AGI Sport and the other two by Victoria's Dream Motorsport.

Team BRM and AGI Sport were given special permission to run a fifth car each as the series rules cap teams at four cars.

Thomas Randle, 19 and champion last year in the Australian Formula Ford Series (previously a national championship), is the best-performed driver in the all-male F4 field. Randle will race for Dream Motorsport.

Queensland's McElrea Racing had been mooted as a potential entrant of three F4 cars but was not ready for the debut.

It has said it is still keen to participate, either later in the first season or next year.

The F4 championship is sponsored by the Jayco company, while Walkinshaw Automotive Group is the series' technical partner.

The first champion will be given a test with top British F3 team Carlin as well as up to $250,000 in support towards furthering his career in international or national competition.

Nissan Motorsport, run by brothers Todd and Rick Kelly, has also promised a V8 Supercar test for one F4 driver to be selected on the basis of on and off-track performance.

F4 has already been introduced in several European and Asian countries. Australian teenager Joey Mawson is second in the German F4 Championship, with Michael Schumacher's son Mick one of his teammates in Dutch-based Van Amersfoort Racing.

Mawson was fourth in last year's French F4 Championship despite missing the final races.