2009 Australian F3 - rumour mill/driver line up

[williamsf1]

So with the first round fast approaching at Clipsal, who is going to be driving in F3 this year???

TANDERSPORT - no Leanne, but still will run at least 2 cars?

BRM - 4 cars.... drivers?

R tek ?

In fact I don't know of any confirmed driver signings???

who can fill in the blanks?

[aussieOW1]

Based on what I've heard around the traps.. Ben Crighton will drive a TanderSport F307. Mat Sofi will drive his F307 / Mugen prepared by Astuti Motorsport. Also confirmed is Tom Tweedie in the ex-Alajajian F304 now prepared by RALT Australia and Graham Watson and will run in National Class. Jesse Wakeman will also be back in either the ex-Reindler 301 or an F304 if they can sell their current car. On tracks like Symmons Plains, Wakefield and probably winton the 304s have a good chance at Top three outright.

Scud Racing will run their F307 again but have not confirmed a driver.

Former Asian F3 operation Team Goddard has committed to running at least one, if not two, F307s in the series. No news yet on how the arrangement will work or what cars they will use but rumour has it they will be testing drivers soon.

Would also expect 2 x F307s from BRM, 1 '07 and an '04 from Piccola, an extra 07 from Astuti, and possibly extra cars from TanderSport and R-Tek.

Tim Macrow is also preparing the PHR Scuderia 304 / Renaults and looks likely to run one if not two this year.

I dont think grids will increase this year but if they can settle at 16 - 18 given the current ecenomic woes it will be great for Open wheel in Australia.

I note that according to the website the series has a new management group in place and the rumors i've heard out of the last meeting last year was that a potential name change and re-branding of the series was on the cards.

I hope it's a great season for F3!

[gomick]

Interesting that Team Goddard is entering - will keep an eye on them!

[runshaw]

Sho Hanawa has been testing for Team Goddard. He has raced UK Formula Renault for the past 2 seasons.

[08u05]

Sho Hanawa tested for Team Goddard during September in one of their Formula BMWs, so this is a natural progression.

[runshaw]

Hanawa has been confirmed at Team Goddard. They also want to run a second car this season.

[PenguinPunch]

Originally Posted by williamsf1

So with the first round fast approaching at Clipsal, who is going to be driving in F3 this year???

TANDERSPORT - no Leanne, but still will run at least 2 cars?

BRM - 4 cars.... drivers?

R tek ?

In fact I don't know of any confirmed driver signings???

who can fill in the blanks?

Yeah it looks like it will be a very quiet year for Australian F3. It's a real shame because the category looked like it was starting to really take off (plus the cars are great).

Australia needs a category like Formula Three. But at the moment the only sustainable (professional) categories seem to V8's, V8 development series and Formula Ford... Perhaps they can make a strong comeback when the ecconomy is back on track.

With only a 2 or 3 drivers confirmed, I hope it doesn't turn out like Carrera Cup did...

[stig72]

Any British Drivers doing the 09 season??

[PenguinPunch]

Originally Posted by stig72

Any British Drivers doing the 09 season??

Not that i've heard. As far as I know only Mat Sofi, Shoe Hanawa and Tom Tweedie are confirmed for the series.

Hopefully things get a little better before for the first round - although there are only 20-odd days until the season starts.

Looks like it could be an easy win for Mat.

[gomick]

3 cars - formula holden was stronger .... hopefully we get good # in adelaide

[Darcia1]

Yes Team goddard are running out of Brm in Adelaide . there may well be another running af3 team coming to race her possibly Aran racing??? i Know former series owner E pena son was to race here with a 07 merc Dallara but have not heard about this for some time. i have spoken to Mark at great length about their plans and having a go with BRMseems a good fit they will fly in and prepare cars etc will be good to see them compete here.

[Bill Erickson]

After ending 2008 with a win in the F3 SuperPrix, TanderSport will this year be led by Crighton who takes over the (now) #52 Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz chassis that finished second in last years series.

[PenguinPunch]

So 4 cars confirmed now, with 2 weeks until round one.

Hopefully things pick up in the next couple of days.

