Formula Ford

[Howard Wood]

During last February's Hampton Downs Festival there was a dinner to celebrate 40 years of Formula Ford in New Zealand, attended by an amazing number of early competitors and champions from the '70's onwards.

Formula Ford started in Brands Hatch, England in July 1967 and rapidly spread throughout the Motorsport world, including Australia where the first race was held in 1968 and the first National Championship in 1970, won by Richard Knight in a locally built Elfin 600 and by Larry Perkins the following year also in an Elfin 600.
In New Zealand, the first National Championship was the 1971/72 series won by David Oxton also in an Elfin 600.

One of the reasons for the huge international interest in FF at that time was the Formula Ford Festival, a virtual "World Cup" of Formula Ford where many National Champions, including David Oxton (and the Aus national champions) were invited, the trip to the UK to compete being part of the championship prize.

The first FF cars internationally were mostly purpose built new cars, part of the very early regulation was a price cap of 1,000 Quid which was soon quietly dropped, but in NZ, apart from the Oxton Elfin, most early FF's were converted National Formula cars but very quickly the number of newish and competitive cars grew until by the mid '70's entries exceeded available grid positions and pre qualifying was required at many National level races. In typical NZ fashion there have been a number of very competitive locally built and designed cars over the years.

Amazingly after 40 years, FF is still the premier "feeder" class here and apart from Jim Richards and Paul Radisich, I can't think of a NZ driver who started any sort of international career within the last 40 years who has not spent time in an FF as they provided the ideal place to learn race craft, car set up etc all at a (relatively) affordable price and still do today.

Although the fields for the current championship are a bit thin, which probably speaks more about the current state of the economy, historic FF fields continue to be full with a supprising number of new (to NZ) cars being imported.

I understand that to the "non believer", an FF probably looks like a coffin on wheels and although the racing has always been close and hard, the cars are not spectacular to watch (and very boring to listen to) but here is the chance to post some photos or stories about an international success story.

[Steve Holmes]

Great thread Howard! I was wondering when someone would touch on this subject. I can't help but wonder if Formula Toyota played a role in the dilution of FF in NZ, as both classes are quite similarly priced from what I understand. The thing that amazes me the most about FF is just how fast the cars are capable of lapping. I think their engine tones are quite deceptive.

[Howard Wood]

They are an excellent example of how a good competitive class lifts everybody's standard. Also lap records from years which have particularly close competition, eg '74/75 for FF often stand for quite a while until another super competitive year comes along or there is some technological breakthrough. The current crop of wide track cars are actually really quick and the best legal historic, ie pre '86, car is quite a few seconds away no matter how well driven.

I went to Philip Island a couple of years ago for the 40th anniversary of FF in Aus to help Phil Foulkes who runs one of my old Pallisers. Most of the front runners were young kids from the Aus National FF series using the historics to get more mileage and boy did they take it seriously!

You may well be right about TRS cars diluting the FF series. For what its worth, I think the TRS concept is fantastic and wish something similar was around in my day. The extra speed from using more revs in an Atlantic spec BDA (and corresponding shorter engine life) was huge.

[Russ Cunningham]

Hello Howard,

Phil Foulkes does not run one of your old Pallisers. He runs a copy built by Kim & Bob Crocker. Sure, it has the original log book but the two WDF2'S chassis number 34 & 35 are not this car. The complete "34" resides in my warehouse as does the remains of ""35" I sold the ex. Ex. Nev Bailey WDF3, chassis no.4 some years back. It had been rolled, bowled & aresholed more times than a "K Road" Tranny.

[Oldfart]

From the early days when a car I had some involvement with (a converted National Formula car which had one too many gears for a short time) until now, I really struggle to accept the way that these are driven with little or no respect for the cars, nor the other drivers' well being. Close competition is fantastic, being close enough that almost every FF race I have evr seen has resulted in broken cars does me no favours.
I go to stock cars to watch bash and crash, no wonder some of the current F1 drivers feel the need to play stockies, they have their training in FF.
Rant over!

[richard lester]

From the early days when a car I had some involvement with (a converted National Formula car which had one too many gears for a short time) until now, I really struggle to accept the way that these are driven with little or no respect for the cars, nor the other drivers' well being. Close competition is fantastic, being close enough that almost every FF race I have evr seen has resulted in broken cars does me no favours.
I go to stock cars to watch bash and crash, no wonder some of the current F1 drivers feel the need to play stockies, they have their training in FF.
Rant over!

you are not wrong--the current drivers come in very young now and are not about to stick around,they are generally fast but haven't learnt the subtle race craft skills yet.It wasnt that long ago that vees was a 2-3 year program and ff a 2-3 year program before moving on if you were good enough by then and had some budget.
we now have young drivers retired before they are 20 years old if things dont go to plan.

