2006 f3 euro/ uk/ etc series??

[schiattarella]

hi i need help as im trying to find any info on the f3 euroseries for 2006? i thought i read of them introducing a "trophy class" (like the UK series) for 2006 can anyone give me info on that.. also wat about the 06 trophy class for the UK championship??? also any news for the 06 spanish and 06 german series would be good as im looking on behalf of a young driver who has been racing bmw this season..

also if anyone wants to share their veiws on something like- spanish/ german/ trophy class F3 against something like formula renault eurocup i'd be interested to hear? what is the general opinion in terms of which would be the best option in terms of driver development and budgets?

any contact details from teams/ organises would also be helpful?

thank-you>..

[flor]

I talked with some people from the Euroseries yesterday, yes, there a cup or whatever for used cars. The organizers expect 20 new cars and 6-8 old ones BUT after asking around at different teams this is a very unrealistic view and it will probably a LOT less, (imho they are lucky if they get 20 cars in total. Even teams like Prema are struggeling to find drivers, if they get a place in GP2 they will probably leave F3, team Rosberg leaves the series, Midland could run in British F3 or somewhere else but nothing decided there yet.

The Toyota driver development program will place their drivers only in cars with Mercedes engines as it seems that everything else is useless. Spiess will bring a new engine which is stiffer and 3 kilos lighter, still 20 heavier than the Merc.... There were big discussions between Spiess and teams which modified their engines to be more competitive during the last race weekend.

[Daisy]

There were rumours that Raikkonens team would move to the Euroseries in 2006, any news on that if that's true?

[strider]

Raikkonens team will stay in the UK, but with Merc engines.There is a Junior Cup in the Euroseries next year, but only 7 meetings. The best bet is the National Class in British F3. You run with the main championship all the time. The costs are definitely less, but the cars are not much slower, you get to learn all about F3 and it's good, competitive racing.

[schiattarella]

Originally Posted by flor

I talked with some people from the Euroseries yesterday, yes, there a cup or whatever for used cars. .

may i ask you what cars will be used and engines and any more info such as testing limits? also does anyone have any provisional calenders for 2006?? thank-you

So the euroseries is not looking very strong for 06 then? that's a shame if it's struggling...

[ale16]

Thinking on the driver's side, where would you drive in Euroseries if not in ASM? This team has been doing their job so much better than the others that sometimes looks like there is already a "B" championship running.

I am also curious about Spanish and German championships in 2006.

[strider]

Originally Posted by schiattarella

also does anyone have any provisional calenders for 2006?? thank-you

Provisional British F3 calendar for 2006:

April 15/16/17 - Oulton Park
May 6/7 - Silverstone (with FIA GT)
May 20/21 -Donington Park
June 3/4 -Pau (to be confirmed)
June 24/25 -Mondello Park
July 15/16 -Snetterton
July 29/30 -Spa (with Spa 24 hrs FIA GT)
Aug 13/14 - Croft (to be confirmed)
Sep 2/3 Brands Hatch Grand Prix -(with A1GP)
Sep 16/17 Imola - (with FIA GT)
30 Sep/Oct 1 - Thruxton (to be confirmed)

[F1 Prospects]

Originally Posted by flor

I talked with some people from the Euroseries yesterday, yes, there a cup or whatever for used cars. The organizers expect 20 new cars and 6-8 old ones BUT after asking around at different teams this is a very unrealistic view and it will probably a LOT less, (imho they are lucky if they get 20 cars in total. Even teams like Prema are struggeling to find drivers, if they get a place in GP2 they will probably leave F3, team Rosberg leaves the series, Midland could run in British F3 or somewhere else but nothing decided there yet.

The Toyota driver development program will place their drivers only in cars with Mercedes engines as it seems that everything else is useless. Spiess will bring a new engine which is stiffer and 3 kilos lighter, still 20 heavier than the Merc.... There were big discussions between Spiess and teams which modified their engines to be more competitive during the last race weekend.

I'm going to follow up on this as I am curious as to who has firmed up their 2006 Euroseries line-up and who hasn't. Why exactly are the teams struggling to find drivers? Budget issues?

[schiattarella]

i've heard the trophy cup class budget is around 350+k euro although i'm not sure what is included in terms of testing or anything and thats for 7 race weekends.... how do you guys think that racks up against the UK, german and spanish series?

[Go-Pakistan]

Originally Posted by schiattarella

i've heard the trophy cup class budget is around 350+k euro although i'm not sure what is included in terms of testing or anything and thats for 7 race weekends.... how do you guys think that racks up against the UK, german and spanish series?

