A Brief Guide To Single-Seater Racing Formula by Pete Fenelon
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This is just a brief introduction to some of the formulae which are, or
have been, in effect throughout the racing world. The summaries here
are subjective and fairly brief, but I hope they give you a feel for
what sort of cars you'll find in a given series. 

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Formula 1
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The premier road-racing category in the world. 

1948-51         Single seaters, 1.5ltr supercharged or 4.5ltr
                unsupercharged, alcohol fuel permitted. World
                Championship instituted for F1 in 1950. This
                formula was basically a "de facto" definition of
                F1 because most of the cars around fitted into
                these categories.

1952-53         Same rules, but world championship held for F2. F1
                persisted as a minor class in some countries
                (particularly the UK).

1954-60         2.5l unsupercharged engines (or 750cc supercharged, but
                very rarely used). Alcohol fuels permitted until
                1958, AvGas 59ish onwards.

1961-65         1.3-1.5l engines, no supercharging, refuelling 
                permitted but no oil additions. Min weight 450kg.
                Roll bars fitted.

1966-85         3l engines, 1.5l supercharged (not used until '77 by
                Renault and then it was turbocharging). Minimum weight 
                fluctuated from 500kg to 585kg, various rules on
                aerodynamics -- wings appeared in '69 and were
                briefly banned, ground effects were used from '78
                until banned at end of '82. Strict rules on car
                dimensions. Engines with more than 12 cylinders, 
                diesels, rotaries etc. all banned during life of 
                this formula. Boost and fuel restrictions on turbos
                started to be used.

1986            1.5l turbos only, otherwise as for above.

1987-88         1.5l turbos at 540kg or 3.5l normally aspirated
                cars at 500kg. Turbos gradually restricted on boost
                and fuel.

1989-1994       3.5l normally aspirated cars at 500kg plus 5kg for
                camera. Fuels changed in 1992; tyre sizes changed in
                1993; refuelling introduced for 1994 season. Many 
                safety regulations changed in 1994 -- weight
                increases, airbox controls, aerodynamics, "planks"
                etc.

1995-           3.0l normally-aspirated cars, FIA controlled
                airbox, safety regs. etc. as 1994.  

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Indycars
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current         2.65l turbocharged racing engines in heavy chassis
                with ground-effects running on methanol. 3.4l
                single-cam turbo engines also admitted (though 
                Indy high boost scam now limited to stockblocks).

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Indy Lights
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1986-current    Buick V6s in F3000-like chassis. Basically the
                North American equivalent of F3000. Chassis were
                originally from March (the Wildcat 86A is basically
                a 1985 F3000 chassis); now from Lola (a development
                of their F3000 chassis from '92).

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Formula 2
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Formula 2 racing descends from voiturette or Light Car racing. 

1950-56         2 litre normally aspirated or 500cc supercharged
                (don't think anyone ever tried this seriously). F2 
                was the World Championship class in '52 and '53
                when F1 collapsed.

1957-60         1.5l normally aspirated. Minimum weight limit (can't
                remember it) and ran on AvGas. 

1960-63         No F2; Formula Junior took its place

1964-66         1 litre engines, weight limit.

1967-71         1.6 litre engines

1972-84         2 litre engines, min. weight around 515kg, ground
                effects used for a while (79-80ish) but banned.
                Engines had to be production-based for the first few
                years of the formula, but then pure-bred racers
                were permitted in. Had a dalliance with
                ground-effect in the late-Seventies/early 80s but
                returned to sense quite quickly.

1985-           F2 replaced by F3000 everywhere but in Japan (F2
                survived until the end of '86 there). The British
                F3000 series has now been renamed F2 though! (Rules
                now differ slightly from International F3000;
                one-make series of Reynards with detuned DFVs)

Australia       There was an Australian National formula 2 in the
                60s and 70s which bore little resemblance to the 
                mainstream one!

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Formula 3000
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The replacement for Formula 2. 

1985-1995       8 cylinder 90-degree V8 normally aspirated
                engines with rev limiters. Min. weight of about 520kg,
                aerodynamic rules similar to F1, control tyres,
                control fuel from 1993. 

1996-           Lola spec. chassis with as-yet-unnamed engines
                (probably badged Alfa or Opel; maybe either an
                existing F3000 engine like the Judd or a GTCC
                Class 1 Tourer engine).

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Formula 3
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Traditionally the category in which future stars make their names. 

1950-59         500cc single seaters, usually motorcycle engined.
                Italians used larger-capacity engines (750s). F3
                became less important from the mid-Fifties as
                small-capacity sports cars gained in popularity.

1959-63         No F3, FJunior replaced both F2 and F3.

1964-70         1 litre F3, production based 4 cyl engines with one
                carburettor. The "screamer" era of very close
                slipstreaming races.

1971-73         1.6 litre production based engines.

1974-           2 litre production based engines, breathing through
                an air restrictor. Flat bottomed cars since early
                80s, step bottoms in 95-. Control tyres in some series. 

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Formula Junior
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1959-63:        Various permutations, but based around a weight/cc
                limit (either 1000cc at 360kg or 1100cc at 
                400kg). Production based engines with single
                carburettors. Many parts had to be of road-car
                origins. US version of the formula allowed up
                to 1500cc engines at different weights but not
                particularly popular. Virtually all successful FJs
                were 1100cc. 

