New South African series with old A1GP cars

Formulahistory · 13 Aug 2015, 03:04 (Ref:3565721)

Autosport reported in June, that a South African group has bought the Ferrari A1 GP cars to start a new series this winter. Since that I never heard of it again. Are there any South Africans here that can tell more?

Alessio · 13 Aug 2015, 10:05 (Ref:3565764)

They were posting on their Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/afrixmotorsport) however last post was the 27th July. I would think it unlikely for the series to happen, however the Acceleration Group are attempting to re-boot the older A1GP Lola's for a series in the Middle East now too (http://www.isra.nl/).

NaBUru38 · 13 Aug 2015, 14:43 (Ref:3565817)

Wouldn't it be smater for South Africa and Middle East to start with an F3 championship?

Formulahistory · 14 Aug 2015, 08:16 (Ref:3565957)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alessio

They were posting on their Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/afrixmotorsport) however last post was the 27th July. I would think it unlikely for the series to happen, however the Acceleration Group are attempting to re-boot the older A1GP Lola's for a series in the Middle East now too (http://www.isra.nl/).

Thank you for that very interesting post. I think a FA1 Middle East series could be successful...

Mekola · 14 Aug 2015, 12:11 (Ref:3565982)

We had previous experience with Formula V6 Asia, that raced in 2006-09 with ex Formula Renault 3.5 cars (pre-WSR, these Tatuus used in 2003-04).

p-matt · 14 Aug 2015, 21:40 (Ref:3566097)

In theory it could work. There's nothing for gp2/fr3.5 drivers to race in the winter the same way that TRS is for F3/GP3/Eurocup level drivers. I always felt it was a gap in the market

mountainstar · 14 Aug 2015, 23:44 (Ref:3566116)

It could revitalize SA motorsport but will take some bucks to get going. Probably not likely to happen, but good luck if it does.

Juntos · 21 Aug 2015, 05:11 (Ref:3567415)

How much is the season going to cost? How's the humiliation going to go down?

Roninho · 8 Dec 2015, 12:14 (Ref:3596398)

Saw on autosport that Dan Clarke tested the car recently.
They had to have new engine management software developed since that was not included in the sale (probably couldn't agree on a deal with Ferrari).
Now they have to develop a standard steering wheel.

Formulahistory · 8 Dec 2015, 15:41 (Ref:3596432)

Any news on the FA1 Middle East Trophy? That sounded more realistic...

Roninho · 8 Dec 2015, 16:04 (Ref:3596438)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Any news on the FA1 Middle East Trophy? That sounded more realistic...

Why do you think that? I have no idea on how realistic it is for both, and i can see that there are probably more 'daddy has money'-type of drivers around in the middle east.

Biggest thing against FA1 that i see is how credible are they. Last year with Autogp basically killed their credibility. And afaik FA1 don't own the cars so would be dependend on the group of ~10 teams that have one of these cars to go and race in the events.

The African guys bought the cars for over 2 million euros, so at least have that under their control. That 2 million also says something about how serious it is. Due to them owning the cars i would not be surprised to actually see a race happening. Not sure how they are going to make money though.

Anyway, for boht i think it will be hard. Id say if you do it on the cheap, it cost probably something like 50k per car to run an event (excluding that the cars need to be transported). So 20 cars x 50k is 1 million euro. Add 400-500k to rent the track, tv production, promotion etc, and you are quickly at 1.5 million for 1 race. That is a lot of tickets and sponsorship to sell.

Formulahistory · 8 Dec 2015, 17:20 (Ref:3596451)

MRF Challenge and Toyota Racing Series are two classes with much interest from young drivers in Europe. And I think that could also be the case with a FA1 Middle East Trophy as the Arabian Racing Scenes rises. But in South Africa Formula Racing is dead - what's very sad if you look at their history...

Mekola · 12 Dec 2015, 14:11 (Ref:3597298)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

MRF Challenge and Toyota Racing Series are two classes with much interest from young drivers in Europe. And I think that could also be the case with a FA1 Middle East Trophy as the Arabian Racing Scenes rises. But in South Africa Formula Racing is dead - what's very sad if you look at their history...

As is in risk in Argentina, where we have the shame our bigger national formula series is Argentine F. Renault.
But remnants of Mecánica Argentina Fórmula 1 survives as a regional series with about club/amateur drivers and even historics of the series. The legendary Orlando Sotro raced there until his 82 years old before passed away sometime recently, making him the oldest ever formula driver in motorsport history.

Roninho · 14 Dec 2015, 12:24 (Ref:3597682)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Any news on the FA1 Middle East Trophy? That sounded more realistic...

I think these are their cars. Put fur sale this weekend (at least the ad was put online this weekend).
https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/De...olling-chassis

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