COMPETITORS TRY
NEW FORMULA FORD FOR SIZE
- Silverstone
Sampler Day offers first chance for prospective competitors to
test new Formula Ford EcoBoost
- Drivers
impressed by power and grip on offer
5 December, 2011
- Experienced Formula Ford racers and newcomers to the category
came together at Silverstone on Friday to get a taste of the
future car for the world's leading and longest-lived novice
single-seater racing formula.
They were taking
part in the annual Sampler Day, a chance for teams to meet
prospective competitors, and for the competitors themselves to try
the new Formula Ford chassis, which features Ford's EcoBoost 1600
direct injection turbo unit producing 165PS and mated to a
six-speed sequential racing transmission.
It's a winning
combination so far as Jake Cook is concerned, the
18-year-old one of the first to declare his intention to battle
for the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain
title and Formula Ford EuroCup honours. He enjoyed his first drive
in an EcoBoost chassis: "I really enjoyed the experience…
The new car seems a lot better than the old one, with loads more
grip, and it looks great." Cook has re-signed with multiple
championship-winning team Jamun Racing as part of an anticipated
four-car squad.
Australian Jack
Le Brocq was in action at Silverstone also, the 19-year-old
runner-up in this year's Australian Formula Ford Championship.
Having just secured a coveted place in the FIA Institute Young
Driver Excellence Academy for 2012, Jack is edging closer to
finalising a deal to race in Formula Ford in the UK next season.
"I think it's a really good car," said Jack. "The
way the chassis and the tyres work together give it a lot of grip,
and I like the sequential gearbox: it's good experience for the
categories a driver will come to further on in his career. I'm
hoping to get my deal sorted out soon and then start to think
about testing and learning the car and all the new circuits."
Reigning Formula
Ford GB Champion Scott Malvern has been involved in much of
the development and testing work of the new car. "The
EcoBoost is quite a bit different now to how it was when I first
drove it," he said. "We've had some good test days and
made a lot of progress… For example, the throttle is now much
more controllable and the car is now nice under power. There's a
few tweaks still to come to make it a bit more comfortable for a
new driver.
"The EcoBoost
is definitely much easier to drive than a Duratec car, for a new
kid coming in, and that is a good thing. It's also going to make
it a lot harder for the guys at the front to find the extra time,
which will keep things close. The Duratec was hard to drive, so a
driver really on top of his game could get an advantage, whereas
the EcoBoost with its sequential 'box and superior levels of grip
will make that harder. It's definitely not lost the Formula Ford
feel, though."
JTR team boss Nick
Tandy plans to run three EcoBoost chassis in 2012, and has
driven the new car himself. "It's excellent," he says.
"The engine is very responsive, very powerful, but the
biggest thing about it is the six-speed gearbox: the electronic
upshift and the 'auto blip' on the downshift make driving it very
enjoyable. It is easier than having to heel and toe and use the
clutch and an H-pattern gearshift, which takes some of the skill
out of it but at the same time it's nice being able to brake with
your left foot and just bang down the gears, just like you would
in a Formula 3 car. It will be good training for what drivers will
face later on in their careers.
"From a team's
point of view, the basic car is not all that different: the major
changes are the electronics and the engine. We hope to be running
three cars, and hopefully a couple of drivers who will have a
chance of winning the championship. We'll be pushing; we have a
few ideas up our sleeves."
Upwards of 20
drivers were in action at the Silverstone Sampler Day, testing not
just the EcoBoost car but also Duratec chassis. Among their number
were Scottish Formula Ford 1600 Champion Kenneth Thirlwall;
the Edinburgh 21-year-old went unbeaten north of the border in
2011 and is hoping for further success nationally next year in the
Duratec division. Ginetta Junior scholarship winner Sennan
Fielding, 16, tested, as did karting exponents George
Blundell, Fred Martin-Dye and Laura Tillett, and
Formula Ford 1600 pilot Alex Drabble.
The 2011 Formula
Ford Scholarship Cup winner Cavan Corcoran was at
Silverstone to get his first taste of EcoBoost power; the
Matlock-based teen is working hard to put together a budget for
the coming season.
The teams taking
part in the test day were Jamun, JTR. Myerscough College, Engima/Rendez-Vous
Racing, Getem, Fluid and RaySport.
"It was a
really worthwhile day for everyone who took part," said Sam
Roach of championship promoter RacingLine. "It was the first
opportunity for several drivers to go behind the wheel of the new
Formula Ford car and I know that it impressed all who sampled
it."
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