British F3 Silly Season 2009

[Albeckinho]

"British Formula 3 racer Henry Arundel will race for champion team Carlin Motorsport next season. Arundel is a former race winner in Formula BMW but had a disappointing first season in F3 with Raikkonen Robertson Racing this year, finishing 15th in the standings with a best finish of sixth.
But he's confident that he can turn things around at Carlin after testing with the team after Croft since the end of the season.
"I had a bit of a tough season," he said. "I realise I have a lot of work to do over the winter and it's going to be a challenge, but I have unfinished business in F3 and I feel I'm now in the best place to get the results I know I'm capable of."

Autosport


Any other news?

[08u05]

Tim Blanchard, Jake Rosenzweig and Riki Christodoulou have all tested for Fortec. Victor Correa has lapped Snetterton in Jay Bridger's national class car for Fluid, posting a best time of 62.280. Henry Surtees, Henry Arundel and Chris Maliepaard have all been out testing for Carlin recently at Snetterton, the young Dutchman impressing on his British F3 test debut, lapping the Norfolk track faster than the already experienced Surtees.

[08u05]

Ryan Sharp has been testing with Hitech Racing, and Litespeed have also been testing with former A1GP driver Robbie Kerr.

[strider]

Originally Posted by 08u05

Ryan Sharp has been testing with Hitech Racing, and Litespeed have also been testing with former A1GP driver Robbie Kerr.

Sorry to disappoint, but neither of these drivers has an intention of racing for the teams in question. Ryan Sharp is an established GT driver these days, but is also a director of Hitech. Robbie Kerr seems to be an established A1GP driver and Litespeed will be using him, quite correctly, to help develop their car.

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Actually it's quite shocking how BF3 does next to nothing to improve their offering to drivers. Other national F3 series offer the world in prizes, have TV packages, have people watching the races while BF3 runs on tradition.

I snipped this quote from another thread, because it's very relevant to this one.

Go_For_Pole is wrong in his his last comment. If BF3 was relying on tradition it would still be racing around UK circuits with perhaps one European outing to Spa. Maybe in one or two years time it will revert to that as the double threats of Formula 2 and GP3 take their toll.

Until then, all the aspects of BF3 that he mentions are down to SRO, which holds the commercial rights to the Series and, in fairness to Stephane Ratel, he has had regular meetings with the teams during the year and the plans to be announced at the Awards Dinner on Saturday will reflect that.

Provisionally, there are 6 meetings in the UK at Oulton Park, Donington Park, Snetterton, Rockingham, Silverstone and Brands Hatch GP. The European rounds are at Monza [TBC], Spa, Bucharest and, as an addition, Hockenheim.

I'm not letting out any secrets here. There has been a press release and Autosport was so excited that it gave the announcement all of 3 or 4 lines to mention the addition of Hockenheim.

Personally, I am more concerned about the choice of Rockingham instead of Thruxton. If the intention is to give the drivers great circuits to race on, it's a bad choice.

There, I've set the ball rolling. People are paid to promote and advance the cause of BF3. I'm not one of them, so over to you, guys.

[08u05]

I was told in a team managers meeting that Thruxton are simply asking for too much money to host the event. We all love Thruxton, the fastest most ballsy track in the UK, but the championships simply cannot afford to go there any more. I for one welcome the addition of more european circuits. It gives us teams something different to look forward to. I made a holiday out of the Spa round, Holland - Nurburgring - Spa - France - Home, the best week of my life I think!
It also gives drivers experience of circuits that may well feature further on in their careers.

EDIT: and anyway I like Rockingham, my driver won there this year!!

[bella]

it's laughable that the series can afford to go to bucharest but it can't afford to go to thruxton.

[brakedisc]

I am very disappointed in BF3. Racing abroad is not what it should be about. I understand why they do it but feel that it is wrong.There are far too many formula above F3 now for it to be the last stepping stone to F1 so it should be used to improve driver skills. That to me means less test days at places like Snetterton/Croft and more races taking in the variations that the different British circuits offer. Knockhill and Thruxton are poles apart but both have their attraction if experience is what you are after.

[runshaw]

Does British F3 still not visit Castle Combe because of noise restrictions? I want that back on the calender!

