The Historic Sports Car Club (HSCC) will celebrate 60 years of the Formula Junior racing series with a six car display on its stand at the Autosport International Show (11-14 January).
Formula Junior was conceived by the Italian Count Johnny Lurani and was intended to replace. The motorcycle-engined 500cc Formula 3 cars on the career ladder up to Formula 1. Icons Jim Clark, John Surtees and Denny Hulme all featured in its brief history.
The series only lasted from 1958 until 1963, during the period when race car design switched from a front to rear-engine layout. The cars on display at the Birmingham NEC will mark this brief lifespan. With a car from each season on show to celebrate how much race car design advanced in just six years.
But, arguably, Formula Junior has found far greater success since its revival. Now boasting being the best-supported series in historic racing. The events span five continents and include 300 active cars. Each and every entrant on the grid is original and an amazing variety of chassis makes it an incredibly diverse category. The leading designs are from Lotus, Brabham and Lola, but up to 150 marques built Formula Juniors in period.
The 2018 season is also the last of a three-year Diamond Jubilee World Tour. Having already visited Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and North America, the tour will finally conclude at the Silverstone Classic in July.
Grahame White, CEO of the HSCC, said: ‘Formula Junior is a global success story in historic racing and. We are delighted to be able to showcase it on our major display at Autosport International. I think visitors will love seeing a selection of these fantastic racing cars of the late 1950s and early 1960s.’
Duncan Rabagliati of the FJHRA said: ‘2018 is also the 25th anniversary of the Formula Junior Historic Racing Association. The race at Mallory Park in 1993 when FJHRA and HSCC first came together to save the Historic Formula Junior race series. It is truly fitting that we should both be celebrating the success of this great little Formula, 25 years later.’
