It may have experienced a few highs and lows over the years, but for almost half a century Formula Ford has remained one of the most beneficial places to start a single-seater career. And it is easy to see why.
It has, for the most part, remained relatively inexpensive to compete in and is a well-recognised championship that has helped many a driver in their quest to reach Formula 1. A long-running joke being that it is easier to name drivers who haven’t competed in Formula Ford before reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
Formula Ford also offers plenty of scope to alter car set-up and it is well known to teach drivers this invaluable skill. Ride height, dampers, anti-roll bars, suspension geometry, roll centre height, springs… You name it, they can adjust it. The only thing they can’t do is give the cars more wing – because there aren’t any.
But that may soon change as plans are afoot to turn Formula Ford into a slicks-and-wings category from next year. Word has it that Ford is currently in the process of evaluating an update to their EcoBoost-powered chassis, with leading teams coming out in support of a more aero-dependent championship. It therefore looks like Formula Ford’s wingless days are numbered.
Formula Ford could go aero in 2013 to increase its appeal © LS Photos
With meagre grid numbers this season – topping 20 on only one occasion, thanks to an influx of Dutch drivers at Brands Hatch last weekend – it is clear that the new EcoBoost chassis has failed to revitalise the championship as was envisaged. The only thing that has increased is the annual budget, to the tune of £35,000, which, in the current economic climate is most unwelcome.
Little wonder then that Ford are striving to make the category more attractive with the introduction of wings. As it is, teams are having trouble convincing young karters to look at Formula Ford as a serious alternative to other categories out there, and as one team boss put it: “Ford has an image problem currently and fitting wings will solve that”.
Will it? I’m not entirely sure. But one thing I can almost be certain of is that if Formula Ford does go down the aero route it risks becoming lost in the myriad of other single-seater series that litter the lower echelons of motor racing.
As previously mentioned, it is the perfect formula for any aspiring drivers to learn in thanks to its emphasis on car set-up. Another major benefit is that it provides them with the only real opportunity in their careers to master the art of mechanical grip, which will be of significant importance in the development of any driver with F1 ambitions.
The reliance on mechanical grip also means that no car is disadvantaged because of aerodynamics, and therefore, it promotes ultra-close racing which spectators adore and drivers appreciate as it helps improve their racecraft.
Add wings into the mix and there is every possibility of not only diluting the quality of racing on display, but also muddling drivers who become lost when it comes to setting up their vehicles, failing to distinguish the differences between aero and mechanical grip.
So, if the introduction of wings isn’t such a good idea, what else should Ford consider to reverse its championship’s fortunes?
Well, firstly they should chase after the vacant spot on the BTCC support package following the recent demise of Formula Renault UK. With ample television airtime it would make it a damn sight easier for competitors to acquire sponsorship and the necessary funds in which to go racing.
Secondly, they ought to consider introducing a monetary prize for the championship winner. Doing so would attract young talent to the championship by giving them an added incentive to compete in it.
And let us not forget that it is down to the likes of last year’s winner Scott Malvern to prove that Formula Ford is still able to produce drivers of a high calibre. Their future success can only heighten its reputation, but as we all know, motorsport is driven by money which, in these economically lean times, is difficult to come by.
There we go. Formula Ford’s problems sorted in less than 700 words.
Next week: world hunger.
Let us not forget that Formula Ford has had aero before back in the 70’s & 80’s when the Formula Ford 2000 category ran successfully and helped to further the career of no less than a certain Ayrton Senna. The category waned when Formula Vauxall Lotus and then Formula Renault came along.
The thing is Duratec actually helped to revive the fortunes of Formula Ford when it was introduced in 2006 after the Zetec engine saw the class go into decline and for the past 3 or 4 years including 2011 grids have been very healthy regularly topping the 20 mark in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and 30 plus in the Euro Cup. It begs the question if it’s not broke why try to fix it?
ECOboost does have the potential to be a very good car but its introduction was rushed and to my mind it is being pitched at the wrong market. Another season of development would have paid dividends especially if they’d continued to use someone like Scott (Malvern) to help them with this as long as all the data gathered was transparent and made available to all of the interested parties (i.e. teams). This would have ironed out all of the teething problems that are still currently being experienced.