AFAIK, uk f3 scholarship class starts from about £240-250k for the season.
uk f3 champ. class starts about £350k, both depending on team and testing.

[bella]

i'd say the euroseries budget even for a lower class is going to be higher than the numbers quoted, and at least higher than the bf3 national. then again that could depend on where the team is based.

i'm finding it very difficult to like the new race format for the euroseries. having been to see just over half of the season, and seen that spectators for the most part sit down and watch the races, and actually follow them with a fair degree of enthusiasm, i can't see how aligning them with gp2 is going to help. it's only going to confuse the vast number of spectators who camp at the track for the whole weekend, and whose only real way of keeping up is through the commentary and picking up a free copy of "dtm am sonntag" (which i might add is an absolute genius idea). and considering there's i reckon about 30,000 people on race day who actually watch the race, they're doing pretty well there.

maybe it's because they're trying to be different to bf3

[flor]

Originally Posted by F1 Prospects

I'm going to follow up on this as I am curious as to who has firmed up their 2006 Euroseries line-up and who hasn't.

I heard ASM will have 3 cars again, HBR will have 4 (2new 2old), Manor will probably have 2 again as will Mücke, i dont know anything anything about other teams or who will be the drivers.

[SpawnyWhippet]

Originally Posted by Go-Pakistan

AFAIK, uk f3 scholarship class starts from about £240-250k for the season.
uk f3 champ. class starts about £350k, both depending on team and testing.

Quite a sizeable outlay for a grid that sometimes attacts fewer spectators than participants... I was at one meeting (Snet, maybe?) where the place was practically empty except for team members and officials.

[bella]

s'got reasonable tv coverage and some magnificent tracks to go to though. most forms of motorsport don't get that many spectators in this country anyway, so it's not exactly anything new.

[SALEEN S7R]

I dont know how entirely true that statement is Bella. The top level national racing series in the UK generally attract anything from 20,000-40,000 from race to race. BSB for example, regularly gets crowds of over 30,000 for every race meeting. The BTCC too gets anything from 20,000-35,000 per event too. The British GT/F3 package gets something in the reigion of 10,000-20,000 per event as far as I am aware, thats not including the events where it teams up with FIA GT and the LMES however where I expect the attendance figures are significantly higher.

Small attendances? Maybe compared to F1, Moto GP and Champ car, and the DTM but still IMO fairly large, larger than what most countries get for their national championships.

[Ian Sowman]

Saleen, F3/GT rarely gets anything approaching 10,000!

[SALEEN S7R]

Oh but it does Ian, especially at places like Donnington, Silverstone and Brands Hatch. It might not get 10,000+ at every meeting but there are numerous times throughout the year where the series gets into double figures.

[jondownunder]

I always thought Castle Combe had the highest crowd figures for F3-GT (eg. 24,000 in 2003 according to this article). Of course it's sadly off the calendar now. I can't speak for the other circuits F3-GT races on.

[bella]

saleen, it really REALLY doesn't get more than 5k. especially paying spectators.

[SALEEN S7R]

Bella, I know from past experince of going to races myself, and from friends of mine that go to other BGT meetings throughout the UK either as spectators or members of the press that the BGT/F3 series does get into double figures numerous times throughout the course of a season.

[TheNewBob]

I was only at the Donington meeting this year - I've not seen any official figures but when you consider people are spread out over a whole area of a circuit... I'd find it difficult to believe there was less than 10,000 - weather or not the fact it was the season opener has any effect on that, I really don't know...

[bella]

i went to almost every f3/gt meeting(combe wasn't one of them this year), and i can gurantee there wasn't more than 10,000, let alone paying spectators.

at donington especially, a lot of the paddock go to redgate to watch, and there are a lot of invited guests. this can create the illusion of there actually being a crowd.

even at the lmes rounds overseas there weren't 10,000 people there, especially to see the british f3 races.

[Gaz]

I have to agree with Bella, the majority of F3 meetings you can count the number of people there on one hand. Combe is the only meeting that attracts the punters and even that seemed well down on numbers this year over past seasons.

[strider]

You must have a lot of fingers on that one hand, Gaz - scary

It's true, though, that BF3 doesn't attract huge crowds, but nor (imo) would Euroseries F3 if it was not running with the DTM.

[bella]

i agree entirely, the crowds for a seperate euroseries meeting would be poor (by german standards). but the number of people that watch it because it's there are higher than the number that watch bf3 because it's there at lmes meetings...