I think the point is Crunch that Ford have ridden for free on FFord for many years. If they come on board in the future, fine, but at this point the class doesn't really owe them any loyalty or special favours.
Even back in the '70s their financial input was small and the conditions/ sponsorship exclusions they imposed quite severe.
Agree, I didnt quite word my reply correctly.Originally Posted by Howard Wood
As an aside; I Had a look at your car in the weekend Howard. Just like to say I'm not a BMW fan persay, but you have done a wonderful job in building it. Very nice.
I agree here Howard, you thought you were getting a good deal, but in short they were screwing us, they had a huge amount of marketing out FF, at no real cost, I don't share Crunch's view, that they will oversee the rebirth of FF with integrity, and would rather go with the Honda version, as I believe that this would be a cheaper and more cost effective option, and put a limit on shock options this will level the field out a bit. Having like many, been bitten by Ford, in FF over the years, have seen a package from Ford that will fly. and I think that if they are serious, they should show their hand, so this can be debated.
Roger
I have tried unsuccessfully to get info on this new Formula 4. Can anyone provide a link or give us a summary of what Formula 4 involves? I still associate F4 with funny little Tecnos and Walkers with 250cc motorcycle motors!!!!!!
Some info here: http://www.formula4.com/
They look good and are made by Ralph Firman, who founded Van Dieman.
Although it's a one-make series, I don't think an RF84 would be allowed.
This is the page that describes the car.
http://www.formula4.com/the-car.aspx
Not too far removed from the new Ecoboost 200 F Ford, both have wings and slicks but F4 has 185 hp from an old Duratec engine whereas the new FF has 200 from the new Ecoboost. And here is some discussion about F4.
http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134824
There is quite a bit of superfluous stuff to wade through but there are some insightful observations too.
Both are the wrong choice for NZ as their spec is too close to our Toyotas and will immediately render our current crop of F Fords obsolete. And who would import these cars anyway? You may as well jump straight into a Toyota which is a proven class rather than gambling on a newly introduced but similar class which may or may not be successful. It would be like having two competing V8 saloon car classes!
We need to get back to the original concept of FF. A simple car to hone race craft skills and to give a young guy an indication as to whether he has the basic potential to go further. Without spending megabucks to find out. Our current FF regs can be tailored to achieve that by restricting the areas where the big money is sometimes spent. That would remove the conception that you need a lot of money to compete successfully in FF and hopefully things would flow from there…….
Last edited by Russ Noble; 03-26-2013 at 10:27 AM.
Which is exactly the vision of the formula that the manager of Ford Motorsport was expressing to me at the 2011 WRC event in Spain.
Which is a great sentiment.
But they wouldn't/couldn't step up with anything suitable in the States and because of that Honda came to the party with exactly what was required. Now in 2013 Ford are behind the FF200 Ecoboost and that is just not an option on the NZ scene, for all the reasons already mentioned.
But the Honda is.
Ford have seriously dropped the ball on this one. And their record with FF in NZ is less than optimal, as earlier posters have stated. We have no reason to show any allegiance to Ford.
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