UCLan Racing revved up for Formula Ford 1600 season
The Formula Ford 1600 Championship returns next month, and students from the University of Central Lancashire are hoping to get more than just pulses racing.
UCLan Racing, the university’s very own FF1600 team, will compete in the British Racing and Sports Car Club’s Northern Championship this season.
The first race meeting takes place on Saturday 9th April at Oulton Park in Cheshire.
Nick Johnson, Senior Motorsport Technician at UCLan, is embarking upon his fourteenth year with the team, and confidence is high following preseason testing.
“(Testing) went very well. The weather was good. We put together a test plan and we managed to stick to that and achieve what we wanted to achieve, so we’re looking quite good.”
Jaap Blijleven, who travels from the Netherlands in order to compete, will drive the UCLan Racing car once again this season.
Johnson is optimistic for the season ahead.
“We’ve had race wins with Jaap. We were leading the championship at one point last year and then Jaap had to miss a race for a family event, so we sort of conceded the championship.”
The team may have missed out last year, but there’s been plenty of previous success.
UCLan Racing has won the regional championship twice before, in 2010 and 2012. They have consistently ranked inside the top three every season for the past three years. The team also won the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 2002, and then again in 2006.
The championship victory in 2012 was particularly special for UCLan.
Rotating a team selected from 31 different students, with no student working on the car more than once, the team won 10 of the 14 races that year.
It’s a tried and tested method that the team stick with, and they have been very competitive in the years that have followed.
“A perfect entry level…”
Johnson, who has worked at the university since 2002, believes the championship is an excellent route for his students to get into motorsport.
First-year students studying Motorsports Engineering can join UCLan Racing as an extracurricular activity and gain practical experience alongside their studies.
“The Formula Ford championship that we do is entry level for racers and it’s a perfect entry level for budding engineers and mechanics as well.
“When the students arrive in the first year, they get to prepare the cars. We teach them how to do routine checks on the cars. We also do engine work and set-up work and explain the performance advantages behind having the car set up properly.”
The team operates a rotational policy when it comes to the students working at race meetings because, as Johnson points out, only so much work needs doing at any one time. It also ensures that as many students as possible have the chance to get involved throughout the season.
This opportunity, the possibility for students to become part of the team, is obviously good for the students involved and seems to work well or the outfit as a whole.
“We manage to compete against other, professional, teams” says Johnson.
“A chance of winning…”
The crew might be students when it comes to the engineers and mechanics, but the driver behind the wheel is not. The championship is open to all, not just universities, and the competition out on track is tough.
It’s easy to see just how tough it can be when you look at some previous competitors.
Derek Warwick, Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson…
All have raced in Formula Ford, before later going on to compete at the highest level in motorsport, Formula One.
For UCLan Racing however, their entry into the championship is about more than helping to promote young driving talent to the next level. It’s about creating the unsung heroes of motorsport’s future. The people in the paddock that don’t grab the headlines. It’s about the designers and engineers, the mechanics and technicians.
Speaking about Blijleven’s involvement with the team, Johnson said;
“It’s a hobby. Jaap’s in his early fifties, he knows he’s not going to get to F1. He balances life and his hobbies. He enjoys going to every race knowing that with him, his car and the team that he’s got, you put that together and he’s got a chance of winning every time he goes somewhere.”
With the season opener just weeks away, Johnson seems happy enough with the team and its preparations, but feels something is missing.
Recognition on campus for the team’s efforts is disappointingly low, especially considering the level of competition at which the university is represented, and the previous success it has had.
Some students are not aware that the team even exists.
Johnson wants to see this changed, and would like to raise awareness of the team, his students and their achievements.
A poll on social media suggests that more coverage of the team would be a welcome addition to the sport already covered by student media.
The team itself does not have a Twitter presence, but does have a Facebook page.
When asked about the student media coverage that he would like to see in future, Johnson said;
“Little and often is probably better than one feature every six or twelve months. Maybe a small report or something after each race, as you would if it were a football team or a rugby team.
“I think that the results that we get, the way that the students perform, I think it’s worthy of more coverage.”
Are you are motorsport fan? What do you think of FF1600?
Are you a student at UCLan, either past, present or future? How do you feel about UCLan Racing?
Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
-All photographs originally created by Matt Deacon.
