F4

[coppice]

Apart from the healthy historic scene single seater racing in the UK is in a poor way and has been for years- F3 a shadow of what it once was , Formula Renault has left the building and the Ecoboost Formula Ford is poorly supported and underwhelming to watch.But hold the front page- now we are getting F4- and what marketing genius came up with the name which , frankly , is beyond parody.It's The MSA Formula Certified by FIA Powered by Ford Ecoboost - snappy huh ? Still, at least it's a unified starter formula not diluted by rivals . Hang on , there's the BRDC F4 too...you couldn't make this shambles up could you?

How I miss what we had- FF1600/2000/ F3 - it worked , and it had huge grids in the good times . I have been lucky enough to see a 66 car F3 entry, massive slipstreaming battles in FF1600 and drivers like Senna , Blundell, Mansell , Piquet snr, Pace, Hunt , Button, Fittipaldi , Lehto , Wallace, Sala , Hill and others many in the junior formulae - just hope that some time soon the FIA and the rest get a bloody grip...!

[Kickstart]

Back in the early/mid 80's getting to F1 seemed a possibility for lots of talented youngsters, but the money needed now makes it impossible for anyone other that scions of ex F1 stars/billionaires with the odd few through the red bull scheme.

I think the reality of there being no chance of Joe Bloggs getting to F1 after buying a Formula Ford at 17 and starting racing means that it cuts down numbers hugely. I realise of course that very few people actually were good enough to get to F1 but that did not mean they didn't think they had a chance.

If you want to get anywhere near F1 now you would need to start karting very young and then have access to a bottomless pit of cash. The fact that there are lots of competing series along the way just goes to demonstrate the FIA's incompetence and greed as they should create a simple and more affordable path to F1.

Historic racing can be very competitive at the sharp end and costs a fraction of contemporary racing and I suspect it would actually be cheaper to race an old F1 (plus you get to keep it) for a season that doing F4. I know what I would prefer.