During this spate of announcements, I was wondering: Is it just me, or do many of the same names keep coming up, time after time? I decided to take a look and see what I could find.

I’d like to begin with a disclaimer and to state my objectives. It should be noted, I am, in no way, criticising the recipients of any award, nor their entitlement to them. Similarly, I am not drawing conclusions, merely making observations to what are facts available in the public domain.

I have also only taken into account single-seater drivers (or former single-seater drivers) who have received (or been nominated) for a scholarship or award during 2008. For those recipients, any previous award or scholarship has also been included.

And so, as a chart, it looks like this (below) and is sorted initially by the number of awards received, then alphabetically.

Click to enlarge

Time to extract some facts.

Sam Bird is currently the recipient of the highest number of awards and scholarships, having received six between 2004 and 2008: Formula BMW Scholarship, BRDC Superstar, BRDC Rising Star and two McLaren Autosport BRDC award nominations (2005, 2006 and winning neither time). He is also an MSA British Race Elite member.

Oliver Turvey follows with four honours, having won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 2006. He is also a BRDC Rising Star, a BRDC Superstar and the recipient of the Racing Steps Foundation’s patronage (a fully funded year in British Formula Three with Carlin in 2008).

Youngster and recently crowned British Formula Ford Champion, Wayne Boyd has the support of the BRDC Superstars programme and recently won the patronage of the Racing Steps Foundation for 2009 with a fully funded year in Formula Renault UK. He has also been nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award this year (and in my opinion is the strongest candidate to win). It’s worth noting that his British Formula Ford campaign was made possible due to the patronage of Boyd’s manager, music impresario Chas Cole (Autosport, p87, 16/10/08).

Currently, all McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominees (excluding the FPA Shootout) are also members of the BRDC Rising Star and/or Superstar scheme (Boyd, Sims, Christodoulou, Stoneman, Moore).

Furthermore, the only drivers to have received nominations for awards who are not members of either the BRDC Rising Star or Superstar schemes are Aaron Steele (Formula BMW Scholarship, Porsche Carrera Cup GB nominee) and Richard Singleton (Porsche Carrera Cup GB nominee). Every other driver who has received or been nominated for an award is also recognised by the BRDC on one of its two programmes.

You can continue, make further observations for yourself.

I am not concluding anything at all. If these really are the most promising young racing drivers in Britain, then it might make sense for them to share the entirety of the sports honours amongst themselves. And what’s more, if that is the case, it would also make sense for them to be members of the BRDC Rising Star scheme (but note: the BRDC Rising Star programme is invitation only and there is no formal application process).

I think there are many positives to be taken from British motorsport at the moment, especially considering we might be just about to see the first British Formula One World Champion for 12 years. Yet, at the same time, there are some ever deepening problems too. An unnatural amount of young talent is being wasted each year because they simply cannot afford to continue racing. So I guess the question is: are all of these scholarships and awards actually helping the problems they presumably aim to solve or, on the other hand, are they just making it worse?

And so, as A1GP begins its fourth season, it is a shame that things are coming apart at the seams. The new, F1-derived Ferrari car was financially delayed to the point that many teams (including A1 Team GBR) are not prepared for the season opener at Zandvort this weekend. Rather than a catastrophic cancellation, the opening round is set to become a non-points scoring round with a less than capacity field.

Suggesting the demise of A1GP, however, is almost certainly premature. CEO Tony Texiera and 52% share-holders RAB Capital plc appear to have deep pockets, after all, A1GP can’t possibly be forecasting a profit anytime soon.

So I wonder: was it sensible for A1GP to introduce its new car? And was there ever a need, anyway? With manufacturer-backed series, continuity between the showroom and the race track is important. But A1GP, surely, is about spectacle? And what difference, really, does the car make to the spectacle, to the show?

What parallels can we draw from history? What other series have risked financial stability for the sake of a new car and ultimately later, paid the price?

Champ Car World Series, immeadiately springs to mind. In 2008, following just one season with their new Panoz chassis, Champ Car filed bankruptcy and prompted the reunification of open-wheel racing in the US.

Closer to home, in 2006, the SEAT Cupra Cup (UK) introduced its “new” shape Leon. Arguably necessary in order to maintain brand continuity, it struggled to attract grids comparable with previous seasons. Inevitably, the series will no longer be run in the UK.

What other examples can you think of?

But you see, I was wondering: how much of a difference does it really make? If I turn into a corner with a foot to spare on my outside, what does that actually cost me?

Setting the scene

The necessary steps to calculate this accurately for any given corner of a race track are far broader than the scope of this article. And what’s more, I won’t cover the maths in much detail and instead concentrate on getting an answer. Therefore, for the purpose of proving the point, we will imagine an arbitrary 90° right-hand turn with a radius () of 75 feet.

Our imaginary track has a constant width of 30 feet (known as ) and the width of our car () is 6 feet. In addition to this, we will say that the maximum cornering force of the car (or more to the point, its tyres - known as ) is 1.2g.

First we must calculate the radius of our cornering line (). For the sake of simplicity, we are using a perfect geometeric apex as opposed to a more technically correct clipping point further through the corner.

