£30,000 cash prize fund to be shared between competitors who contest the 2014 EcoBoost Formula Ford seriesRockingham plays host to annual Sampler Day, where 24 hopefuls put the EcoBoost Formula Ford through its pacesTechnical regulations remain unchanged for 2014 season ensuring stability for competitors and teams12 November, 2013 - Formula Ford will next year boast one of the richest prize funds in British motorsport, a £30,000 cash prize fund set to embellish the appeal of the 2014 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.
The prize fund was among a number of enhancements announced today (Tuesday) at Rockingham, venue for the championship’s annual Sampler Day. A total of 24 would-be competitors took to the Northamptonshire speedway to get a taste of the EcoBoost Formula Ford car.
Gerard Quinn, Head of Ford Racing in Europe, said: “The drivers in Formula Ford next year will have some great incentives, not the least of which will be the chance to win their share of a £30,000 cash prize fund. It has been a delight today to see so many young racers enjoying their first taste of the EcoBoost Formula Ford and being so positive and complimentary about the car. It bodes well for a great season in 2014. I am excited to be starting our 48th year of this fantastic race series.”
Formula Ford 2014 will feature 30 races at 10 rounds alongside the biggest attraction in UK motorsport, the British Touring Car Championship. The championship will boast live coverage on ITV4 as well as bumper trackside spectator attendance.
Another innovation for the coming season announced today is the introduction of a reverse grid for the second race of each weekend. “The second-race reverse grid will bring Formula Ford in line with the sporting regulations of many international single-seater series,” added Quinn. “I am pleased also to announce that the championship’s technical regulations will remain unchanged for the coming season, giving teams and drivers a stable cost platform on which to budget. And it is important to note that the costs of competing in Formula Ford are completely transparent.”
Among those enthusing about the new Formula Ford today at Rockingham were:
Kart star Ricky Collard, who is looking to join his BTCC-racer father Rob on the TOCA race package in 2014. The 17-year-old from Hampshire was today making his first circuit appearance since breaking several bones in a karting crash in Italy in the summer. Now fully recovered, Ricky is considering a switch from karts to single-seaters. “What a beautiful car,” he said. “I really, really enjoyed it: the speed along the straights here is like nothing I have ever experienced before. This is a new challenge for me and something that I’m really going to embrace. I’ve been following the championship very closely and I’m keen to be a part of it. The TV package is a massive attraction, and it would be good to be racing at the same meetings as my dad; it would be nice to be able to compare trophies at the end of the weekend.”
Paul Abercrombie of Meridian Motorsport confirmed today that his team will run at least two cars in Formula Ford 2014: “We have secured the Mygale chassis which won the championship this year in the hands of Dan Cammish,” said Abercrombie, we have signed two drivers who are 100 per cent committed, and we are in negotiation with a third.” Meridian came into the championship part-way through this season with 16-year-old kart ace Connor Mills, an Arden Young Driver protégé. “Connor will be with us again for next year and we are very excited for the future of Formula Ford,” added Abercrombie.
Nathan Freke, the 2006 Formula Ford Champion and boss of successful sports car squad Century Motorsport, is hoping to bring his team back to the championship after a three-season absence. “We are hoping to run two Formula Fords next year alongside our existing cars in the Ginetta championships, and our British GT campaign. We looked within the TOCA paddock at what we’d like to be doing and Formula Ford was top of the list: we’ve been there before, have experience of running the cars, and it’s more affordable than many championships out there. We have spoken to a number of drivers and things are looking positive.”
Among the many drivers gaining their first taste of EcoBoost Formula Ford power today at Rockingham were experienced karters Max Cornelius and Harrison Wignall. Nineteen-year-old Cornelius is looking to kick-start his single-seater career in 2014 after junior successes in karts and in the Young Guns single-seater series. “I enjoyed it,” said Max. “It was good fun and I got to grips with it well towards the end; the EcoBoost Formula Ford is a mega bit of kit. There is budget still to raise but we have good people behind us and hopefully we can get on the grid here next year.” Seventeen-year-old Wignall, who has been karting for four seasons, added: “It was a lot faster and smoother than I am used to in karts - a lot different and much smoother under acceleration. Formula Ford is certainly a consideration for us next year.”
Hugo Besley, whose father, Crispian, cut his racing teeth alongside Nigel Mansell in the 1970s, was thrilled to try a single-seater for the first time. “It was very different to karting and thoroughly enjoyable; Formula Ford is something we are seriously considering,” said the 16-year-old, who sampled the SWB team’s Sinter chassis.
It was a day also for drivers from the 2013 season to return to the track, Meridian Motorsport’s Connor Mills saying: “Formula Ford is absolutely where I want to be next season,” said the Essex racer, “and it looks as though I will have a couple of team-mates also, which would be a very positive step.”
Mills was joined on track by Sam Brabham, the Scholarship class runner-up of 2013, who tried chassis prepared by the Jamun Racing and Falcon Motorsport teams. Richardson Racing ran a number of hopeful drivers, and Radical Motorsport was represented at the Sampler Day also by James Abbott, who is hoping to return as a driver.
The Formula Ford championship manager, Sam Roach of RacingLine, summed up the Sampler Day thus: “As always it has proved an extremely successful exercise to put together prospective drivers with the teams and, most importantly, the EcoBoost Formula Ford car itself. Great to see so many drivers going home happy and with something to think about - hopefully we will start to see those positive attitudes progressing into firm commitments in the near future.”
Formula Ford’s established teams are now putting together their programmes for pre-season testing and championship co-ordinator Penny Mattocks is on call to place prospective competitors who may have missed the Sampler Day.
