Why FF1600 is still a vital stage
Why the Kent-engined category is the perfect stepping-off point
As with many things these days, it is common to hear the lament that Formula Ford 1600 isn’t what it used to be. And it’s undeniable that the age of it being the automatic first step for aspiring top-level racers is long gone.
But there’s life in the old dog yet. The British GT field, for one, shows this. GT4 Pro-Am champion and overall race-winner Scott Malvern is a British Formula Ford champion from its Duratec days, last year’s
GT4 title-contender Matt Cowley is another FF1600 graduate (and still races them when he can), while 2020 frontrunner Michael O’Brien started in historic Fords. You’ll find plenty of FF1600 graduates elsewhere in racing too.
So with racing’s landscape containing a flood of bespoke junior categories, that can take you in aged 14, what does grand old FF1600 offer the budding competitor? Plenty.
Racecraft and value for money remain Formula Ford’s biggest offerings. Plus there’s a wide variety of competitions and circuits. Not just in the UK either, Cowley for one has also raced in American and Australian equivalents.
“When I was looking to go out of go-karting, we were looking at F4 and at the time it was a lot of money for not a lot,” Cowley tells Motorsport News. “You get a lot of profile, but track time and seat time you don’t get much.
And one of my dad’s friends races the Classic Formula Fords, [we] looked into it, it’s brilliant value for money, get a load of laps in and it really teaches you how to drive as well so it was a no brainer, just jumped straight into it and loved it.”
Malvern concurs to MN: “Being able [in FF1600] to follow so closely to each other, no aerodynamic wash, no loss of grip or anything, you can race absolutely wheel to wheel. They do slipstream very very well, so the racing is always fantastic.
“Learning to drive around in very close proximity to other cars is something that’s very valuable, because you see now when they’re in a higher level of racing quite often when two cars are in close proximity they end up crashing into each other, because they’ve not had that huge amount of experience of being close with multiple cars.”
Cowley indeed continues to put his FF1600 racecraft into practice, citing his ambush pass, vital for victory, of Jamie Caroline’s TF Aston at Brands Hatch’s British GT round last year.
“It was on the GP loop where no-one really overtakes,” Cowley recalls, “but with Formula Ford you know that you can make late moves and things like that. I knew there was just enough room to get by, so I just went for it.”
O’Brien also confirms to MN that he draws on his FF1600 learning:
“At multiple times [in 2020] when we were fighting for the GT3 championship: the Formula Ford car placement, the Formula Ford keeping your head under pressure, knowing when to defend, when not to defend, all of those skills really paid off.”
Another FF1600 alumnus James Roe Jr, who now races in America’s Indy Pro 2000, notes to MN: “Formula Ford just brings you on a huge amount and a lot of young guys nowadays for the value for money, what it costs, what you learn, the tracks you go to, you need to seriously be looking at it. It’s probably less than half the price of a competitive go-karting championship in the UK.”
Roe outlines indeed another
FF1600 benefit, that modern-day spec junior series cannot rival. “The biggest thing that I take away from Formula Ford is how much you learn as a driver from a vehicle dynamics standpoint because it’s an open series,” Roe explains, “You can have whatever chassis you want, you can choose whatever engine builder you want, you can put whatever dampers you want on the car, whatever springs.
“So from a driver’s standpoint, especially a young driver in the modern era, you learn a huge amount. Because all junior formulas nowadays are spec formulas and everyone has the same chassis and then you’re given three sets of springs and everyone has the same dampers and that’s it.”
FF1600’s lack of aerodynamics is a bonus here too, as aero can ‘mask’ mechanical issues. “[Your] complete focus is the dynamics of the vehicle based purely on nothing except the mechanical grip,” Malvern says.
“So it gives you a great foundation in understanding what the car’s doing and what your influence is over the platform prior to experiencing any aerodynamic complications.”
It’s again something Cowley has taken with him. “With the GT now if I know something’s wrong I don’t go ‘oh we need a bit of wing or a bit more on the front splitter’, I immediately go to mechanical and start changing the rebound or the shocks or something like that,” he notes.
And while the benefits may not be immediate on the spec-seriesdominated single-seater ladder, Roe explains they will come later. “I know deep down the day when you’re in a higher championship where there’s a lot more options that the knowledge will pay off drastically and that’s something I’m looking forward to doing,” he says. “[FF1600] just builds up your database from a feel standpoint and you can really hone in on at a later date when you’re being relied upon to develop a car.”
Malvern reckon Fords might though have one drawback, with top-level racing’s move to paddleshift gearboxes. “[FF1600 having a] manual H-pattern gearbox is a big influence, [for] a lot of drivers unless they do some historic racing, it’s not something they’re going to encounter in their career,” he cautions.
O’Brien, who competed at last year’s Goodwood Speedweek, winning the Glover Trophy in a Brabham BT14, disagrees. “Even though it’s not relevant in the cars that I’m driving now it’s a string to the bow that less and less modern drivers have,” he says, “and with the historic stuff I do, with that win at Goodwood and bits last year, without the heel and toe and learning those skills in Formula Ford I definitely wouldn’t be where I’m at.”
And, whatever the detail, alumni do not doubt what Formula Ford gave them. “I certainly wouldn’t have had have any of the success that I’ve had if it wasn’t for Formula Ford,” Malvern concludes. “It’s a shame because, it’s still popular, but it’s overlooked by a lot of drivers now as an option. I feel they miss out on some valuable stuff there that’s going to stand them in good stead for the rest of their career.”
Roe adds: “No matter what you’re driving, for rear-wheel-drive singleseaters you cannot beat Formula
Ford and that’s the bottom line. The series is unbelievable, you’ll learn so much.”