Drive It! The Complete Book of Formula 2 Motor Racing 0854293663, 9780854293667

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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/driveitcompleteb0000wood

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Haynes Publishing Group

First published

1984

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

A FOULIS

Motoring

Book

Published by: Haynes Publishing Group Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset

BA22

Distributed in USA by: Haynes Publications Inc. 861 Lawrence Drive, Newbury

7JJ

Park, California

Editor: Mansur Darlington Layout design: Barry Griffiths Dust jacket design: Phill Jennings Printed and bound by: J. H. Haynes & Co. Ltd.

91320

USA

Contents

Foreword

6

5

Sponsorship

83

Introduction

7

6

Formula 2 Cars

89

The History

13

|

A Race Weekend

101

2

Organisation

68

S

The Champions

109

3

The Circuits

71

9

The Classic Cars

123

4

Getting Started

78

Acknowledgements

127

1

Foreword

When one considers just how much has been written about Grand Prix racing, and that Formula 2 has been thriving as its immediate junior for virtually as long as Formula has existed, it is remarkable that until now no book has been available on this most deserving subject. After two years of contesting the European Formula 2 Championship, | have great enthusiasm and respect for the type of racing it provides. Ata cost of perhaps a tenth of the equivalent Formula1 budget, Formula2 has many of the qualities of a Grand Prix; an international field, professional teams, three day events and above all, fiercely contested good length races. We all tend to follow recognised names only in any sport, and this contributes to the much smaller crowds and media interest Formula2 attracts. But perhaps to an extent this is its forte too; without all the commercial show of Grand Prix racing Formula2 shines through as motor racing for the purist, with little to camouflage the efforts of the determined teams, engineers and drivers. Tristan Wood has provided an excellent insight into the somewhat obscure world of Formula 2 in this book. Particularly interesting for me is the comprehensive history of the category, and it is upon absorbing this that one realises that most of the names, whether drivers, team managers or designers, are the same as those ina Grand Prix publication — they just feature a few years earlier! It is very readable, uncomplicated and not bogged down with technical detail. All aspects are covered thoroughly; drivers, cars and races through a description of the circuits to even the method of Formula 2 administration. In its field, Tristan Wood's book has no

rivals, and learning more about Formula2 is a must for anybody truly interested in the sport.

Na —_—

Introduction

“A vital stage in a young driver's development.” “Features some of the finest racing to be seen

anywhere.” “Friendly, but intensely competitive — essentially, a sport with a capital S.” “Unlike Grand Prix racing, it has not become totally subservient to big-money interests’. “Forget F1 — contains more real racers than any other category.” Such are the statements which have been made about Formula 2 motor racing in recent years, when Grand Prix racing’s reputation has been tarnished by frequent reports of regularity protests, organisational feuds, circuit bans, driver walkouts and dull processional races. Caught in a blinding media spotlight and fuelled by the big-money investments of multinational companies and the like, it is inevitable in F1, to attain superiority over their rivals, that teams will continue to look to loopholes rather than follow the spirit of the regulations; that everyone pouring money into the Formula will also be striving to get as much out of it as possible; that Grand Prix venues will often be chosen more for their commercial possibilities (as epitomised by the Caesar’s Palace car park at Las Vegas) than for their ability to genuinely test driver and car (Nurburgring, Montjuich, Clermont Ferrand where are you now?); and that some drivers will be competing because of their wealthy backers rather than on merit, whilst others have become somewhat jaded with the whole wearying business. On the other hand, F2, which, despite participation by works teams, remains a customerorientated formula, has a remarkable history of constructors keen to reach agreement on any unclear regulations so as to produce cars which

are pretty equally matched, and of close racing by the world’s up-and-coming young drivers on a variety of interesting and demanding circuits. With its attractive, scaled-down versions of F1 cars and increasing television coverage around the world, F2 is growing more and more popular with spectators and competitors alike. It, too, is an expensive sport (a team’s season will cost in the region of £150,000 per entry) constantly faced with the difficult task of keeping costs down so that privateers can continue to take part, but this aim has been reasonably well achieved to date, despite the growing involvement of tyre and component manufacturers. For the drivers and some teams, F2 continues to be a valuable training ground for elevation to F1 racing, and for spectators, F2 has proven itself to be a heady and exciting single-seater category. Apart from the main European series, F2 racing also takes place in other parts of the world. In Japan, the Formula has comprised the country’s premier motor racing category for several years now (in 1983, the Japanese F2 Championship was contested over eight races from March to November). European drivers frequently appear in individual championship rounds, and the series has stimulated involvement in Europe by Japanese concerns like Honda and Bridgestone and racecar manufacturers like Nova. The other main marketplace for F2 chassis is South Africa, where the cars run with Mazda engines in a national series, while F2 machines of various vintage can be found in Formula Libre events all over the world, from South America to Eire. Indeed, F2 is no modern phenomenon. Since the birth of motor sport, the concept of a category for less powerful, scaled-down versions of the premier racing cars of the day has always existed.

4

INTRODUCTION

Believe it or not, this is the ancestor of the modern F2 racing car! A family pose beside a touring version of the Decauville Voiturelle which won the voiturette class in the 1898 Paris-Amsterdam-Paris Race.

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