A truly international field of single seater racing cars is promising to be an exciting major feature of next season’s South Island annual historic and classic race meetings. As part of the first leg of the Formula Junior Platinum Jubilee World Tour, entries are now expected from the UK, Australia, USA, Europe and of course New Zealand.
In a major departure, instead of the three original events always commencing with the SKOPE meeting in Christchurch, agreement has been reached with Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, to feature these cars as a support category at the prestigious New Zealand Grand Prix event. This will be their first appearance in New Zealand and the summer dates have been altered to cater for this. Titled as the “Four Stars of the Southern Cross” next summer will provide enthusiasts of these impressive little cars another opportunity to watch close and exciting racing.
The new dates are:
1/ NZ Grand Prix Meeting at Highlands Motorsport Park, 30 January – 1st February 2026
2/ Skope Classic at Euromarque Motorsport Park, 6-8 February 2026
3/ Levels Raceway at Timaru 21st Anniversary event. 13-15 February 2026
4/ Southern Classic at Teretonga Park Invercargill 20-22 February 2026
For followers of single seat racing cars, no International formula has been more truly worldwide than Formula Junior. The brainchild of Italian Count Johnny Lurani, the category had a relatively short life, running for five years from 1958 until 1963. People like Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Lorenzo Bandini, Peter Revson and our own Denny Hulme and Howden Ganley, all formed their future careers in Formula Junior.
The cars are essentially mini versions of the then current Grand Prix cars powered by basically production car engines limited to 1.0 or 1.1 litre capacity with production gearboxes. Original front engined cars mostly from Italy saw the use of Alfa Romeo and Fiat engines but very quickly the UK manufacturers such as Lotus, Cooper, Brabham and Lola produced rear engined chassis utilising either the Ford 105E engine from the Anglia or the BMC A series from the Austin A40 Farinas, and these very quickly became the combination to have.
In 1975, Formula Junior was the first past category to be revived as an historic series world wide. The Lurani Trophy was commissioned in 1995 and is the first FIA recognised Championship to be run by its own organisation, the Formula Junior Historic Racing Association.
As in the days of the Tasman Series of the 1960’s, racing over four weekends in New Zealand’s summer sunshine holds great appeal for competitors shivering in a northern winter and already strong interest is being shown from both previous visitors and new entrants.
Comments