Hillspeed & Juno Unveil Exciting Formula Ford Partnership
Derbyshire single-seater specialist Hillspeed is delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with sportscar manufacturer Juno Racing; the latter having finalised the design process of a brand new Formula Ford chassis which it aims to debut during the 2008 race season.Richard Ollerenshaw’s Hathersage based team, which runs multi-car squads in Formula Renault UK and Formula Renault BARC, has forged an agreement with Juno to provide operational support and technical assistance as the Lancashire company readies its first ever single-seater creation for action in this year’s UK Formula Ford Championship.The latest constructor to confirm its desire to compete in the ranks of the resurgent category, Juno is confident its build of the brand new car will be completed by the end of May. From there, a dedicated test programme will be handled by Hillspeed before a decision is taken on when to give the chassis its competitive debut.Commenting on the deal with Juno, Richard Ollerenshaw said: “This is an incredibly exciting development for everyone at Hillspeed. To be involved with a prestigious manufacturer such as Juno to help develop a brand new car is a fantastic opportunity. “We’re relishing working with Ewan Baldry (Managing Director of Juno) and the rest of his team and we’re all confident the car will be a tremendous addition to Formula Ford which is, once again, going from strength to strength. I have very high hopes for this partnership and can’t wait for the testing and development to begin.”Juno, which operates from premises in Leyland near Preston, is aiming to develop the open-wheel, single-seater, side of its business and has a long-term goal of becoming a company not dissimilar to the world-famous constructor Lola.For Ewan Baldry, who is a former designer at the Williams Formula One Team, selecting Hillspeed as Juno’s partner for the new Formula Ford programme was a natural choice due to the team’s professionalism and faultless presentation and preparation.He commented: “We started discussions with Richard (Ollerenshaw) last May. At first we were unsure whether to get involved with an existing Formula Ford team but after a couple of articles regarding our plans appeared in the motorsport press, we received a lot of interest from a variety of experienced teams and also drivers.“I’ve always been very impressed by the way Hillspeed operates, the professionalism and presentation Richard applies is second to none. Juno will retain ownership of the car while Hillspeed will look after, prepare and run the car for us.”Having become a huge success story in the world of sportscars, Juno sees the design and creation of its brand new single-seater as the opening of an exciting new chapter in its history. While unlikely to be ready to test until early June, should the car be fast straight out of the box it will be given its competitive debut as soon as possible.“We’re not under pressure time-wise to deliver this car and we certainly don’t want to run it in UK Formula Ford until we know we’re competitive”, added Baldry, “It won’t be ready for the start of the season but if early testing shows the car is quick we’ll race it as soon as we can.
“We’ve been pretty successful designing and building our sportscars but the longer term plan for the company is to be a race car manufacturer like Lola for example. In order to move the business along, we wanted to build a single-seater and Formula Ford seemed to be the best option as it’s enjoying a major revival and these are exciting times.”The project actually marks the first ever full car design process handled solely by Juno Racing’s Head of Design, 26-year-old Joel Allison.Blackburn racer Bradshaw confirmed as test driverDevelopment work of the new Juno chassis will be largely undertaken by experienced Formula Ford driver and current Formula Palmer Audi competitor Tom Bradshaw. The 18-year-old, who has past links to Hillspeed, has agreed terms to drive and develop the car in between his racing commitments to the FPA series and also his A-level studies.With just one season of karting under his belt prior to his car racing debut in the 2006 North West Formula Ford Championship, the Blackburn-based driver impressed with his pace and ability en route to a superb title victory. He then elected to make the move into the Formula Palmer Audi category last year where he will also remain this season.While the FPA championship calendar fits neatly with his educational commitments, so does the development programme for the Juno Formula Ford chassis. By the time the brand new car is ready to hit the track for its maiden test miles in early June, Bradshaw’s A-levels will be completed and he will be able to dedicate his full attention to motorsport.Speaking on the opportunity to work with Hillspeed and Juno, Bradshaw said: “I’m really looking forward to helping develop the chassis. Working with Richard (Ollerenshaw), Ewan (Baldry) and everyone else involved in the programme should be good.“I first got to know Ewan through one of the lecturers at the University of Central Lancashire who runs the UCLAN race team in North West Formula Ford 1600. He mentioned the new project just as we were going to contact Ewan to talk about his sportscars and then everything with the test programme slotted into place.“I believe Ewan has been approached by a number of teams and drivers and so we feel quite honoured to be asked to help develop the new car. Not only will it be good to help Hillspeed and Juno, I’m looking forward to testing as it can only be of benefit to my motor racing aspirations.” Hillspeed’s involvement with Juno will, of course, run alongside the team’s Formula Renault operations. In the UK series, Richard Singleton and Alex Morgan have already been confirmed while in Formula Renault BARC the team will field three cars for Michael Lyons, Menasheh Idafar and Ahmad Al Harthy.
