F3 Cup 2021 provisional calendar

[andrewc]

24/25 April - Donington National
16 May - Silverstone National
12/13 June - Castle Combe
24 July - Oulton Park
21/22 August - Brands Indy
18/19 September - Donington National
2/3 October - Snetterton 300

As usual, calendar and regulations provisional at this stage, until ratified by MSUK.

[GCCheddaris]

Nice to see the Formula 3 Cup joining the Monopostos at Castle Combe in June ( COVID permitting ). Presumably Castle Combe's strict noise limit won't be a problem. It will be interesting to see how close the later generation F3 Cup cars can get to Dan Clarke's outright lap record set in a Dallara F305 during the last British Formula Three meeting in 2005.

[peebee2]

I would expect several seconds slower to be honest.

[GCCheddaris]

I thought the same thing initially but looking on TSL I think they could be quite close.

[Terry Scannell]

Andrew,

Superb news with the 2021 dates, great mix of circuits.

Hopefully we will be able to attract a good mix of cars / drivers and see some brilliant F3 Cup racing throughout the season.

So if you have your eligible F3 cars tucked away in your workshop then there is plenty of time between now and the 24/25th April to dust them down and prep them ready for the new season. The more the merrier.

Certainly going to be a great season with a brilliant atmosphere within the F3 Cup paddock as always.

[andrewc]

F3 Cup hasn't been to Castle Combe since 2009, when it was BRSCC F3. Their FL then was a 1m 02:574, set by Edwin Jowsey in a Dallara F300, 3.187s off Dan Clarke's lap record.

Since then F3 Cup are using a faster tyre - Pirelli's compared to the Avons of old and the cars have more downforce, more power and also 6 speed sequential box, so its quite possible that the outright lap record is there for the taking. Also there is significantly more professionalism and preparation being done by competitors these days, and if there is a sniff of the lap record, people will have a go at it.

Noise would be marginal, but F3 Cup cars normally meet the 108dB limit without too much problems.

Monoposto have been more recently and their FL was 01.03.723 in the F3 Class set by Alex Fores last year in an F301. Jeremy timms went 01:02.878 in his bike engined Dallara. Monoposto is at 40mm ride height so under car aero is compromised and have to run more wing on the upper surface. At its intended ride height, the undercar aero works better, so you can use less upper wing, which creates less drag for the same given downforce.

[andrewc]

At most circuits, F3 Cup is between 3 to 6 seconds per lap faster than Monoposto depending on circuit length and style. F3 Cup allows F3 cars up to 2017 year with the older style road car derived engines. Monoposto allows F3 Cups up to 2007 with road car based engines, or F3 engines with a 1mm smaller restrictor.

[GCCheddaris]

As an illustration of how quick the F3 Cup cars are, at the October Donington British GT meeting Alex Fores' fastest lap was over a second quicker than the quickest race lap set by the British F3s. Fingers crossed a few more cars come out next season.

[peebee2]

Some good points Andrew, although the newer cars weigh a fair bit more and have more drag. I’ve never heard anyone describe an FTR as quicker than an F3A and you need to remember the pro teams used to put about 100 man/hours into each car between outings which makes a fair difference. Also I’m not sure the Club F3 boys are running the spark that BF3 teams did back in the day.

GCC, also good points but remember the “BRDC F3” are no sort of F3 cars. They are F4 chassis with bigger wings and a bit more boost.

I did hear in the summer that British
F4 and BRDC F3 might merge into new F4 for 2021, but I’m not at all sure happening now.

[andrewc]

We'll just have to see what happens in June.

GCC mentioned Alex Fores, and it reminded me of the commentary stream. Alex is driving the same car that was driven by Bottas, so can compare lap times a bit on the Donington GP Circuit. Weather was described as cloudy and dry back in 2010, although no idea on temperatures and wind, and bright and dry this year.

Alex Fores - 1:24.529
- sector 1 - 18.803s 138.0 mph
- sector 2 - 31.664s 133.6 mph
- sector 3 - 34.062s 100.6 mph
theoretical best 01:24.058

Valterri Bottas 01:23.448s
- sector 1 - 18.785s 138.1mph
- sector 2 - 32.032 134.5 mph
- sector 3 - 32.507 100.8 mph
theoretical best 01:23.234

So the main change is that the car is now running in privateer / limited budget form on Pirelli tyres rather than the harder Cooper's run in the day - but still he's matching Bottas for most of the lap, but is losing out time in the Melbourne loop.

I know a number of drivers who went switching from the H-pattern to the sequential went faster, not because the gearbox is faster, but it meant they were able to devote more brain power to getting aspects of the lap better. Maybe not significantly faster over a single flying lap, but measurable over the course of a race distance.

[peebee2]

You chaps may well be right about the Combe record then as, from your data, I suspect the Pirellis might well be 2-3 seconds quicker than the Coopers / Avons.

[GCCheddaris]

Congratulations to Stefano Leaney for setting a new outright lap record at Castle Combe in the F3 Cup race. Shame there weren't a few more cars.

[tux]

Really impressive effort by Stefano Leaney, i did watch the stream, always nice to see these F3 cars out on track.

[andrewc]

Broke it in race one and bettered it shortly afterwards, but tyres were starting to go off. Broke it again in race 2. New record 00:58.596.

Yes, would be nice to see some other cars.

John Corbett smashed his car coming onto the pit straight in qualifying. Team Fox Racing, with the help of some other F3 Cup teams providing parts or man power, got the car back out both races. Impressive work.

[abw]

Sorry for the late post. The Castle Combe F3 Cup and Monoposto races are available on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAYMxbemj1Q

[andrewc]

Oulton Park this weekend, could possibly see another outright lap record fall.

Current Oulton Park International record is I think 1:28.669 set by Lucas Foresti in Dallara F311-Mercedes in 2011.

Current F3 Lap record is a 01:29.433 set a couple of years ago.

The 01:24.68 set by Gareth Rees in a F3000 car belongs to the pre-2003 circuit with slightly different chicane prior to Knickerbrook.