Come on, own up, there's been a time in every revhead's life when he (or she) has entertained thoughts of being at the pinnacle of motorsport, dicing with the established F1 stars for the coveted world title. But how do you find out if you have what it takes? The usual formula (no pun intended) is to progress from karts to a succession of open-wheelers - Formula Ford, Formula 3, Formula 3000 and finally Formula 1.
Fortunately for the would-be F1 pilots and armchair enthusiasts among us, there is a way to sample what an open-wheeler feels like without actually forking over the asking price for one. Punters like us can have a day of fast fangery in a Formula Ford, thanks to courses offered by racing drivers' schools like U-Drive Performance Cars.
Trepidation
It was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I recently rolled up to Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway to attend such a course. Like most of the other 15 participants on the day, I was backed by little in the way of real motorsport experience - barring one or two hillclimbs.
The day begins with chief instructor Sean Scott handing out a full race suit, shoes and helmet - which we throw on in with eager anticipation. Soon, we all look like bona fide racing drivers, even if we don't necessarily feel like them...
We are then ushered into the "VIP room" where a lecture on dos and don'ts is presented by U-Drive director Mark Pring. He emphasises the need for common sense to prevail and to resist the temptation of letting the red mist descend. I make a mental note to shelve any plans for demon overtaking moves under brakes. A video outlining what constitutes a good racing driver follows. Not hugely educational, but it has some great footage of Jim Clark subjecting a Lotus Cortina to impossibly long four-wheel drifts and a youthful Jackie Stewart at full tilt around the Nurburgring in an F1 car.
The essence of driving a car at its limit is perhaps best encapsulated by 1992 world F1 champion Nigel Mansell (otherwise renowned as a whinging Pom), who said the trick is to "get it [the car] dancing on its tippytoes while keeping it smooth all the while".
Suitably "educated", we march out onto the track, where five Formula Fords await on the grid. The 16-strong group is divided into four lots of four, and each group is allocated a car. U-Drive's five Formula Fords have all seen competitive action and it turns out the car I'm driving today has an illustrious past, having been piloted to victory in the 1990 national championship by Russell Ingall.
Getting In
Believe it or not, instruction is even required on getting into the car. You have to brace your hand on the roll hoop before stepping over the side sill and onto the seat. The next step is to extend your legs straight out while at the same time lowering your bum onto the floor. On being seated, my first impression is one of extreme claustrophobia. I'm literally hemmed in by the tiny confines of the cockpit. The spaceframe squashes my knees together and there's hardly an inch to move my bodily parts in any direction.
And I'm by no means a big bloke - my bonce summits at a modest 1.72m and I tip the scales at a lightweight 68kg.
The tiny pedals appear to be placed within a couple of thou of each other and I can just about tromp on all three with one foot. Staring me in the face is a tiny steering wheel, behind which lies a tacho with a bit of tape over 5000 rpm - our redline for the day. In competition, drivers change up at 7000 rpm. In order to preserve the batteries and starter motors, we are told push-starts will be the order of the day. The driver flicks an ignition switch while two members of each team provide the pushing power. Once sufficient momentum is built up the pushers yell "dump", upon which the driver releases the clutch and the engine fires up.
The engines are quite tractable, but one participant manages to kangaroo-hop a good 60 metres - much to the amusement of the other attendees.
The opening exercise is a simple loop around traffic cones, mainly to come to grips with the Hewland four-speed transmission. It's got no synchro and referred to as a "crash box" - no prizes for guessing why. Muff a gearchange (not hard to do) and a crashing of cogs is the result. The palm-sized gearshift lever is located to the right of the steering wheel and throws between gears are incredibly short. A linkage connects the lever to the gearbox (positioned at the tail-end of the car) but there is plenty of feel - and you know straight away whether you've nailed a shift. Or not.
You have to double-declutch on downshifts while giving the throttle a big blip to match engine revs to road speed. But participants today are told not to worry about heel-and-toeing on downchanges unless they are already familiar with the technique.
We take turns following the Formula Ford pace car driven by instructor Scott around the short circuit, and then there is another session later on with a bit more speed on board.
Once the short course is mastered (perhaps that's not the right word), we graduate to the full circuit. Scott sets a relatively dawdling pace, which is understandable, given that this is an introductory course and hardly any of the participants have track experience. But U-Drive boss Mark Pring dangles a carrot by saying the day will conclude with pace-car-free laps if everyone shows the desired levels of ability and common sense. The pace-car-led laps are a bit sedate but I find them quite useful in coming to grips with the Formula Ford, which feels a bit like a grown-up go-kart.
It's highly sensitive to inputs, so you have to be subtle and progressive in all your movements. You don't reef the wheel, just feed on a bit of lock. And there's no need to try and muscle gearchanges. Get your hand-foot synchronization right and the lever virtually slots itself home.
The 1.6-litre Ford Kent engine is distinctly old hat. There's no 16-valve, computer-chipped wizardry here, just a humble pushrod and carburettor. It pumps out about 110-115hp (around 85kW) - not that impressive until you consider the car weighs only 400kg. To put this in perspective, it has roughly the same power-to-weight ratio as a Ferrari 360 Modena.
It feels super quick, although this sensation may be partly exaggerated by my proximity to the bitumen and the total lack of any NVH suppression. The brakes are particularly impressive. You can dive ridiculously deep into corners before standing on the middle pedal.
After making a hash of a few downshifts early in the day I find my form improves dramatically with practice. I also gain a better feel for the car's grip levels and develop enough confidence to drift it through a few of the corners.
The U-drive team has set up an artificial chicane halfway up the straight which the other participants are going through in third, but I find it can be tackled flat in fourth - a right-left tweak of the wheel is all that's required.
Free Laps
Towards the end of the day the U-Drive officialdom decides we have shown enough common sense to justify a couple of pace-car free laps. Yeehaa!
The four cars are let out onto the track at roughly 10-second intervals and, as we're only going to be out for two laps, I decide to have a red-hot go right from the outset. I exit pit lane and just about reach full revs in fourth before reaching the right-hander at the end of pit straight.
I haul in the car in front dramatically on the opening tour but during the second lap, things almost go pear-shaped on the back section. I arrive at a tight right-hander a bit hot and exit slightly out of shape, which makes the left-hander that immediately follows decidedly trickier. The mother of all fishtails ensues, but I manage to keep the car from swapping ends. Meanwhile, the Formula Ford in front gets away by a couple of car lengths.
Moments later, we coast into the pits again, our pulse rates at redline and adrenaline tanks well and truly drained.
Best fun I've ever had in a car - at least in the front seat.
Contact:
www.udriveperformancecars.com
