Formula Junior - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Formula Junior is an open wheel

Open wheel car

Open-wheel car, formula car, or often single-seater car in British English, describes cars with the wheels outside the car's main body and, in most cases, one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or fenders...

formula racing

Formula racing

Formula racing is a term that refers to various forms of open wheeled single seater motorsport. Its origin lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single seater regulations, or formulae. The best known of these formulæ are Formula One, Formula Two, and...

class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI (International Sporting Commission, the part of the FIA

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...

that then regulated motorsports). The class was intended to provide an entry level class where you could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s. The idea to form the new class came from Count

Count

A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...

Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani

Giovanni Lurani

Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi was an Italian automobile engineer, racing car driver and journalist. Also, he was conte di Calvenzano.He studied engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and raced cars such as...

who saw the need of a class for single-seater racing cars where younger drivers could take their first steps. It is often speculated that this class was founded as a reaction to Italy's lack of success in the 500cc Formula Three

Formula Three

Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers...

, and although Italian marques dominated the first year of the formula, they were soon overtaken by British constructors.

History

The rules for the class required the cars to be powered by production-based engines with a volume of 1000 cc with a 360 kg (792 lb) car or 1100 cc with a 400 kg (880 lb) car - in practice the latter was used in almost all successful FJs (the USA adopted other cc/weight ratios but they were rarely used). Parts like engine block, head and cylinders had to come from a production car; single or twin overhead camshaft

Camshaft

A camshaft is a shaft to which a cam is fastened or of which a cam forms an integral part.-History:An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata,...

s, limited slip differential

Limited slip differential

A limited slip differential is a type of differential gear arrangement that allows for some difference in angular velocity of the output shafts, but imposes a mechanical bound on the disparity...

s and modifications to the number of main bearings were all forbidden. The brakes and transmission also had to be production-based. Constructors were allowed to increase the number of gears, but only inside a production gearbox casing. Formula Junior was also the first racing class to require roll cage

Roll cage

A roll cage is a specially constructed frame built in the cab of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured in an accident, particularly in the event of a roll-over. Roll cages are used in nearly all purpose-built racecars, and in most cars modified for racing...

s. In Italy the popular Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

1100 engine was the obvious choice and in 1958 there were few other suitable engines in Italy; elsewhere the 1000 cc Mini

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

engine as well as the DKW

DKW

DKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...

and the Saab

Saab

Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...

three-cylinder two-stroke engines were obvious choices, as was the new oversquare Ford engine from the 105E Anglia

Ford Anglia

The 1949 model, code E494A, was a makeover of the previous model with a rather more 1940s style front-end, including the sloped, twin-lobed radiator grille. Again it was a very spartan vehicle and in 1948 was Britain's lowest priced four wheel car....

. The first Italian FJ cars were very much in the front-engined tradition of contemporary Grand Prix cars; the first international Formula Junior championship in 1959 was won by the Swiss driver and engineer Michael May

Michael May (racing driver)

Michael May is a former racing driver from Switzerland. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 May 1961...

in a Automobili Stanguellini

Automobili Stanguellini

Automobili Stanguellini was a maker of small sports cars in Modena, Italy, founded by Vittorio Stanguellini and most active between 1946 and 1960. They continued to produce the odd competition car until 1966.-History:...

. The British constructors were initially not particularly interested; the 500cc Formula Three

Formula Three

was still just about viable, and small-capacity sports car racing had become the accepted route into racing. As the formula gathered momentum, though, constructors started to take note.

In the UK Frank Nichols of Elva

Elva (car manufacturer)

Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va .-Racing cars:...

produced the Elva 100 series powered by a BMC

British Motor Corporation

The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...

A-Series (Sprite

Austin-Healey Sprite

The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car which was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, just before that year's Monaco Grand Prix. It was intended to be a low-cost model that "a chap could keep in his bike shed", yet be the successor to...

or Mini) engine or a DKW

DKW

two-stroke engine tuned by Gerhard Mitter

Gerhard Mitter

Gerhard Karl Mitter was a German Formula One and sportscar driver.Mitter was born in Schönlinde in Czechoslovakia, but his family was expelled from there, to Leonberg near Stuttgart....

in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The Elva became first mass-produced British Formula Junior car. Other early British designs included the Gemini (earlier called Moorland

Moorland

Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...

) and Lola Mk 2.

Although these early British FJs were front-engined, the F1 car was undergoing a mid-engined revolution and there were also strands of thinking in FJ that stemmed from the 500cc Formula Three

Formula Three

where rear-engined cars had been the norm. It was not long before Cooper

Cooper Car Company

The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1946 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England in 1946...

started to produce a car similar to their contemporary F1/F2 thinking, later F3s and "bobtail" sports car fitted with BMC A-series engines. On the engine side, Keith Duckworth

Keith Duckworth

David Keith Duckworth, , was an English mechanical engineer. He is most famous for designing the Cosworth DFV engine, an engine that revolutionised the sport of Formula One....

of Cosworth

Cosworth

Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...

