Martin Galpin | Racing Driver | number66.net

Formula BMW has an age restriction on competitors. If you are not between 15 and 25 you cannot compete without a special dispensation from BMW (which, as far as I am aware, has never been given). It is, therefore, a category for young drivers – drivers out of karting, because at 15 years old the MSA will only grant you a race license after significant karting experience.

The Formula Ford national series does not enforce such age restrictions, instead, by allowing operating costs to spiral out of control they have effectively ensured that nobody in their right mind would spend that much money without some serious motor-racing aspirations – those aspirations being a product of youth. Therefore, while fewer drivers are yet to take their GCSE’s, Formula Ford, excluding the club championships, is still an exclusive party for youngsters.

So if you’re under 25, your dad doesn’t own a yacht and you have aspirations to drive racing cars in the future, where do you go? Traditionally you might suggest one of the club Formula Ford championship’s but with Motorsport Vision’s FF1600 Championship being axed at the end of 2005 and the new BRSCC Club Formula Ford championship being so poorly subscribed, it could be said that there is little to be learnt in an uncompetitive field of little more than ten cars.

For that reason, I guess, more young drivers appear to be choosing the Formula Vee as a first rung on the ladder into single-seaters, just as I did last year. Maybe we have a brand problem, or maybe it’s a stigma that’s attached to club racing in general but either way many overlook the series too quickly. Sure, it’s not a technology formula and our cars look more like Formula Ford’s than Formula One cars, but that is it’s greatest strength – we run treaded Dunlop racing tyres, the cars move around, we have more power than grip, brakes which promote overtaking and grids where you would not be surprised if one of at least 12 drivers won the race. I honestly believe that it is the best racing of any single seater category in this country at the moment – and that’s quite a statement. It’s Formula Ford from the 80’s all over again and I need not remind you which great talents came from that era.

Here’s some statistics to demonstrate what I mean.

In 2004, at Brands Hatch, just one driver in the top-ten finishers was under 21. In 2005, this had risen to three, which is perhaps unrepresentative because four either did not finish or were outside of the top ten. Last week (2006), the top ten contained no fewer than six drivers under the age 21 (or just 21) with even more further down the order.

Ironically, it was Ian Buxton who stole the win and Martyn Donn second, himself a former European champion, neither of whom would consider themselves young. But I think it’s obvious that if you are young and can win in this series it sets you up well against the others. If you want to learn how to drive cars with mechanical grip, learn how to race, learn how to overtake, this really is the place to be. And of course, don’t forget that maybe, just maybe, after a few years of racing your dad will still have enough money to buy that yacht!

Related posts:

1. Preview: Mallory Park (UK Formula Vee)
2. Introducing the BRDC Superstars initiative
3. Where does all the money go?
4. The end of Formula BMW in the UK
5. Time to talk about me