Ray GR Formula Ford
Ray Race Cars is the oldest Formula Ford constructor still building and winning, and the GR is its weapon: a Kent-engined spaceframe that won the Walter Hayes Trophy five years running from 2006 and gave Max Esterson the Festival–Hayes double in 2022.
History
Bert Ray founded Ray Race Cars in 1971 with his brother Frank and son Gavin, and the family firm has built Formula Fords ever since — Stephen South took eleven wins in the works 74F in 1974. The modern GR line, its designation tracking the model year, applies half a century of refinement to an unchanging formula: steel-tube spaceframe, 1.6-litre Kent crossflow, Hewland Mk9, and pace found through geometry rather than aerodynamics.
The GR's golden era came with Cliff Dempsey Racing, which won the Walter Hayes Trophy every year from 2006 to 2010 and again in 2012 — Peter Dempsey and Team USA Scholarship graduates Conor Daly and Conor DePhillippi among the winners. Ammonite Motorsport revived the pattern in 2022, when Max Esterson became the first American to win the Formula Ford Festival and added the Walter Hayes for good measure.
Ray remains the oldest Formula Ford constructor still building and winning: new GRs are supplied to order and used cars circulate through the BRSCC National and Northern paddocks. With Kent-engined FF1600 in genuine revival — the Festival and Walter Hayes draw packed grids — a competitive GR is one of the cheapest front-running single-seaters in racing, and values have firmed accordingly.
Palmarès
Walter Hayes Trophy wins every year from 2006 to 2010 and again in 2012 with Cliff Dempsey Racing — Peter Dempsey, Conor Daly and Conor DePhillippi among the winners — capped by Max Esterson's 2022 Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes double with Ammonite Motorsport, the Festival's first American victory.
What to check before you buy
Age sets the tiers: current-spec GRs run by the front-running teams (Ammonite, Cliff Dempsey) command the premium; mid-2000s Walter Hayes-era cars remain competitive Festival tools; earlier chassis are affordable club entries. Confirm the chassis number with the factory — Ray still builds, so histories are verifiable — and match a claimed race record to Festival and Walter Hayes entry lists. Check the spaceframe on a jig for accident repairs, budget for a fresh Kent from a recognised builder such as Scholar or Auriga, and inspect the Hewland Mk9's dogs and crownwheel. The best buys are year-old team cars sold at season's end; a genuine front-runner comes with setup data and spares.
Did you know
- iRacing's Formula Ford 1600 is a scanned Ray GR — and Max Esterson, who won the 2022 Festival in the real thing, came to prominence through sim racing first.
- One chassis, the GRS07, won the Walter Hayes Trophy twice with two different Team USA Scholarship drivers — Conor Daly and Conor DePhillippi, both later professionals in IndyCar and IMSA.
- Stephen South won eleven races in the works Ray 74F in 1974 before an eventual Formula 1 call-up with McLaren — early proof the family firm could build a winner.
In the marketplace now
View all →No exact Ray GR Formula Ford listed right now — here is closely related machinery on the market.