[strider]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Does British F3 still not visit Castle Combe because of noise restrictions? I want that back on the calender!

There were some great meetings there and I'd love to see BF3 go back to Combe, but, yes, the noise factor is the problem.

[bella]

personally i'm happy without combe, and would trade that in for the spitfire-around-the-bog-cubicle racing that knockhill provides. that place really is a unique challenge.

i don't mind the foreign rounds. bucharest is a street circuit, which we don't have here. monza encourages overtaking, and we don't have that sort of circuit here, and spa needs no explanation. but i do agree it's important to preserve the circuits that provide an equally unique challenge in this country. i personally would trade donington or silverstone for thruxton or knockhill.

[brakedisc]

So why not reduce the noise limit as they do for some tests?

[bella]

because the noise can't be reduced enough to satisfy combe...?

[strider]

It's not quite as simple as that, brakedisc. The current F3 noise limit is 114 db(A). The limit for Castle Combe is 105 db(A), I believe. The difference between the two is much more than 10% or so, due to the way these things are calculated, which I don't really understand.

Other circuits have a similar noise level, but when F3 goes there they make an exception and let them run at the F3 level just for that day.

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

because the noise can't be reduced enough to satisfy combe...?

It can be done, certainly with a Mugen-Honda, and maybe even with an HWA Mercedes, but it takes a lot of work and causes a distinct drop in power. Also I think I'm right in saying that HWA don't like the necessary modifications.

The other problem with Combe was safety, due to the speed the cars take the last corner. The possibility of a car ending up in the signalling area was becoming too close for comfort.

[bella]

there were always some substantial accidents there - a personal favourite was piquet jrs spin in 2004 which left him in the middle of the field and produced some comedy

i'd imagine there's not much room left in the sidepod once all the modifications have taken place - would it be fair to say it was the gt cars that constantly abused the previous noise limit at combe anyway?

[strider]

I just knew you'd remember the Piquet spin and him vainly trying to push the car out of the field!

Certainly a couple of GT cars were sent home from Combe for being too noisy so, yes, that's a fair comment

[runshaw]

I think ARP F3 put restrictors on the engines, but if it makes them lose power (and noise), then there's no point! Personally, even though it's a great circuit and one that I always attend for the F3/GT meetings, i'd get rid of Croft and put Combe back in, the races there were better than Croft has ever been. The final corner is incredible, no matter how unsafe it is! Anway, what happened to the Nurburgring, they had two great races there in 2005, James Walker somehow managed to win one of them after getting past Senna, Conway and Clarke all before the first corner!

[strider]

I found a proper news report on crash. net here. Croft is not on the list regardless.

I think the attraction of Hockenheim over the Nurburgring is that it's a current F1 circuit. Personally I thought the 'ring was great, because when the day's activities were done everyone went up to the road to the Nordschleife where the fun continued and hire cars were hammered!

[bella]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Anway, what happened to the Nurburgring, they had two great races there in 2005, James Walker somehow managed to win one of them after getting past Senna, Conway and Clarke all before the first corner!

were we watching different races? my overwhelming memory of those races is trying to fight off the uncontrollable desire to sleep... they were very uneventful! but yeah, heading up for an early evening run round the nordschleife was a very pleasent side effect of racing there!

i quite like croft, it's as unique a challenge as thruxton - it's bumpy, and it rewards commitment and confidence in the car.

[runshaw]

Well, I enjoyed the races, maybe thats just because I support Walker though ! Croft Vs Combe in terms of exciting races though, you know which comes out on top.

[Mr Pink]

Are there any more news/rumours of drivers for next year?

[strider]

Well, Mr Pink, your fellow countryman, Marcus Ericsson is the subject of much gossip. He's driving for Carlin Motorsport in Macau, but the big question is, will he stay with them for 2009? Some say yes, others say it depends on how well the Macau outing works.

[Alex K]

Some also say he'll move to FR3.5.

[N.A-D.R]

I reckon he will do another season of F3 British or Euro. This year was kind of a learning curve, and he was sometimes the quickest guy. He will be really fast in 09.

[08u05]

Latest rumour is Ricciardo to Carlin F3, taking the Red Bull seat.
Tim Blanchard chasing a seat at Fortec F3.