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Inter-continental Formula:
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1961:           A short-lived protest by the British against the
                1.5l F1. Was basically the previous 2.5l F1 but
                allowed engines up to 3 litres. Died out after about
                6 races.

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Formula Ford
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Originally: 1600cc Ford Kent engine (~110bhp), 4-speed box, standard
road tyres and wheels.  Single-seater space frame cars.

For 1994 the new 1800cc Zeta engine is to be used in the major FF
championships, this will gradually filter down to the minor FF
championships as used Zeta-engined cars become available.
Unfortunately the Zetec is a heavy and bulky engine and although
the cars are faster in a straight line they handle badly.

UK Formula Ford is about to join many other FFords around the world
and run on slicks from 1995.

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Formula Ford 2000
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Pinto (2-litre) engined cars, similar to FF1600 in construction but
with wings and slicks. Has almost died out in the UK, except for a
Pre-83 championship, plus FF2000 cars used in other series. Very
healthy in other parts of the world though (as FContinental, etc.)

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Formula Renault
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The previous incarnation of the Formula had a 1721cc Renault
engine, production gearbox, wings, slicks. Basically another
competitor in the 2l wings and slicks arena, but the cars were
nice and the racing is good. British cars used to race to slightly 
different regs to European ones. The ``old'' FRenault will continue
as a club-racing class.

The new Formula Renault Sport moves to a 2.0l engine and a racing
gearbox. It looks as though it's going to be a complete cracker.
Chassis look like "spaceframe F3s", engines are more powerful and
the gearbox is a proper one!

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Formula Vee
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In the UK FVee is for cars with highly modified air-cooled 1300cc-
engines. Must use various other bits of VW provenance, but cars range
from homebuilt specials and converted FF cars right through to some
quite modern purpose-built affairs (Predator etc.) The New Zealand
version is rather similar.

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Formula VW
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The Irish equivalent of FVee. Similar chassis rules, but a tamer and
larger engine (1500cc?). Performance is similar to British FVee, and
there have recently been meetings at which Irish FVWs and British
FVees have competed.

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Formula Super Vee
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Died out in Europe by the early '80s and tailed off in the
States towards the end.. Basically F3-like cars with closely-specified
water-cooled VW engines. (what happened to the SCCA's proposals to run
F3 in the USA a couple of years ago?)

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Formula Forward, later Formula 2000
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A rather pointless British spec-car formula. 2-litre Ford engines 
(as found in some Sierras and Granadas) in a spec chassis from Van 
Diemen.  Very pretty cars, but underpowered and not a popular formula 
despite a relatively huge prize fund in the UK.

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Formula First
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Escort XR3i engines in the ugliest spec chassis I've ever seen.
Designed to be an introduction to racing but why not just buy
an old FF1600? More fun and more races!

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Formula GM/Vauxhall/Opel/Chevrolet
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Known by different names wherever it goes depending upon which bit of
GM is doing the business there (formerly Vauxhall Lotus etc) GM's
excellent two-litre engine teamed with a nice Reynard-designed chassis
(although this has been rebodied and updated), slicks and wings. Series
in the UK, Germany, Benelux, Ireland etc. etc. There's also a popular
EuroSeries which supports several GPs and other major races. This
formula has given us Hakkinen, Barrichello etc. 

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Formula Vauxhall Junior
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Cracking relatively new formula designed to appeal to kartists and to
provide new cars for JRRDS. 1.6l Nova GSi engine in a Van Diemen
chassis (basically the FForward mentioned above) without wings but
still on slicks. Produces some interesting characters, and allows very
young drivers (16!) in.  

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Formula Atlantic/Pacific/Formula B
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1.6l full-blooded racing engines (Toyotas these days; used to be BDAs
or developments thereof), mild ground effects, wings, slicks; fast and
technically advanced!  It's a pity we don't have Atlantic in this
country any more; it would certainly make up for our rather technically
dull F3.

There was a South African FAtlantic which used Mazda rotary engines at
some point in the dim and distant past (around 1980)

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American Racing Series/Indy Lights
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The American equivalent of F3000 - training ground for Indycars. First
lot of cars were 3.5l Buick V6 in a March 85B F3000 chassis, re-bodied
and termed a Wildcat. Recently Lola replaced March and the new
generation of Indy Lights are similar to their F3000 cars. 

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Formula 5000/Formula A
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Sadly defunct. 5 litre stock-block V8s in F1/F2-like chassis, generally
quite a wild and exhilarating form of racing to watch. Series used to
be held in Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand from about
'69 to '76. One of the last incarnations of Can Am was for F5000 cars
with "sports car" bodies. 

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Zerex/Barber
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Started off as Saab turbo engines in rather antiquated but nicely
turned out Mondiale chassis; recently moved to Dodge engines in the
same chassis. Roughly, the US equivalent of the GM Formulae. 

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Formula 2 (Mexico)
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2.2l Chrysler engines in copies of old Ralt FAtlantic chassis.
Descended from Mexico's previous Formula K.


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Source: Pete Fenelon 
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