Maybe they will combine the grid with Formula Holden or Formula Ford? :P

[gomick]

Formula Ford will be fine on there own

[META4]

Originally Posted by PenguinPunch

So 4 cars confirmed now, with 2 weeks until round one.

Hopefully things pick up in the next couple of days.

Maybe they will combine the grid with Formula Holden or Formula Ford? :P

Formula Holden does not exist anymore AFAIK

[gomick]

It is well & truly dead....

[gomick]

Confirmed that Tom Tweedie will race for Graham Watson's RALT Team...

[PenguinPunch]

Yeah I agree Formula Ford will be fine on their own - that was more of a joke.

But you would think that Australian Formula Three would have to do something out of the ordinary to get some more numbers in time.

With 15-odd days until round one and only 4 cars confirmed it won't look too good.

From what i've read only Sofi, Shoe, Tweedie & Crighton have signed up.

Maybe to get by this season they could merge with that Formula Robertson Series http://www.formula-robertson.com/ (similar to club f3 or formula monoposto).

[aussieOW1]

There are more than four cars confirmed. Jesse Wakeman, the young South Australian, will be racing. so too will Chris Gilmour. Ray Chamberlain will also be there.

I believe BRM are talking to internationals for there 07s as are Astuti for their 07 car.

Last I heard from people in the know suggest between 15 - 18 for Clipsal but in this climate 15 would be an achievement.

No doubt it will be a smaller grid this year however that was probably going to be expected. However it will be no less feisty with some good drivers suiting up.

The question must be asked, however, why is Formula Ford so strong and Aussie F3 not? The costs are not a lot different, in fact Aus F3 National class is now the same price as FFord (For between six - ten seconds per lap quicker) - at between $15 - $20K per round.

IMHO a lot of it is perception and a lack of support from CAMS and the AMSF.

Young drivers want to race where the CAMS / AMSF backed drivers race and that is Formula Ford. It is a travesty that the best that the governing body can do for their 'premier category' (Their words, not mine) is a prize to a AIS boot camp for the F3 champion.

It is also wrong that CAMS encourages out of depth drivers to go straight to Europe prior instead of doing a season of Aus F3 first.

Time for an F3 Rising Stars car. One of them and you'll see a lot more drivers coming from FF to Formula 3 and, therefore, a stronger series.

Maybe to get by this season they could merge with that Formula Robertson Series http://www.formula-robertson.com/ (similar to club f3 or formula monoposto).

I would suggest that this is extremely unlikely and probably impossible given the different philosophies at hand.

[Mak]

The F3 association is doing its best to find international drivers with Adds in Autosport the last few weeks> It makes sense as the budgets are a lot lower than the comparable national calss in the UK> The competition level there also has been highter in the past few seasons> I hope that the series stays strong as this is the most professional single seater series in OZ and the Australian Drivers Championship

[PenguinPunch]

Great to see a few more entries confirmed. 7-12 entries would be good achievement with the way things are at the moment. Atleast you could have a race with those numbers. 4 was looking a bit scary!

Originally Posted by Mak

I hope that the series stays strong as this is the most professional single seater series in OZ

I hope the series stays strong. It's a very good category and could play an important role in Australia's motorsport ladder. But I'd have to disagree with it being the most professional single seater series in OZ.

Formula Ford is obviously the leading/most professional open wheel category - considering it continues to produce drivers such as: Webber, Ambrose, Whincup, Marshall, Tander, Riccardo, Martin, Winterbottom, Bright, Richards, Coulthard, Besnard, Power, Will Davison, Alex Davison, James Davison, Reynolds, Ingall, Owen, Slade, Lowndes, McConville, Bargwanna, D'Alberto, etc

Personally I think Formula Ford will always be the 'leading' or strongest single seater category. Because of its history in Australia, it's well established, proven record of developing drivers, depth in professional teams, cars/teams can be run PROPERLY on a relatively small budget, it has the proven respect of 'V8 Supercar-Land', and it has the backing from the ford motor company (v8 support and good TV).

It is for these reasons that it always has strong numbers, even when the ecconomy is in the state that it is in now.

But Formula Three can and hopefully will one day be regarded as the next step after formula ford. If we could have a more structured route for drivers I think it could only be a good thing for Australian motorsport. eg Karting -> Formula Ford -> Formula Three -> then either British F3 or V8 Development Series.

