Is there a future for Formula Ford?

[Russ Noble]

Last night’s AGM was indeed interesting.

It appears there has been in recent months an un-announced working party from the upper echelons of SIFF looking at the problems facing FF in NZ and trying to find solutions. They have been working in consultation with MSNZ and NZFF Inc. and other affected parties.

As a result of their efforts, which are still and will be on going, a proposal was put to the SIFF AGM and carried unanimously. There will be a press release in due course and it is not for me to pre-empt that. Suffice to say that it incorporates many of the ideas expressed on this forum and then some.

As always though, it will need the competitors to get in behind these initiatives. But this whole revamp is a competitor based initiative and the plans which the working party have in place and ideas they are currently considering for flushing out more competitors will, in my opinion, go a long way to generate more and continued support for the class.

Today I feel the future of FF in NZ is assured and in good hands.

As signalled earlier, there are some exciting developments and undertakings for this class. There will be an official press release in the next couple of days, so watch this space

[Carlo]

As signalled earlier, there are some exciting developments and undertakings for this class. There will be an official press release in the next couple of days, so watch this space

Have just been given a copy of the SIFF document Russ, quite excited by what I see. Magic effort and undertaking from all concerned

[Russ Noble]

Announcement here http://nzmotorracing.co.nz/revamped-...is-summer.html

And in a little more detail from the SIFF Club newsletter, but still abbreviated:-

SIFFC will manage and co-ordinate the NZ Formula Ford Championship from 2013/14 onwards

Motorsport NZ has approved our club as being the organiser for the coming national season. We also need to provide the coordinator to help bring life to the race day management of the class. The SIFFC Committee has provided MSNZ with a set of recommended changes to the 2012/13 articles and regulations. These are attached and will be highly interesting to you; in fact they might encourage you to go out and source a sponsor before entering the national series as well!

At a glance - significant features for the 2013/14 NZ FF Championship, and beyond include;

1. A 5 year moratorium for the Ford 1600 Kent engine beginning from 2013/14. This will be reviewed in 2016 so if changes are necessary a ‘fade in’ approach can be utilised.

2. Most current national FF championship rules remain unchanged. The cost of Formula Ford racing in New Zealand is a significant consideration as the attached table indicates.

3. A high level of motivation exists around encouraging drivers to race in Formula Ford. The 2013/14 changes should secure grids of between 20 and 30 cars consistently. The target is 25 cars or more at all rounds.

4. The Ace Hire South Island Formula Ford Championship will run independently but within the National Championship’s South Island rounds.

5. A new National Historic Formula Ford Championship will be introduced for cars that comply with the regulations. Successful in Australia and the UK, this Historic Class will add interest to the grids this summer. This will be known as Class 3 in the articles. Significant interest has been shown at the planning stages of this decision. Grid sizes will be positively influenced.


6. A variety of National Championship sponsors have been approached and are ready to support the national championship. While we are in a pre-advertising phase and class sponsorship arrangements are yet to be addressed, the following support is being prodigiously discussed.
a. A major tyre supplier
b. A significant car manufacturer
c. A test drive for the championship winner – which might extend to an international Formula Ford racing opportunity.

7. Where technical infringements occur a one warning approach is preferred; after which cars may not be eligible for championship points. The Championship co-ordinator will be included in such decisions so NZFFA assistance can be provided. We want cars to race within the spirit of the code.

New Members – an update.

Four new drivers have approached members of the committee with regard to joining SIFFC next season. One past member has indicated he would like to enter the new historic class.
2013/14 Membership Details
I will send out our new season’s membership details in a month or so but they will also feature on the SIFFC website.
Full Club Membership $100.00
Championship Fee $50.00
Associate Membership $50.00
The Associate Membership fee is new this year and is designed for those who would like to be affiliated to the club but not drive. This fee enables full participation in club activities including meetings and voting rights. Sponsorship regalia will be available so these members can promote our club and sponsors too.

SIFFC Website and Facebook
With James Dicey’s assistance a new website has been constructed. Once the Club Committee has critiqued this it will go live. In addition to this a Facebook page will also be used to carry the instant social media aspects of our racing. James is keen to receive images, videos and literature appropriate for our site. All material will be checked for accuracy, approvals and copyright before being used.
Please send material to James Dicey or myself. We are very grateful to James for his time and enthusiasm to help the club in this way.

James will continue to assist us as a media scoop and is interested in posting our race results etc as soon as possible after each event.

Promoting SIFFC

Mark Collins has put together a list of his real racing costs from last season and is happy for us to use these as part of an information brochure that will be available during promotional events and when driver enquires come through our new website. A target audience for this material will be Karting families and drivers. The Committee is interested in activating promotional displays of FF cars at major Karting events this summer, or earlier. Other suggestions are most welcome as would ideas related to this Karting focus.