Engineering took an interest in Formula Junior and managed to get hold of two of the new engine to be used in the 1959 Ford Anglia

Ford Anglia

. Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

also came into the game with their Lotus 18

Lotus 18

The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. It was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman's early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars, the 12 and 16. It was...

, a simplified derivative of their Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

and Formula Two

Formula Two

Formula Two, abbreviated to F2, is a type of open wheel formula racing. It was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, but the FIA announced in 2008 that Formula Two would return for 2009 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship...

chassis fitted with a 997cc Ford Anglia engine. Later Lotus also raced in Formula Junior with Lotus 20

Lotus 20

Lotus 20 was a Formula Junior car built by Lotus for the 1962 season as a successor to the Lotus 18.The chassis was a spaceframe, clothed in fibreglass bodywork. It had front double wishbone suspension, but the rear had a lower wishbone with the driveshaft being fixed length and therefore used as...

, Lotus 22

Lotus 22

The Lotus 22 was a racing car built by Lotus cars in 1962, and a total of 77 cars were built. It was developed from the 1962 Lotus 20, with the major differences that it had disk brakes all round, had a top link to the rear suspension, and had a dry sump engine that was canted over to lower the...

and Lotus 27

Lotus 27

Lotus 27 was a Formula Junior version of the Lotus 25 Formula One car for the 1963 Formula Junior season. All aluminum monocoque with steel bulkheads...

. These two marques (Cooper and Lotus), with close links to their Grand Prix teams, soon came to dominate Formula Junior on an international level.

In Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

Saab

produced the Saab Formula Junior

Saab Formula Junior

, mainly to test new engine designs.

In Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

the most used engine came from the Moskvitch

Moskvitch

Moskvitch was an automobile brand from Russia produced by AZLK from 1945 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2002...

.

Through the formula's lifetime, though, the number of manufacturers increased. By the end of 1960 there were over 100 manufacturers worldwide, and by the end of 1963 the number had increased to almost 500 - but the vast majority of race wins went to the British constructors of mid-engined cars. Brabham's first racing car was the mid-engined BT1 (originally called the MRD, but renamed when it was realised that the initials had unfortunate connotations in French) in 1961. By 1963 the class had become expensive, the scope for wins in homebuilt or amateur cars was diminishing and the cost of tuning a 1000 cc engine to get up to 120 hp was getting too high. The 1963 series was the last series in the UK and Europe.

In the early 1960s, after Formula One was reduced to a 1.5l engine capacity and Formula Two disappeared, Formula Junior suffered from playing two roles, both an introduction to single-seater racing for novices, and the only international single seater category below F1. The latter role meant that costs were pushed up too high for many amateurs (competing against works or near-works Coopers and Lotuses meant that there was little chance of success in major races), and it was decided that two new formulae were needed to replace FJ; one-litre Formula Two

Formula Two

and Formula Three

Formula Three

were reintroduced for 1964, with F2 allowing pure-bred race engines and aimed very much at professional and serious up-and-coming drivers, and F3 essentially being a slightly tamer version of FJ for amateurs and those at an earlier stage in their career.

Slightly later in the 60s, classes based on the same original idea as FJ evolved as low-cost introductions to single-seater motor racing, notably Formula Ford

Formula Ford

Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....

and Formula Vee

Formula Vee

Formula Vee is a popular open wheel, single seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford or Formula BMW....

.

Because many cars and engines are still readily available, Formula Junior is now a popular category in historic racing.

Drivers with background in Formula Junior includes Jim Clark

Jim Clark

James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....

, Peter Arundell

Peter Arundell

Peter Arundell was a racing driver from England, who raced in Formula One for the Lotus team. He participated in 13 World Championship Grands Prix, scoring 12 championship points....

, Trevor Taylor

Trevor Taylor

Trevor Taylor was a British motor racing driver from England.Born in Sheffield, the son of a garage owner from Rotherham, Taylor was the product of the later period of 500cc Formula 3 racing, initially using a Staride and later Cooper Norton...

, John Surtees

John Surtees

John Surtees, OBE is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He was 500cc motorcycle World Champion in 1956 and 1958–60, Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels...

(whose association with the formula was very brief!), Denny Hulme

Denny Hulme

Denis Clive "Denny" Hulme, OBE was a New Zealand racing driver, the 1967 Formula One World Champion for the Brabham team....

, Ed Leslie, Pat Pigott and Jack McAfee. German Gerhard Mitter

Gerhard Mitter

Gerhard Karl Mitter was a German Formula One and sportscar driver.Mitter was born in Schönlinde in Czechoslovakia, but his family was expelled from there, to Leonberg near Stuttgart....

successfully raced (40 wins) and sold (130) two-stroke-engines for FJ.

External links

http://www.formulajunior.com/
http://www.fia-lurani-trophy.com/

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