There is of course a long way to go until this can happen, but F3 has been moving in the right direction for the last couple of years. Hopefully after this 'hiccup period' things will get back on-track in 2010-2011.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Mak

The F3 association is doing its best to find international drivers with Adds in Autosport the last few weeks> It makes sense as the budgets are a lot lower than the comparable national calss in the UK> The competition level there also has been highter in the past few seasons> I hope that the series stays strong as this is the most professional single seater series in OZ and the Australian Drivers Championship

In all these junior formula series around the world and the growth there of, was funded by rich dads having made their fortune in property development or finance to let little johnny play racing driver. That is mostly gone now with the crash of the global economy. Most 20 years olds don't have "budgets" of the scale required for F3 lying around.

What is happening is shrinkage in all these formula and the only formula that will survive or do well are ones that have value and/or rewards to justify the outlay. Drivers on the F3 ladder in Europe are in the pursuit of F1 or an international career. Going to Australia really doesn't make much sense unless a career in Australia is desired.

Formula Ford in Australia by the way needs some cost cuts.

[aussieOW1]

In all these junior formula series around the world and the growth there of, was funded by rich dads having made their fortune in property development or finance to let little johnny play racing driver. That is mostly gone now with the crash of the global economy. Most 20 years olds don't have "budgets" of the scale required for F3 lying around.

Exactly. And it's even more prevailant in the UK this year as Volkswagen are putting heavy subsidies into 'their' teams, like Carlin, to ensure that they can get drivers.

What is happening is shrinkage in all these formula and the only formula that will survive or do well are ones that have value and/or rewards to justify the outlay. Drivers on the F3 ladder in Europe are in the pursuit of F1 or an international career. Going to Australia really doesn't make much sense unless a career in Australia is desired.

The sad thing is that Australian Formula 3 has more respect internationally (Simply because it is 'F3') than it does in Austrlaia because so far the governing body refuses to get behind it. Going to Australia does make sense for some of these Euros simply because a) they can win an internationally recognised F3 series, and b), they can spend GBP 100 - 130,000 poiunds instead of half a million pounds for a championship British drive.

But of course with the British economy more in the toilet than our own, it probably hasn't worked as intended!

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by aussieOW1

Exactly. And it's even more prevailant in the UK this year as Volkswagen are putting heavy subsidies into 'their' teams, like Carlin, to ensure that they can get drivers.



The sad thing is that Australian Formula 3 has more respect internationally (Simply because it is 'F3') than it does in Austrlaia because so far the governing body refuses to get behind it. Going to Australia does make sense for some of these Euros simply because a) they can win an internationally recognised F3 series, and b), they can spend GBP 100 - 130,000 poiunds instead of half a million pounds for a championship British drive.

But of course with the British economy more in the toilet than our own, it probably hasn't worked as intended!

For a lot of these formula teams to survive they will have to get beyond ride buyers and start sourcing sponsors/partners/patrons to float part of the cost. Otherwise many will not survive. The number of dads available right now to write out a six figure check for their son to play with racing cars, is few and far between. As an example, just in the past 2 months $3 Trillion dollars of wealth has been wiped out in the stock market in the USA, so in this economic climate the money isn't there for these frivolous extravagances such as racing formula cars. Everyone is trying to hold their business together right now.

Again even though racing in Aus F3 may be cheaper, it wont be of much value to those dreaming of F1. It is similar to the US formula series which many turn to due to being less expensive with good prize money. But the only good is does for you is in the USA. F1 teams are not looking to USA junior formula series for talent.

[PenguinPunch]

Just read that Jesse Wakeman is stepping up from his old 2001 Dallara into an F304 for the Clipsal round.

Good to see. Hope he can do the whole season.

5 confirmed drivers so far :

Sofi F307 - Astuti
Wakeman F304 - R-Tek
Sho F307 - BRM
Tweedie F304 - Ralt
Crighton F307 - TanderSport

With only 8 days until race week, will they be allowed to compete? Still a chance for a mixed grid with another category??? EG Formula Robertson... http://www.formula-robertson.com/ (similar to club f3 or formula monoposto).