The car is very quick to be a starter car lapping up to 4 seconds quicker than the Duratec at some circuits but it is also harder to drive than the Duratec. I think the car actually looks very good with the new proposed aero kit but this will make it even faster. Wouldn’t a better plan have been to have left the Duratec class as it was for now and introduced ECOboost with aero as a separate category to move up to after Duratec? Pitched at this level I think Ford would have had a far more interesting prospect on their hands especially if they’d had the prize for winning the Duratec championship as a fully funded ECOboost drive for the following season giving drivers a clear ladder of progression. Furthermore budgets that seem expensive for Formula Ford all of a sudden look quite attractive when they come in at around £100k or so less than a top Formula Renault drive especially if the category moves into the vacant single seater slot on the TOCA package.
I know that some will argue against having yet another category but look what has happened to Formula Ford grid sizes this season because of the division and the races are effectively split into two small grids as well. If Duratec had been left as it was I’m sure the healthy grid sizes of the past few seasons could have been maintained while introducing the burgeoning ECOboost aero category above it would have seen that grow ; again with a prize for the champion – perhaps a scholarship drive in British F3 National class or alternatively a cash prize that can be used elsewhere. That way drivers would know that Formula Ford is a championship worth winning and talented drivers without money won’t face the difficulties that my own son has encountered.
I love Formula Ford. I always have done. I watched it as a boy, raced in it myself a young man, watched my oldest son become a good mechanic and then an even better driver and I then stood on the side-lines as an anxious parent. I have a younger son who would dearly love to follow him. But these are difficult and worrying times for what has been a one of the great success stories of single seater motor racing. Let’s hope that Ford have the sense and the acumen to help the category to flourish once again.
Dominic Malvern (father of Scott Malvern 2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Champion & BRSCC Formula Ford Festival Winner)
Cracking comment, Dominic!
The attractiveness of Formula Ford in the past has been related to the fact it has nearly always been a category in which the chassis were designed and produced by different manufacturers.
To my knowledge, Van Diemen and Elan Motorsport (along with a few others) decided not to build the new EcoBoost car this year due to costs and not seeing a market for it. Will that change with the advent of wings? I don’t know.
But in effect, it risks becoming a one-make category, and an expensive one at that. Taking it further and further away from its founding principle of providing young racers a chance to make a name for themselves in motorsport.
Thanks Dan :-)
I agree with your remark regarding multi manufacturer. But then F3 is also supposed to be multi manufactuer but has turned by default into a one make chassis series over the past few seasons.
The original principles of Formula Ford are still there to be had in the Kent category and although I am no doubt in the minority I still think this is a great place to begin single seater racing. Scott began in Kent in 2009 & I am poitive is a better driver because of it. It is also a great place just to have fun racing and that is why you see so many stalwarts in the category year after year and returnees at great events like the Walter Hayes Trophy.
I watched a cracking Bert Ray Memorial Trophy Champion of Brands race only last weekend won by another FF stalwart Joey Foster (appropriately driving a Ray!)
Formula Fords with wings. Yuck! They fine as they are. They are more than fine. They are great to watch.
I like Dominic’s idea above, keeping a wing-less FFord which surely must be essential for any driver hoping to move up to the pro ranks (F1 or not), and introduce a slicks-and-wings version which slots in above it to fill the gap left by FRenault/FBMW. I can’t see how it would work any other way. The answer isn’t to turn UK FFord into a winged series and bump up the costs even more. Surely you must cut costs in that series and start something new above it. There has to be a cheap entry-level series without wings, and if that’s not an official Ford series then I suppose club FFord series and FVee would see growth?
I thought having both FRenault 2.0 and FBMW was a series too far, but losing both isn’t the answer either, there needs to be a step between an entry level wingless series and F3.
Any mileage in what Gerhard Berger is doing with the Single Seater Commission or is that destined to be a fruitless exercise?
I would suggest that Formula Renault BARC is the series you’re looking for. Relatively cheap to compete in, slicks and wings, and has featured a bumper grid for most of this season with almost 30 drivers racing at Rockingham.
I’ve not kept tabs on Berger’s F3 ambitions. I know he wants to standardise it, but whether it will reinvigorate it remains to be seen.