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Is FVee UK mirroring F1 in 2007?
27/04/2007
As with Formula One Formula Vee is truly global.
Guy Bellingham the “Bobby Rahal” of FVee* is and has done for the last couple of years showing the Canadians what the world’s leading motor racing country can do. Patrick Sherrington has gone along the well trodden path to Europe and come home with the championship cup and champions smile as several previous British drivers have in both FVau and Historics. Also witness young Sam Oliveira showing an international grid the way home until his engine let go at the German 40th anniversary.
Our own championship has been dominated by two drivers and one car for the past three seasons. With the above in mind FVee raced on the same continents and in the same countries as F1 past and present and with all of the new changes and innovations on the cars, it can possibly be argued our formula in some ways will be mirroring the Formula One season this year.
With drivers selling their cars (or have them for sale) and moving to other teams/cars many people are having to have expensive suspension modifications or drop down the grid and results sheet. We’ll also have, hopefully a televised British 40th Anniversary. Look in the mirror and apart from the huge wealth you will see something not too far from F1.
No one is too sure who will be our champion this year. The same can be said for F1. Last year Ryan Lindsay went from stuffing it into the tyre wall exiting Gerrards at Mallory on the first practice lap to pole at Oulton Park, Steve Ough (what a wonderful name that is) is shedding the ballast and will surely be moving back towards the front of the grid after having slipped back slightly. John Hughes has moved into unknown territory with Martin Donn’s car, Danny Hands has become a GAC owner and will surely be a multiple winner this season.
James Birch will hopefully be bending fewer beams and will be improving his position from Vee Centre Challenge champion. Paul Smith is one who needs a bit less bad luck and will be a top slot contender. There is of course Jake Oliveira as fast as anybody out there and who will be in a faster car this year and last but not least Jake’s younger sibling Sam. Sam was undeniably in the fastest car last year. However he still had to pedal the car around and will surely be up the front again this season.
Those are just a few drivers who will shine. Of the cars, Team AHS have their innovative suspension, the Storm cars are working towards the same goal, GAC’s cars have all their suspension inboard as well as fast drivers and are well into a testing program. The Mk 5 Scarab is a bit of an unknown quantity in John Hughes’ hands as John may well be a faster driver than Martin and his new team-mate James Birch.
Last years most improved driver by far was Steve Glasswell. From where I observed him it appeared to me his improvement was down to a mixture of 40% car and 60% driver confidence. Will he make another step forward this year? There are also new drivers joining the fray this year. Will one of them be an equivalent to a Kubica or a Koivailanen? In F1 there will only be one tyre supplier this year and although Vee has only had one supplier for a long time, the principal of unknown quantity are the same as in F1. Certain F1 cars will suit the Bridgestones better than others. The forces on the tyres are the same in both formulae only more severe in F1. Therefore it stands to reason that with all the suspension modifications introduced this year certain FVee cars may suit our Dunlops better than others too.
Then you have to enter into the equation driver styles. Two years ago when we were at Donington Park a team principal/owner from another formula came
up to me in our garage. I can’t remember his name but he said to me that he had watched me in my heat when I started in 11th position, spun to the back going down Craner Curves, then fought back to finish in 11th place. He then told me I raced like Jenson Button! When I asked him what he meant he said I was very smooth. He then said that this would be very helpful in the wet. When I told him I seemed to do better in the wet he said “Well there you are then.”
Time to stop wagging my tail and back to driver styles. Will certain drivers’ styles mixed with new suspension mods suit the Dunlops better? Will the way you get on and off the brakes need to be altered slightly? Turn-in may or may not have to be adapted to some degree. A smoother driver (Buttonesque) may not heat his tyres up so quick as a more aggressive driver (a la Rosberg). The more aggressive driver may be able to gain a big advantage in the colder races but be at a disadvantage in warmer times. Who will be able to find the optimum wet or dry setup early on in the season?
The setup on the cars may or may not have to be somewhat different. There is also the question of cost. A big accident may well result in both ends of the car needing a rebuild with new parts, just the dampers alone are expensive. There is always large monetary cost in motor racing. This year however there has been a considerable jump. With crash damage this will rise even more than normal.
This raises the possibility of drivers with the most money taking a more aggressive driving style knowing the other driver will “back out” at close quarter dicing. These are just some of the factors that will affect all of us in different ways at different times of the season. Hopefully this has given you something to mull over. It’s not meant to sound all doom and gloom. It’s just an honest perspective of the year ahead. Hopefully the title race will go down to the last race amongst 4-6 or so drivers with a worthy champion at the end of a vintage FVee year.
2007 F1
Printed with kind permision from Nick Brown
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