Why Formula Ford Is So Good?
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- čas přidán 5. 11. 2021
- With the Walter Hayes Trophy this weekend and just last week the Formula Ford Festival taking place, I explain why despite being a 50 year old style of car, it's still producing stars and great racing in 2021 and beyond.
- Auta a dopravní prostředky
Most competitors in FF1600 are there for the fun of it and have no illusion of being a future Grand Prix driver. It was my hobby when I was younger, nothing more.
It does look like the sort of racing discipline to be fair where the atmosphere between the drivers is rather relaxing. Although, it's prevalence in the motorsport ladder in terms of F1 is far less nowadays to what it used to be in the 80's and 90's. If I'm honest though, that doesn't really bother me as a viewer.
I remember going to lots of Formula Ford races back in the 70s and it was always brilliant. Often the drivers were so worked up that they were ramming each other on the warm up lap. The funniest thing I saw was either at Siverstone club circuit or Thruxton, where they didn't have an electric scoreboard but a man with panels with numbers on them - rather like at a cricket match. The race was so wild that the man couldn't keep up and "holes" started appearing in the scoreboard. Eventually he simply gave up, waved to the crowd and sat down and enjoyed the race like we were 😁Two drivers continued to drive their cars as if they were Formula Fords, even when they were in Formula 1 - Rindt and Peterson. Anyone who ever saw Jochen Rindt drive the Campbell-Cobb-Segrave corner combination at Thruxton in a Formula 2 car will agree that it was one of the most spectacular things ever to be seen on a racing circuit.
Not sure they would conform to FIA guidelines on formation lap rules nowadays but that's an awesome detail.
@@tydyeracinggaming4742 - you mean the FIA have rules? I thought they made it all up as they went along 😁
Ff1600 was brilliant, i grew up 15 minutes from brands the ff festival was an annual event. Saw some greats race it. Hill, Schumacher, Herbert (the late and hugely talented) Roland ratzenberger. Big grids tight racing and huge skill on show. Johnny oxborough was a favourite as he was a consistent top 5 in a car he built himself to the regs
I remember 'way back when Formula Fords were often kit-built vehicles with slightly modified Ford 1600 engines pulled from scrap yards here in Canada and the US. It was an everyman series, and was used extensively as a support series for series such as Can-Am and F1 - my main exposure being at the old F1/Can-Am tracks at Mosport and Mont-Tremblant, Canada. They tended to run in separate little packs, but were a great deal of fun to watch, and easy to identify with. They were used at here several driving schools, such as the Jim Russell school in Mont-Tremblant Quebec. A race car you could actually aspire to!
In North America, it's referred to as Formula 1600, because someone had the genius idea of slapping the EG6 Civic SiR based B16B engine in the back of one of these things
Yes, I found that out whilst making this video. Not really Formula Ford per say, but hey, if the engine works in it, then fair enough.
@@tydyeracinggaming4742 Oh yeah, there's still Formula Fords in there too, both engines are used.
F1 needs to have one race in these once a year at somewhere like Donington, that would be great.
It would certainly be interesting that's for sure.
Seeing the current grid in equal cars would be something else.
Very nice video, I love the FF... I do have a hawke FF1600 from 1978 and do race it....
How was it getting into the sport? I’m young with a fair amount of cash I need to blow fast.
That was a joke. But I am serious about racing.
@@groggysword33 depends what country your in?
@@tomreid15 United States.
@@groggysword33 Could only tell you about AUS and GB. I still think they race Formula Ford in the US though
First motor racing ( apart from Banger racing ) I saw was FF1600 at Mallory Park and the first racing car I drove after a stint in 100cc Karting in late 80s … amazing looking cars and the racing has always been superb 🎉
These cars look awesome on track. In terms of appearance as well as the racing they produce.
Fantastic video. Very informative and makes a great point.
Edit. Despite the infrequent errors, still makes a great point.
Formula Ford...You don't drive the car...The car teaches you How to drive the car.
Glorious! I'd lo\/e to get behind the wheel of one of those.
That's cool thanks for the video. Nice footage too
Great video about this fantastic and enduring formula. Just one small note, Formula Ford 1600 do not have sequential gearboxes. They are either Hewland Mk9 (older cars) or FD200 (newest cars), all 4-speed H-pattern gearboxes, all with changeable ratios.
And they are tube frame chassis, not monocoques
Considering a Formula car as a weekend track toy. Mostly looking at continental or Mazda but may look into the 2.0 fords as well if one comes my way
Very expensive
Look into Formula Vee as well.
In the states i live for the the vintage ff racing. Father n i are hunting for one
ff1600 is also good on iracing
how could i get a chance to drive one of these in a race like u are filming here?
Unfortunately, I'm really not the best person to ask. I may have filmed it. However, I don't have any knowledge of how you can drive one of them.
There are a few company’s that do FF1600 race hire in the UK and the states … you will also need to get a race license… straightforward these days with google as a tool 🔨
Book a day at a racing school. I did.
you might also enjoy formula vee
Oh futuro más crecimiento en el deporte motor ....
Do a Formula-Vee video !
How much money do I need to join I just need a shot to prove my worth I sim race all the time
This video: It takes more than all the money in the world to get to F1
Mazepin:
They don't have sequential gearboxes, H pattern gear change
I know they got the roll bar but why does formula ford not have to run the halo? Is it just the consensus, as a group formula ford decided against it? No need? Is Formula Ford subject to FIA rules, they even apart of the FIA? So many questions that may sound dumb to some but id like clarification.
Ford machine
all that footage :)
and no sound :((((((((((
oop - spoke too soon - if u clicked this bc ur curious what formula fords sound like, the audio starts at 7:08 :)
Formula Ford is not a monocoque car , it is a tubular space frame!!
How can you produce a video on Formula Ford and know nothing about it? Sequential gearbox!? Monocoque chassis!?
No, very fair point. I don't know why I said sequential given the fact that I'd seen video's prior including onboards which show a traditional stick shift gearbox. Same with the chassis in which they were typically done with mild steel. I wouldn't say I know nothing about these cars but I certainly got those two details incorrect in the video so thanks for pointing that out. Apologies about that.
@@tydyeracinggaming4742 It's also worth pointing out there are a few new chassis being built too. Nothing like the glory days of the 70's,80's and 90's of course. You can also buy new engine blocks and cranks. I believe the gearboxes are the only major part where there are supply issues. Hewland hasn't made the LD200 for many years and I'm not sure if you can still buy the new. The even more venerable Mk8/9 Hewland can at least be rebuilt into a new VW type casting.
@@bmc3663 Ah ok. Well, that just further proves how successful this formula has been considering what you've just said. It's also good to see the variety of Formula Ford chassis types and makes at the Walter Hayes this year from the footage that I've seen of it. Shame that event from what I could see wasn't streamed on CZcams anywhere. To me it's also amazing that you said that to this day you can apparently get new engines for this. I guess as these engines are quite common if you will, it's not that much of a hardship to keep making them, especially given it's use in road cars.
monocock
This answers nothing about why Formula Ford is still talked about by team principals
Thin almost bicycle like tires? The tires of a bicycle are 6 times the size.... No.
sequential gearbox in ford 1600?...i don't think so.
Someone else mentioned this when I first released the video and like I said with them, it was a poor mistake on my part so apologies about that. It's particularly irritating for me when in doing research for the video I was watching onboards with the drivers using stick shift gearbox's.