Their relevance today is as great as it has ever been

Some think, others say, that the Formula1600 single seater category is an old car with a lame engine bolted to it.  That the category has little relevance to modern circuit racing. I sat down with Derek Wilson, Chairperson of the South Island Formula Ford Club and asked his opinion on this.  Here’s the first of two parts, looking at the relevance of the chassis and the category:

“The reality is that they are still extremely quick cars. The strength of the category is that advancement in technology hasn’t been rapid so many of the older cars are still very competitive.

“The category was initially set up to advance driver skills and give them single seater experience at a reasonable cost and that is still the  case.

“It is still a great home for young people who want to advance their skill set and understand engineering principles as they apply to racing cars, expand their communication skills with their engineers.  These are all the skills that they can take with them as they advance to the next category.

“While there are the older cars out there, there are also a number of modern or new ones which are quite sophisticated and helps those drivers deal with the challenges that they present.

“It is important  to realise that a driver who cannot communicate driving one of our cars will never drive it to its full potential.  They need to understand what is happening and communicate what they have felt on the track accurately to their engineer so adjustments can be made.  These cars provide this for them

“Their relevance today is as great as it has ever been.

“You don’t need the latest and greatest.  An example of this is the Penrose car or even the Michels car which is six years old.  And the car that has won the previous championships is ten years old (Mygale SJ08)”.

(Driving a Van Diemen Stealth, James Penrose finished third and fifth respectively in the 2018/19 South Island F1600 and the 2018/19 NZ F1600 Championships.  Jordan Michels won the 2018/19 NZ F1600 title and was runner up for the 2018/19 South Island title driving a Mygale SJ13.)

“A modern car does help with reliability while older cars need to be meticulously maintained to achieve that same level of reliability; and people do do that.

“People can have a choice.  You need to be a very good driver to extract the best from an older car.  But not to the extent that you cannot compete at the front.  The Penrose car is a good example of this.

“James Penrose is a very good driver, clearly the car which is 16-years-old is not an uncompetitive car.  It just requires some very good preparation and driving, and it is right there at the front of the field.

“It is not the preserve of the latest, and that is the strength of the category.  We are still able to use cars with a few years under their belt knowing they will still teach those young fellows the skill sets that the category always was promoted to do”.

So what are those key skills?

“Well its mainly driving technique as the cars require a precise technique to get the best out of them.

“They certainly don’t respond well.  You can drive them sideways if you want but that is not a fast way to drive them.  They require elementary skills like proper gear changing, proper braking and they don’t have massive traction.  They have relatively narrow tyres that are not super sticky so drivers learn to handle cars that move about quite a bit. They learn wet weather skills as they don’t get a specific set of wet tyres that grip in the wet.  They learn damp and wet conditions to the best of their and the car’s ability.

“With many of them, particularly those that aspire to be championship winners, they need to learn to impart to their mechanic or engineer what the car is doing on the track as the cars have infinite adjustability and if you can utilise that in the car, it will be faster.

“It’s a big step up from either kartsport or Formula First which is where they come from.  The category forms that intermediate place if they wish to progress their careers.  History will support this, Scott McLaughlin will be the only exception to this.”

Let’s remember that a number of drivers have jumped from kartsport straight into TR86, by-passing F1600.  However, five of the six New Zealand TR86 champions have been through the F1600 category first.  Talkmotorsport understands that several TRS86 drivers’ from last season will compete in the F1600 this coming summer.

Also see: Diversity – a key to Formula Ford success

Also see: Move over Mr Kent and let the young ones through

In the second part (next week) we will look at the current Kent engine and why the category is not shifting to a more modern power plant.