New Junior Formula Ford Championship Announced - 2 October 2009
A new UK Junior Formula Ford Championship has been announced but do we need it?..
Junior Formula Ford
A new Junior Formula Ford Championship had been proposed, but, is it what we really need?
Some of the things that have been key ingredients of Formula Ford for the past 40 plus years have been the inter-marque rivalry as well as team and engine builder rivalry. This has helped create an industry around the Formula and helped it to survive while many a one make championship has come and gone. The proposal for the new Junior Formula Ford Championship is to have a centrally run and maintained fleet of identical cars, surely, this is not what Formula Ford is all about? Whilst everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to try and make their series cheaper, this will have a knock on effect of harming the established teams in British Formula Ford and other areas who rely solely on running their teams and businesses as a living. If we are not too careful, in not many years time, motorsport could end up being made up of one make and centrally run series killing all the spin off industry surrounding current, multi chassis and multi team formulas. The technical concept of treaded tyres and similar power Ford Duratec engines with chassis and suspension adjustments allowed, is good, does that sound familiar?
Also, it has been said many times before that there are too many championships. The drivers that do have budgets to race are already spread too thinly. In the days of FF1600, FF2000, F3 and so on you could follow the star drivers rise through the ranks. Nowadays it is easy for them to get lost and go unnoticed in the multitude of formulae out there.
At the end of the day, we already have a PERFECT Junior Formula Ford category. It’s called Formula Ford 1600 and was started in 1967 to become the world's most successful racing formula! If the young drivers are keen to jump into single seater cars from karts and start to learn the circuits, car set-up and so on, then FF1600 is the perfect choice. There are a number of regional championships as well as the national championships and the end of year trophy races always see the UK drivers (and often a lot of overseas drivers) competing against one another, meaning the competition is strong, not spread too thinly!. What more can you ask? Well, one thing actually…Ford, please recognise the excellent Formula that has carried your name for so long and support it!! Rather than letting Honda make a ‘replacement’ Formula Ford engine in
