Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister History and Build
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Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build The facts The origins of Formula Ford began in the early 1960s, where motor racing schools such as the Jim Russell school and Motor Racing Stables featured single seat Formula Junior and Formula Three- like machines from world class constructors like Cooper and Lotus. Many aspiring Formula One stars looked to these schools in the hope of learning the craft and also looking the part. However, although there was no shortage of aspiring drivers, these schools had much trouble avoiding bankruptcy. The 1-litre Formula Three engines, the 1.1-litre Coventry Climax FJ and later the "Kent" engine from the Ford Anglia 105E, cost around £3,000 at the time in addition to the Dunlop racing tires which cost £80 a set. Furthermore, these engines were incredibly fragile and had a tendency to self-destruct. All these factors contributed to a steep maintenance and upkeep cost of the schools. In 1963, Geoff Clarke; the owner of Motor Racing Stables, moved his racing school to the Brands Hatch circuit. This brought him in contact with John Webb; managing director of developments at Brands Hatch. At about this time, two of the school’s Lotus Formula Junior chassis were fitted with a standard 1498cc Ford "Kent" pushrod engine as featured in the recently introduced Cortina GT saloon. The 1500 Cortina, with its reliability and horsepower output fairly close to “F3 proper” proved a resounding success in the school. The earliest experiments with radial tires bore fruit as well: the students of the day did not care that these were not the racing engines or racing tires, just that the cars were equal. At an informal meeting at the December 1966 racing car show day at Olympia, Webb and Clarke were discussing the possibility of building a fleet of identical open wheel race cars based on the success of combining the Ford power plant and road wheels, radial tires, and Formula Junior style chassis. Not only would they make ideal school cars, but would also provide a new entry level formula for a race series. They felt if they called it “Formula Ford" they could get backing from Ford itself. Webb was on the phone the next day to Ford competition manager Henry Taylor, who agreed to provide Clarke and MRS with 54 Cortina GT engines at £50 each (£15 below retail). Webb also approached the Royal Automobile Club's competition director, to establish rules for this new class. Late in 1967, Ford announced the new Formula Ford class to the world. Clarke then set about approaching existing race car constructors to build the first Formula Fords. Both Bruce McLaren and Jack Brabham turned down the idea; Colin Chapman however dusted off the obsolete Lotus 31 Chassis and reinvented it as the Lotus 51. He agreed to provide the first of two 25 car batches at £850 per car. The only stipulation Chapman had was that a Renault gear box was used. This proved to be fundamental weak point in the drive train. Difficulty with the Renault transmission resulted in a failure to continue with the second batch of cars for MRS. Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build Russell approached Chapman to supply Formula Ford cars for his own school. Chapman insisted Russell match Clarke’s 50 car order; Russell would only commit to 10 cars so the deal fell through. Russell then approached Taylor who built the Alexis car and a deal was struck to jointly produce the Russell-Alexis. This car had a Hewland racing gear box which made the car more expensive (£999), but was more reliable and allowed interchangeable ratios. The first standalone Formula Ford race took place at Brands Hatch on July 2, 1967. Of the 20 cars that competed, 10 were MRS Lotus 51s, including the eventual winner, Ray Allen. The Russell- Alexis car won its debut race in August 1967, and by 1968 54 Russell-Alexis had been sold. Based on this success Russell opened two more racing schools in Britain, another in Canada, and another in the United States. Chapman and his Lotus 51 did recover, replacing the troublesome Renault gear box with the Hewland unit, even claiming Russell as a customer in 1968. Also in 1968, Meryln debuted as a Formula Ford constructor, dominating sales for that year. Other new manufactures included Crosslé Car Company, Dulon, Elden Racing Cars, Hawke Racing Cars and Royale Racing Cars, together with existing constructors such as Brabham choosing to build a Formula Ford chassis. As the production Ford Cortina engine evolved to a new 1600cc crossflow unit, so did the Formula Ford regulations. Increasing costs forced them to relax the £1,000 price ceiling on Formula Ford as blueprinting of the engine was now allowed. One of the rather unusual manufacturers was “Major” Arthur Mallock. He started racing in the 750 Motorclub after the war and quickly became a manufacturer of his “U2” chassis. The cars were developed over the years and used in many different classes such as 750Formula, 1172Formula, Clubman’s, Formula Junior, Formula 3, Formula Ford and even Formula 3! Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build Mallock Mk 8 in Clubman`s specification Arthur’s son Richard is nowadays competing in the European Formula Junior Championship in a car his father had built Mallock Formula FORD cars were built from 1968 up to 1971 Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build “Major” Mallock is for sure the best known, but for sure not the only manufacturer of front engined Formula FORD cars……….. Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build A possible fake history A completely rotten chassis was found in a barn in France during our holidays. The owner did not know much about it, just that it originally came from England and that it was raced in French hill climbs in the mid-seventies. He also stated that it had a FORD engine fitted, but the engine was not with the chassis anymore. Some stamped numbers on the chassis led to the assumption, that the car could have started its life as a Formula Ford race car. The chassis was bought for little money and brought to Switzerland, where a restoration started with nothing more than a rotten chassis. The car was rebuilt with a much stronger chassis, as the original was rather a death trap (as were all race cars during these years). The new chassis even complies with FIA rules regarding rollover protection Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build The real history I always admired the Mallock race cars, as they used standard components from serial cars and were in the end as fast as specialised racing machines, the same way as Colin Chapman started his career. Original Mallocks are hard to find nowadays, as they are classic’s in the meantime. On the other hand, I enjoy much more to design something on my own rather than restore a car, where I need to follow originality, even with lousy detail solutions…... By luck, we have a Formula FORD class in our clubsport championship, where the rules are not too strict and where all my friends believe that a front engined formula car is crap. I do not need any further excuse to proof they`re wrong So the decision was made to design and build a front engined Formula FORD race car, which could have been in existence in 1968, following the rules of 1968 and loosely following the principles of the design of Clubman’s race cars from that period. The name “Bannister” comes from a visit to Brooklands, where I learned that the chief instructor and chief pilot of the Concorde was Mike Bannister. I decided to call my 1968 race car “Bannister” with the big advantage that one can`t find anything in the internet related to this name and motor racing….. So the car has to be extremely rare, as nobody ever seems to have heard of it The build The build started in September 2019 with a Ford Escort axle. I shortened the axle housing by 10 cm on the left hand side. Brackets were manufacture for the five link suspension. The drive shaft was shortened by Thomas Amweg, the son of Swiss racing legend Fredy Amweg. It proofed that the material is extremely hard, the tools suffered quite a bit…. Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build Brackets during welding, the brakes itself are already overhauled with all new parts and with an overhauled 4.4 : 1 differential, which I still had in stock. Also taken from my stock, an old set of steel wheels 13” x 5.5” as per the rules. They originate from Peugeot and have the same fixing dimensions as FORD. Not perfect “original”, but at least made by a well-known English brand (in France ). Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build After painting, wheels shod with the correct control tyres AVON ACB9 in dimension 6.5/23 – 13 (rear) and 5.0/22 – 13 (front). The build started in typical “garage design” style with a wooden platform to give the correct chassis height and the rough dimensions. Rear suspension designed as soon as the chassis rails were defined. Formula FORD 1600 – Bannister history and build The spare engine from my Lotus Seven was lifted into the chassis to check engine bay space. Roll hoop bended and fixed to check if driver is protected safely, first details welded to the frame This was the state between Christmas and New Year ’s Eve, I used the time when the office was closed to work some days in a row on the car.