Sadly, it can be rare to find common sense in motorsport. Yet last month's confirmation that the British Racing & Sports Car Club and MotorSport Vision Racing had reached an agreement to not run rival series for modern Formula Ford 1600 machines from 2024 is a rare exception to that rule.
The end of the BRSCC’s long-running National FF1600 championship may be sad news for those who hark back to FF1600’s glory days decades ago when it was the place for young racers to begin the climb up the motorsport ladder, but the decision to concentrate all efforts on MSVR’s United series is a logical one. The cold, hard numbers dictate that.
So far this year, National FF1600 has managed a measly 11 cars on average, while United – which caters for cars throughout FFord’s history and not just modern machines – has fared only slightly better with 12, although it has varied wildly from 20 at some events to six at others. Put simply, there are not enough competitors to go around.
The 19-20 August weekend was the perfect example: National attracted 11 cars at Brands Hatch, while United featured a meagre six at Oulton Park. Such a situation simply is not sustainable at a time of economic uncertainty, when organisers literally cannot afford to have small grids.
While the end-of-season knockout Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy events continue to pull in vast crowds of entries, it is worth noting how FF1600 has struggled more generally in recent times. The Scottish and Irish championships no longer exist, and even the historic scene is far less buoyant now than it has been in seasons gone by. The exception has to be the Castle Combe series, which had its own slump a few years back but has steadily and impressively rebounded since then.
So that leads us to the common-sense decision taken over the 2024 FF1600 landscape. And, in another break from the motorsport norm, this was something extensively discussed between the relevant parties and not decided on a whim or bulldozed through.
Source: Autosport