North West Formula Ford
The Championship has been running since 1982 making it one of the countries longest running Championships and many top drivers have competed in it. These include Jan Magnusson, Mark Blundell and David Coulthard to name but a few.
With over 80 drivers on average entered into the Championship each year, it is one of the best-supported Championships in the country.
At each race meeting, there are 2 races:
Class A - Post 90 is for cars manufactured from 1st January 1990 onwards.
Class B - Pre 90 is for cars manufactured prior to 31st December 1989.
The reason for splitting the cars into 2 classes other than the number of entries is one of car design again. Due to improving car designs, later model cars tend to be quicker on a lap than earlier models. A good driver can make an older car go very quickly indeed, but if you put the same driver in, let’s say, a 1992 Swift, he would be quicker than in a 1984 Van Diemen. This is down to newer cars chassis being built more rigid allowing for any movement to take place through the suspension. This is paramount in a racecar as the rule usually dictates the stiffer the chassis, the quicker the car. Older cars tend to flex more in the chassis. This can have its advantages though. As the chassis is softer on an older car, it tends to make them handle better in wet conditions as you need to loosen up the car for wet conditions to make it more controllable and user friendly.
Oulton Park in Cheshire and Ty-Croes on the Island of Anglesey are the two main circuits to this Championship, but we also have the occasional visits to Croft in Yorkshire. The Championship is usually contended over twelve rounds split across the circuits and consisting of one day meetings and double headers over two days. Anglesey meetings are particularly enjoyable as these are weekend events and Saturday evenings between races can be spent on the beach by a Barbeque.
At the end of the racing season, a major event takes place at Brands Hatch each year. This is the Formula Ford Festival. This has now been running for many years and, in excess of 250 Formula Fords, from all Continents, descend on the Kent circuit for a week long racing spectacular. From testing, to heats and then the final, all to find the Formula Ford Festival Champion. More notable winners of this prestigious event include Eddie Irvine, Jenson Button and up and coming soon to be F1 regular, Anthony Davidson. Many young drivers go onto bigger and better things from the Festival. Three classes are run. Kent, Zetec and now Duratec engined cars and this really is a special event. For anyone that has never been to a festival, it really is an experience not to be missed. Along with the Festival at Brands Hatch, we now have the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone which takes place in November. This is rapidly growing in stature and is being recognized as a major event on the Formula Ford calendar.
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