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Front Page
Formula for the Future
Staff, Tuesday July 19, 2005.
Page 1 of 1
The car that future V8 Supercar stars will use to learn their trade will be displayed at the Queensland 300 meeting.
A 2006-model Spectrum Formula Ford will be shown by the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE during the V8 Supercar Championship Series? round seven at Queensland Raceway from July 22-24. The meeting is also round five of the Ford Racing Australian Formula Ford Championship.
The car is the first Formula Ford to be fitted with the new 1.6-litre Ford Fiesta engine that will power the junior open-wheeler category?s national championship from next year.
The breakthrough vehicle is used as a training aid for students completing Warwick Campus?s Diploma in Automotive Motorsport course.
The Ford Motor Company of Australia donated the new generation engine, spares and accessories to give students first-hand experience of the latest racing resources.
The TAFE is hoping the presence of the Fiesta-engined Spectrum chassis at the major race meeting will help promote its specialist mechanics course.
The 2006-model also shows future and former Formula Ford drivers the direction the ultra-successful category will take from next year. Twenty-five of the 34 V8 Supercar drivers who will grid up for the Queensland 300, raced in Formula Ford category in their early careers. That includes nine former Australian national Formula Ford champions and five runners-up.
The latter list includes Orrcon Racing driver Mark Winterbottom, who was among the first to check out the new Fiesta engine.
The new 1.6 litre Duratec engine is part of the category?s most radical upgrade since its launch in the late 1960s. The Fiesta engine replaces the popular Kent engine, which powered road-going Ford Cortinas and Escorts some three decades ago. Existing Kent racing engines will continue to be used in Formula Ford?s state-level series.
The new Fiesta engine is constructed from aluminium and is one of the lightest, most compact and efficient engines produced in Europe. It is fuel injected, features a double-overhead cam design and has a displacement of 1596cc. The road going version of the Fiesta produces 74kW (99bhp), it's expected to generate up to 94kW (125bhp) in Formula Ford race guise.
The 16-valve Duratec engine is available in all three Fiesta models sold in Australia - LX, Zetec and Ghia.
The new Fiesta engine, when used in Formula Ford, is expected to slash maintenance costs, as it should complete a season before requiring a rebuild.
Plans for the Australian Formula Ford Championship also include the introduction of front and rear aerodynamic aids from 2007. This will give young drivers experience tuning cars with wings early in their climb up the motor sport ladder.
Formula Ford is increasingly the first car racing category young drivers progress to after karting.
The Formula Ford Association, which administers the category, has more active members than ever before, with bulging grids in the NSW and Victorian Formula Ford Championships. The category also host state series in Western Australia and Queensland, with the reformation of a South Australian series for 2005, after a four year absence.
For further information contact:
Ben Beazley
Media Coordinator
Ford Racing Australia
Phone: 03 9359 8190
Mobile: 0417 262 753
Email: bbeazle3@ford.com