2013/14 Race dates

I’ve set these and sent them to all the circuit managers for approval. Timaru has confirmed so I’m hoping the others will too. January will have two rounds (Teretonga and Levels) for SIFFC as part of the National FF Championship series – awesome but no dates yet from MSNZ. I will send the dates to you as soon as possible. There are 6 races this season but the committee will discuss adding a 7th race because there’s room in the calendar for one more. A robust pros and cons discussion will determine this outcome. Send me your thoughts if you wish. Because January will have two SIFFC rounds, our usual routine of having ‘about’ one race per month for 6 months will be accelerated.

ACE Hire – Title Sponsor – The Ace Hire South Island Formula Ford Championship

Russ Noble will sponsor our Championship for the second year. Substantial prize money will be distributed to drivers at the end of the season. The distribution will be governed by the number of drivers competing and the points they accumulate. All classes are included in this process. Cars will be required to ‘wear’ the appropriate decals and driver/engineers will be asked to wear ACE Hire caps around the pits and on pit wall. This year could be a significant opportunity for Russ to have his company logo displayed on a ‘grand’ scale. The website, car displays, televised races, race day programmes, race commentaries and many mores situations will arise. It’s very appropriate that we help to maximise these opportunities for him; not forgetting Russ will be racing too. Many thanks for your continued support.

SIFFC Archives

We have saved the content from our old website including the historical pages. A committee member will be working on the archives section of the new website so a very interesting and accurate account of our club’s history and the impact we have had on the careers of NZ racing drivers and racing engineers, will be available. If you have material, images, clippings or memories that could augment what we have already or add to it, please email me.

Regards
Steve Edwards
SIFFC co-ordinator

Anyone wanting the full details contact me and I will email the full PDF files

[Russ Noble]

Early days yet, but SIFF now has a new website up and running. Contains all the latest info, newsletters, next seasons race dates for SIFF and NZFF. And much more.

Trying to showcase FF and provide hard facts easily accessible to anyone about competing in FF. Also trying to promote FF through the social media. I'm too old to know anything about Facebook, Twitter etc but apparently it's the way to go. We have to thank SIFF committee member James for setting all this up. Check it out, details below......

"Hi All,

Just like to announce that the new South Island Formula Ford website has gone live over the weekend. Please check it out - your feedback and comments are welcome, as is content (news, photos - new and old, items for sale etc). It will be the prime place we publish the racing calendar, technical articles and regulations, communicate news and race results as well as act as a repository of relevant information.


http://www.siff.co.nz/


We have also created a Facebook page for more interactive updates and content - please "Like" the page to help build our online presence. It can be found at:


https://www.facebook.com/SouthIslandFormulaFord


We have also created a Twitter account as well as an Instagram account for the social media savvy amongst you... look for southiff on both platforms.


I welcome any comments, suggestions, feedback and particularly content on all these.

Cheers
James"

[Mark Elder]

I have just found this thread. I have a dog in this race so here is my 0.02cents worth. We all want to see our next young generation do well at Motorsport. Almost all of these result from father/son combos that come thru karting. By the time 2-3 years of karting have gone by, the son might be good enough, keen enough and the dad able to cope with chassis setups, tyres, engine stuff, trailers, going away to events, bacon and egg pie from mum etc etc. I would go so far to say that without a karting background, FF is a step too big for mortals.

The cost for father/son teams would not need to be much beyond a full karting season. Many such teams have podium finishes at SIFF and National level with engines I know were 3-5k in cost. Think of Barry and Brendon just this year, same last year. I do not think cost is the barrier to entries for our young ones.

I think the issue is marketing. This is a problem because no-one owns FF anymore. This is not the case with Suzuki or Toyota or the V8s. In our world, the marketing is left to ........

Luck has it that SIFF has taken this up and congrats to Russ and Steve and James. Fantastic.

Of course, this just affects what might be just 25% of a field at most (ie the young ones). Ian Bisman calculated that there are 100+ FF in the SI alone. I would love to know while they live in garages.

Mark

[Russ Noble]

Latest announcement on the News section on the SIFF website http://www.siff.co.nz/#!news/cgra

The National Secondary School karting Championship received a boost today - the winner of a class of the Championship and a 'spot' competitor who meets selection criteria will be given the opportunity to test drive a Formula Ford.



Formula Ford has traditionally been the stepping stone for successful kart drivers with aspirations to progress into high echelons of single seater racing. Previous F1 champions such as Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher all got their start in single seaters in a Formula Ford. The cars are much more technical and complicated than karts and are a natural progression for aspiring race drivers. The South Island Formula Ford Club has worked hard to secure a fantastic prize of a test drive in a Formula Ford with Motorsport Solutions. Motorsport Solutions owner John Crawford has provided two prizes for the weekend so the lucky karting drivers can enjoy a free introduction to Formula Ford racing, including laps at Ruapuna.



A member of the South Island Formula Ford Club, Mark Collins (whose son Michael won the 2012-13 Ace Hire South Island Formula Ford Championship) has also organised a display of Formula Ford race cars to help promote the class.