FORMULA LIBRE REVIEW - Posted 04/03/2010

27 Feb 2010. First race of 2010. Initially 15 cars were entered but only 10 cars were ready on raceday. Mike Adendorff's Formula Vee Lantis (10) had an intermittent fuel problem (no fuel in the tank) and did not compete in the first heat. Helder Kiala powered the Reynard into an early lead to take the chequered flag followed home by Reg Anderson in the Gti

Third home was Julie Brown in a Reynard in one of her best races to date. She fought off Egmont Baumgartner in his Formula BMW with Sarah Hoal taking 5th. John Beekman battled with his Formula Renault towards the end of the race and was lucky to take 6th ahead of Mike Verrier in a hard charging Reynard. Romanie Smithdorf made his debut in his new Gti but only lasted 3 rounds.

Only 9 cars came under starters orders in the second race as John's Renault could not be fixed in time. Reg (69) gave Helder (50) a good fight. Unfortunately Reg made a mistake and Helder got away. Best times were 1:21.497 for Reg and 1:21.998 for Helder. Egmont bulleted off the start line and held 3rd ahead of Julie. Sarah got into the swing of things and caught Julie and closed right up to Egmont by the end of the race. Romanie got his Gti to the finish behind an ever improving Mike Verrier in the Reynard and ahead of Chris Smith in the Vee. Mike Adendorff finished 2nd in class C after an excursion off the track in turn five.

Although down on numbers for the first race day compared to the end of last year, the season looks to be great. Missing from the grid for various problems were Paul Simon,Wade Godding,Warren Hardenburg,Pieter Lotriet, Phillip Meaton, Didier Koeul and Ryan Rose.

It is hoped that Adie Adendorff will have his brand new Vee ready for the next meeting as will Kurt. Vic Pitso also hopes to have his Gti on the track.

Off interest was the visit to Libre by 3 engineering students from Cape Technicon who want to build a Formula Vee as a project - this is welcolme news and with the imput of the likes of Adie, Kurt,Wade and Rob this car could soon be seen on the track

SINGLE SEATER HISTORY

Formula Libre is single seater racing. It is a formula that caters for all types and makes of single seater racing cars old and new. There are a few exceptions but generally all forms of single seater racing cars qualify to race in this exciting formula. Few racing Formulas have succeeded for as long and been as successful, as this low cost single seater Formula. Over the years it has provided hundreds of young men and some young women, in South Africa , the opportunity to compete in Motor Sport at National Championship level. The Formula has always been run by a band of true Motor Sport enthusiasts. This has ensured that it never deviated from its original objective. To provide close competitive racing, at an affordable cost, in real racing cars. The tremendous support for the Formula today, shows that the need for such a class of racing still exists and has in fact done so throughout the existence of Formula Libre racing in this country.

The Cape Town formula started in January 2000 with a combination of Formula Fords and Formula Vees. The formula has grown steadily since then with the addition of a few Formula GTi’s and produces thrilling racing throughout the field. The cars are classified into these three classes and the same points are scored for a win in each class making it possible for a class C driver to become overall champion.

A number of top South African drivers competed in single seater racing early in their careers. These included Cooper works Grand Prix driver Tony Maggs, six times South African National Driving Champion John Love and top Formula One and Sports Car driver Peter De Klerk, National Driving Champions like Dave Charlton and Tony Martin. Formula Ford Champions like Desire Wilson (Randall), Roly Nofke, Braam Smith, Basil Mann, Deon Joubert and Heinrich Lategan and Formula GTi Champions like Basil Mann, Marco Dos Santos, Etienne Van Der Linde and Johan Smith, while ex Vee drivers Malcolm Cochrane and Tony Scott have also won the Formula GTi Class B Championship.

Many of these drivers went on to compete successfully overseas. Tony Martin won the Daytona 24-Hour Sports Car Race. Basil Mann won various European Formula Ford 2000

Championships and Rad Dougall won both British Formula Ford 2000 Championships in 1977. He then moved on to compete in the European Formula Two Championship, finishing fifth in the Championship in 1979. Dave Charlton had a few Grand Prix drives overseas and Desire Wilson became the first woman to win a Formula One race, in the British Formula One series. She also won Formula Ford 2000 races in England, as well as some Sports Car World Endurance Championship races and once drove a works Tyrrell in the South African Grand Prix. She then moved to the United States of America, where she also drove Indy cars for a while. Toby Scheckter competed overseas and finished second in the 1997 British Formula Renault Championship, Etienne Van Der Linde, went on to win the 1998 Formula Opel Euroseries Championship.

After so many years in South Africa, the Formula still continues to fill the roll of a low cost, entry level racing, providing close, exciting, action packed racing. The ideal platform from which to launch South Africa's motor racing stars of the future.