All-new Formula Ford Car debuts at Frankfurt

The rise to Formula One racing is inevitably routed through significant achievements in amateur and grassroot level motorsports competitions, one of the more distinguished ones being the Formula Ford Championship. With highly-competitive national level competitions held in a number of countries around the world, the one-make single-seater racing series has enjoyed the distinction of being one of the most versatile amateur racing championships till date. 

The Formula Ford Racing Series in its decades of existence has seen frequent development, both in terms of the technical specifications of its cars and their overall performance attributes. Ford’s global kinetic design philosophy now manifests itself in a bold new 2012 specification for the Formula Ford car that the American auto giant proudly presented at this years Frankfurt Motor Show.

Replacing the older 1600 Duratec engine on the previous Formula Ford car, the new generation racer will use a production based 1.6 –litre Ford EcoBoost direct injection, turbocharged engine, that now pushes its power antee to 165 PS and torque to 220 Nm. A 6-speed sequential transmission with mechanical shift mechanism will complete the new specification.

Safety has always been a key concern in designing Formula Ford cars, and the recently unveiled 2012 model has done well to match up to the stringent FIA safety standards. A tubular chassis, front and rear carbon crash structures, side intrusion panels, wheel tethers and a FIA certified head restraint system have all come together to make the new-generation Formula Ford race cars a lot safer and crash resistant than before.

Seeing great potential in the new specification race car that will debut in next year’s Formula Ford Championships’around the globe, Mike Norton, motorsport manager, Ford of Europe, said, “The 2012 specification car’s FIA approved safety attributes, powerful Ford EcoBoost engine and striking kinetic design, make for a really appealing proposition for race teams and drivers.”

Formula Ford has already earned the reputation of being one of the best platforms for nuturing international motorsport talent and the 2012 specification Formula Ford car will carry forward that torch in a spectacular way.

With a new and improved design and a whole lot more grunt on the new-generation race car model, futureFormula Ford Championships are sure to present a great opportunity to up-and-coming drivers and engineers to transform their talents into sizeable achiements and quicker lap times on the track.

Read more about the Frankfurt Motor Show here