Formula 4 - Anyone Interested?

At the weekend, purely by chance, I found myself watching the first 3 rounds of the inaugural BRDC Formula 4 championship, after catching the tail end of the Touring Cars show.

Conceived as an affordable, entry-level route into single-seater racing and the next logical step after karting, the cars are relatively simple and not hugely powerful (around 180bhp if I recall correctly). The races are also short, lasting only 10 laps...good for those suffering from ADD

BRDC Formula 4 Championship

While I found it had none of the tactical or technical intrigue and compexity of F1, it was quite refreshing to watch a bunch of drivers in more or less identical cars, racing wheel to wheel (the racing was actually very close and frenetic for much of the time).

There were also the usual thrills and spills, with cars going off and hitting each other...since most are relatively young and inexperienced (including one Pietro Fittipaldi - grandson of the legendary Emerson) you can expect more mistakes than usual. However there were no recriminations or tantrums afterwards and no drive-through penalties or stewards inquiries.

Its a fairly short season too with 24 races at 6 venues (Silverstone used twice and Brands Hatch in both its Indy and GP incarnations).

Oh, so Nascar, but with right turns included?

Kidding mate. I'll give it a go soon

Nah - NASCAR has about 100 cars, over-excited hillbilly commentators and thousands of obese Americans munching burgers and hotdogs, next to their mobile homes parked on the infield.