To do this we need to know the radius of both the inner () and outer () edges of the corner, expressed as:

Using some geometry, we can calculate the radius of our cornering line as:

Finally, we can now calculate the maximum possible cornering speed as follows, using the conversion factor 15/22 to convert from feet per second to miles per hour, and 32.1 to convert acceleration from gees to feet per second squared:

To further demonstrate the point, consider the following Java applet. Adjust the amount of unused track using the slider at the bottom and see for yourself how much potential cornering speed is being wasted. NB: The pink line does not actually move, it is there for completeness.

java_applet

In our imaginary example, each 2 feet of unused track on the entry to a corner prevents you from carrying approximately one mile per hour. If you can imagine that is replicated five or six times on every lap it immediately becomes significant. What’s more, a realistic non-geometric apex and variable grip levels means that the potential time loss is in fact larger than in this academic example.

So think about it next time you turn-in to a corner - how much of the circuit are you not using? And how much is that really costing you?

References

1. Brian Beckman’s Physics of Racing

Testing: Friday

During testing on Friday we were making gradual progress with the car. Considering it was a shake-down test of a rebuilt car, my first full day in a Formula Ford (not for the want of trying, given the problems last autumn) and we could only guess at a setup, progress was never going to be rapid. However, we moved on with every session (in changing conditions) and by the end of the day we were a long way from where we needed to be but a long way from where we started.

The good news was that the car was running and proving predictable. As suspected, the gearbox needs a rebuild and I found myself having to physically hold the lever in gear at certain parts of the circuit (noticeably the Gooseneck and Charlies). My guess is that this could account for around one second per lap due to conscious thought and a lack of ultimate commitment in critical corners.

Qualifying: Saturday

For qualifying we put on a brand new set of unscrubbed tyres. These undoubtedly would take a few laps to come in but it made little sense to persevere with the tyres from the Festival. Although they were barely used themselves, the compound was seriously graining.

I spent the majority of the session on my own, evaluating what changes we made in the morning and overall, the balance was slightly worse on the new tyres as compared to the old. After about 12 minutes I found myself properly in a rhythm. The new tyres were working and I was on a quick lap, but unfortunately I came across three backmarkers in the Hall Bends and had to back out of it. Qualifying was cut short and I didn’t get another opportunity.

We ended up 9th for race one. Not exactly stellar but knowing there was more than a second in the gearbox and car in general, I’’d suggest 5-6 tenths in the setup (after only a shakedown, that is no surprise) and still time in me to be gained from more seat time - it could have been worse.

After a debrief, we decided that a solid top ten finish would be a good result for the weekend and anything else would be a bonus.

Race 1: Saturday

Whilst the weather tried its hardest to make the track fully wet - which would have suited me - by the time we made the grid it was an almost entirely dry circuit with the exception of the section between the Hairpin and Barn where the trees shadow the circuit. Being unfamiliar with the car and tyres we made a “compromise” on setup which with hindsight probably wasn’’t the right decision. In fact, it reintroduced a problem I experienced on Friday at the Hairpin in which the front would quite suddenly push outwards towards the last third of the corner. In reflection, we might have benefited from increasing front droop.

Anyway, getting off the line I made a reasonable start. Alongside me, Barry Linley made a poor getaway and I pulled behind Josh Benson in seventh for the opening lap and on the back of the leading train. Into the Hairpin and the front “push” finally got the better of me and I ran slightly wide on the exit giving Linley an overlap into Barn. From that point on I gradually lost the back of the train, having lost time in a couple of places thanks to the gearbox disengaging third in the middle of corners.

It became a lonely race. I could still see the battle from sixth to second ahead but I had no way of getting to it. Likewise, I had no pressure from behind.

On the final lap, on the exit of Park corner, that loneliness became despair. The engine went and with a chorus of grinding metal it was obvious the crank had broken and I no longer had a fresh Scholar engine.

After returning to the paddock, we packed up and left the following morning, well in advance of the scheduled second race.

What Next?

That’’s the problem. If we look at the positives, we can deduce that with just under a full days testing, the car is not a million miles away from where it needs to be with a dire gearbox and imperfect rear geometry (a story for another time). It was my first days testing and first real weekend in Formula Ford and I do now properly understand the difference in technique required to be competitive, something I did not to the same extent before. And with all of this considered, we were running solidly within the top ten of a National round and I think we now know how to get to the front.

But the negatives are against us. We’’ve been seriously on our back foot all year (financially) and if I’’m honest - it is hard to see how we can continue with the original programme of events. Reality, it seems, can be cruel.

I continue in the AK Plant Hire Swift SC94 which remains a generous donation from Alan Robinson. The car has received an almost complete chassis-up rebuild here at home and thanks must go to Neil Paxton who has given up countless weekends to the project. Finally, the car is being prepared by Mark Dunham who will also oversee the start of the weekend, which begins on Friday.

Friday; effectively 72-hours away and pretty scary considering the car doesn’t have any bodywork fitted yet. Yes, this weekend is going to be somewhat ad-hoc.

If I’m honest, I don’t know what to expect from this weekend. The objective is to gain a benchmark of where we are with the car. If we get a good result in the process, then that is great.

There is still obvious room for improvement within the car. The gearbox desperately needs a rebuild but we couldn’t afford it. The rear end needs dismantling but we ran out of time.

All I can hope for is a trouble free weekend. Considering I wont sit in the car until the test day, if it is not reliable, it is going to be tough. However, this weekend is about the bigger picture - getting the car sorted for later in the year and when I hope to get serious.