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 gearbox was to be 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. 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 gearbox 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 gearbox with the Hewland unit, even claiming Russell as a customer in 1968. Also in 1968,
Merlyn 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. Belgium hosted the first race outside England, in 1967. Formula Ford racing quickly spread across Europe and North America, with the first official Formula Ford race in the United States on March 23, 1969, and was
included in the SCCA Runoffs that same year. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Formula Ford had established itself as a direct path to a seat on a
Formula One car, the highest level in open wheel motorsport. Australian
Tim Schenken won over two dozen Formula Ford races in 1968, two years later he was driving a Formula One car for
Frank Williams.
Emerson Fittipaldi impressed during the 1970 Formula One Grand Prix season after a short stint in Formula Ford. In 1970, he became the first Formula Ford graduate to win a Formula One Grand Prix. In 1972, he became the first Formula Ford graduate to win the Formula One world championship. In the United States, starting with a 1983 debut race and victory at the 1983 SCCA Runoffs the Swift DB-1 became the dominant chassis in North America Formula Ford racing with ten championships between 1983 and 1996. The DB-6 evolution of the chassis won an additional six championships through 2008. During this time Formula Ford was on the decline in the US for several reasons. The rising cost of competition, SCCA's introduction of a spec sports racer, Sports Renault, and the dominance of the Swift chassis helped to collapse the class in the US. Currently, Formula Ford racing exists in two main forms in Europe: National Series for aspiring 'career' drivers run around the world which have used the 1600
Duratec engine, (which replaced the heavier but not significantly more powerful
Zetec engine in 2006), and for 2012 are beginning to adopt the new
EcoBoost 1600 turbo engine; and a mainly amateur, club-racing series attracting serious enthusiasts using the now rejuvenated 1600
Kent engine with which the formula ran from the mid-1960s to mid-1990s, as Ford restarted production of the Kent engine in 2009 for motorsport reasons. Whatever the engine of the Formula Ford car, it has long provided a relatively inexpensive way for drivers to race purpose-built racecars. There are many
Formula Ford 1600 series for drivers of the older Kent-powered cars. ==Formula Ford cars==