Formula Ford 1600

By the RCN editorial team · Updated July 2026

Formula Ford is motorsport's purest school: wingless, treaded-tyre single-seaters racing on car control alone since 1967 — the class that trained Senna, Schumacher and half a century of professionals, and still the smartest first formula.

Junior Formula2000sFormula Ford 1600 (current + historic classes)

See all Formula Ford 1600 for sale →

History

Born at Brands Hatch in 1967 from a racing school's economics — production Ford Kent engines, road-pattern tyres, no aerodynamic aids — Formula Ford 1600 became the global standard first step from karts: cheap enough for privateers, pure enough that its slipstream battles and corner-speed craft exposed talent no data could hide. Constructors from Van Diemen, Crosslé, Merlyn, Lotus and Swift to dozens of others sold thousands of chassis.

The alumni register is the formula's monument: Fittipaldi, Senna (his 1981 season is FF's most famous), Schumacher, Button and countless professionals graduated through FF1600, while the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch became junior racing's world final. Later engine eras (Zetec, EcoBoost) carried national series onward, but the Kent-engined 1600 remains the reference.

Today FF1600 thrives as both current and historic racing: national championships in Britain, Ireland and beyond, pre-72/pre-82 historic classes, and the enduring Festival keep grids full. For buyers, it is the best value in real single-seater racing — sub-GT4 budgets, remanufactured parts at scale, and a paddock that still functions as motorsport's meritocracy.

Palmarès

The Formula Ford Festival's roll of honour since 1972 — junior racing's most prestigious one-event title; British, Irish, European and world-region FF championships across six decades; and the graduation record itself: more future F1 drivers than any other single entry formula in history.

What to check before you buy

Choose the class first — pre-72 or pre-82 historic (originality and HTP papers rule), or current national FF1600 (later chassis, modern safety) — because eligibility defines the market. Then buy preparation: chassis straightness and crash history, a Kent engine from a named builder with dyno sheet (a third of the car's value), Hewland Mk9 internals and honest bodywork. Logbooked cars from active paddocks sell themselves; barn projects consume more than they cost. The FF community's openness is the due-diligence tool — every serious car is known to someone at the Festival.

Did you know

The formula began because racing-school boss Geoff Clarke needed cheaper single-seaters — motorsport's most influential category was born as a cost-saving measure.
Senna's 1981 FF1600 season (Van Diemen) produced win rates so extreme that rivals' parents reportedly complained to the organisers.
The Kent engine block has stayed in FF service since 1967 — nearly sixty years of one road-car casting powering the same formula.