[Steve Holmes]

you are not wrong--the current drivers come in very young now and are not about to stick around,they are generally fast but haven't learnt the subtle race craft skills yet.It wasnt that long ago that vees was a 2-3 year program and ff a 2-3 year program before moving on if you were good enough by then and had some budget.
we now have young drivers retired before they are 20 years old if things dont go to plan.

Richard, its great to have you on here, welcome to the site.

This is an interesting point you've made. Why do you suppose this is? Is there now more pressure on them to achieve success quickly in each class they compete in? Are young drivers now expected to win a championship in their first season in a new class, then quickly move on to the next class and do the same thing? Is a driver who spends more than one season in a class without winning a title or coming close to it, considered not to be made of the right stuff these days? Its almost as if a young guys career stalls if he doesn't quickly pass through each class on the ladder and instantly achieve success.

[richard lester]

Richard, its great to have you on here, welcome to the site.

This is an interesting point you've made. Why do you suppose this is? Is there now more pressure on them to achieve success quickly in each class they compete in? Are young drivers now expected to win a championship in their first season in a new class, then quickly move on to the next class and do the same thing? Is a driver who spends more than one season in a class without winning a title or coming close to it, considered not to be made of the right stuff these days? Its almost as if a young guys career stalls if he doesn't quickly pass through each class on the ladder and instantly achieve success.

Hi Steve,
yes you are quite right--as i have said to many people "there are plenty of fast drivers out there but not many racers".i must admit i cringe a bit watching various races at tier1 and 2 events seeing some of the poor decision making going on.
I think part of the problem is that newcomers dont have much of a structured plan looking ahead.it's pretty much win this year-move up and win again next year and so on.learning tracks/cars/teams/and how to race arent really taken into account too much.i think there is also the element of the quicker we can move up the less we will have to spend on this class.
i see lots of kids come straight from karts ready to be world champions and they and the parents dont realise how much different the disciplines are and how much more has to be learned.Kids like Mitch and richie are not only naturally gifted to start with but their camp's know the game well and can bring them along at a far quicker pace.
I have had some involvement in F/BMW(asia) and that whole structure world wide was based on "your son can make it all the way to f1-give me your checkbook and we will see what we can do".so the kids study lots and lots of data which is fine i guess,but then you need someone to teach you how to transfer that to the track(i think they refer to that as old school now !!).I have seen the "dude you need to be faster thru turn 3" turn into a visit to the wall because the kid just kept his foot in it hoping he would get around.
better stop before i get accused of ranting!!!

[Rod Grimwood]

The sorry part of any class of motorsport is that you will always have a couple who cause a few problems, and FF is no different except that when one driver gets a bit toey it impacts on alot of other drivers as the competition is so tight and even. I have watched some amazing racing over the years. In the original days of FF you could just about put a blanket over the front 6 and very seldom was there problems, and they all went onto better things. I believe it is still the feeder for single seat drivers. The Toyota series was all go and then the expense became overbearing. FF gives the average kid with a bit of help or backing a chance to polish his/her skills. FV then FF and progress on as skills increase and budgets come onboard. Some can go straight in with a cheque book, and some of them make it and alot don't. But others who go through the "system" tend to go further. I believe there is a very big place for FF in our motorsport.

[richard lester]

The sorry part of any class of motorsport is that you will always have a couple who cause a few problems, and FF is no different except that when one driver gets a bit toey it impacts on alot of other drivers as the competition is so tight and even. I have watched some amazing racing over the years. In the original days of FF you could just about put a blanket over the front 6 and very seldom was there problems, and they all went onto better things. I believe it is still the feeder for single seat drivers. The Toyota series was all go and then the expense became overbearing. FF gives the average kid with a bit of help or backing a chance to polish his/her skills. FV then FF and progress on as skills increase and budgets come onboard. Some can go straight in with a cheque book, and some of them make it and alot don't. But others who go through the "system" tend to go further. I believe there is a very big place for FF in our motorsport.

I agree totally Rod,ff was the best training class by quite a margin until cost's started to get out of hand and we fell into this' tin tops are the future/v8 supercar dream'.now the young guys go the suzuki swift instead and learn nothing technical.maybe with Mitch Evans and richie stanaway etc moving through it may help ff to get going again
TRS cost's are actually not over bearing and approx half of what we came across with GT3,its just that single seaters aren't viewed as necessary at present --purists like us know different though.

[Oldfart]

Absolutely agree about it's place, just don't PERSONALLY like the bashing which seems to be a part of FF.

[TonyG]

2 questions as we now have this thread.
1) Is the Cuda that Ross Stone built still around and also another called a TUL I believe ? I think it was Tul and not Tui as that was what I had written on the back of the photo at the time. I have a pic of this one here somewhere at Pukekohe.
Regards
Tony

[richard lester]

2 questions as we now have this thread.
1) Is the Cuda that Ross Stone built still around and also another called a TUL I believe ? I think it was Tul and not Tui as that was what I had written on the back of the photo at the time. I have a pic of this one here somewhere at Pukekohe.
Regards
Tony

The TUL showed up with kevin ingram(built by bruce turnbull) around 85/86.the thing was fast but fragile and gave Shane higgins and myself a hurry up in the 86/7 season with our van diemens.It had wishbones so strong that if you shunted you ripped the pick up points out of the chassis and you could put the wishbone back on when the pickups were re welded to the chassis.getting the engine in and out was a 'mare' as well.we actually ended up buying it and rob and my sister debbie did a few races with it but decided a form of death wish may be required as a driver after numerous failures, a young greg murphy(who worked for me at the time) also did a winter series round in it after he shunted one of my rf90 vd's in practice--great concept though and if Bruce turnbull had some developement budget it could have been a different story--the Tul went eventually to wanganui for a restoration- owners name escapes me for now.

[TonyG]

Thank you Richard for clearing that up. I always wondered if I had the name right. I grew up watching your dad, then yourself and sister come through. It was great racing to watch. If I remember correctly you had quite a set up with all the cars you were running as part of the team. The good old days !
Regards
Tony

The TUL showed up with kevin ingram(built by bruce turnbull) around 85/86.the thing was fast but fragile and gave Shane higgins and myself a hurry up in the 86/7 season with our van diemens.It had wishbones so strong that if you shunted you ripped the pick up points out of the chassis and you could put the wishbone back on when the pickups were re welded to the chassis.getting the engine in and out was a 'mare' as well.we actually ended up buying it and rob and my sister debbie did a few races with it but decided a form of death wish may be required as a driver after numerous failures, a young greg murphy(who worked for me at the time) also did a winter series round in it after he shunted one of my rf90 vd's in practice--great concept though and if Bruce turnbull had some developement budget it could have been a different story--the Tul went eventually to wanganui for a restoration- owners name escapes me for now.

[David McKinney]

The Stone brothers built five Cudas - but five didn't necessarily exist at one time


1. FF car raced by the brothers 1971-73. Don’t know what happened to it after that
2. FF car raced by Ross Stone 1976, Mike Finch 1977 till written off at Teretonga
3. F/Pacific car, the JR3, dismantled for JR5
4. Third FF car, the JR4, Raced by Finch 1978-79, later Lyn Johnson
5. FP JR5 1981-82. Last heard of with Gary Devon

Tul rings a bell as one of the many names used by Bruce Turnbull/Kevin Ingram for their FF car(s), but I'm not at all clear about it

[Howard Wood]

Discussing the more successful NZ built cars is a fertile area on its own. My knowledge is strictly limited to a very narrow window but off the top of my head,
1972/73 season; Hustler nee Johnson: Norm Smith, probably in the top 3 of national championship.
1973/74 season; Begg JM1: Second in national championship with Jim Murdoch.
1974/75 season; Cheetah : Third in national championship with some clown.
1974/76 season; Cheetah: Second in national championship with Norm Lankshear.
Then Ross Stone in the Cuda, someone else can fill in the details of that and any subsquent successful cars.

There were of course many other well built local cars too.

The JM1 and both Cheetahs are alive and well and used in historic FF.

[bob homewood]

[QUOTE=David McKinney;6192]The Stone brothers built five Cudas - but five didn't necessarily exist at one time


1. FF car raced by the brothers 1971-73. Don’t know what happened to it after that



I think this is possibly Jimmy Stone 1971 in the first FF he built and raced before the Escort ,I wish on hindsight I guess like a lot of us I had labelled some of this stuff better

[Rod Grimwood]

Howard, i am sure there was a Tui built at some time and i think the Stone brothers were involved. Will research.

[Howard Wood]

The Tui name (or Leda 2E when built by Leda under licence) was what Al McCall called his cars, all F2, Atlantic or Super Vee specs to the best of my knowledge. No doubt Al and Jim Stone would have known each other so anything is possible.

I was listing NZ built championship front running cars only in my initial list. Over the same period, numerically the Huntly built Valours which were really a Titan Mk 6C clone would won hands down although Johnny Johnson built quite a few cars in Christchurch including Norm Smith's Hustler and Gerry Hones (spl?) built 3 GLHs (Gerry, Lloyd & Hugh) for Lloyd and Hugh Owen and Paul Dold. The Jim Murdoch designed and built Begg JM1 was probably the only purpose built FF Begg.

[David McKinney]

The Jim Murdoch designed and built Begg JM1 was probably the only purpose built FF Begg.

...after the three Begg FM3s, designed by Fred McLean

I think there were four GLHs, and as many as six Johnstons (though that number seems to high)

When I get a mo' I'll see if I can drag out some more names...