Use of Formula Renault in Monoposto

The club has received a number of enquiries recently regarding the Formula Renault family of single seaters and what specification is allowed to be used in Monoposto races.

Formula Renault has been around for many years and they are now on to the 4th generation of cars. We welcome into Mono the first Gen (FR1700) in Mono 1600, second Gen (FR 2000 8V) in Mono Classic and early third Gen (FR2000 16V) cars in Mono 2000. The FR1700 and FR 2000 8V are to be run in the specification as used in the last year of the relevant UK championship, with the only changes being to the ride height to suit the MSA requirements for 40mm. We are however a good deal more flexible on things such as parts supply. We don’t insist that all parts come from RenaultSport, and of course any tyres can be used.

The situation with the carbon chassis FR2000 16V is a little more complex.The car has run with a number of changes over its 10 year life; our regulations aim to give the most cost effective way of putting a FR2000 16V car on to the grid. Hopefully all the pertinent points are explained below

Bodywork
There are 3 revisions of bodywork available for the car, we specify that the cars should be to BARC FR 2009 regulations, this effectively means the rev 2 body kit as used in FR between 2004 and 2006 or the earlier rev 1 kit. This allows the older and cheaper body and wing kits to be used.

Engine ECU
The ECU’s changed in 2005, with the earlier unit having a red box and gold text, the later having a natural aluminium silver finish, there are some differences in performance between these two units, the later silver unit is the one that is to be used in Monoposto.

Restrictors
The engine used in FR2000 is a 16V VVT unit of great potential. In unrestricted form with dry sump and fairly open inlet and exhaust systems it is capable of over 200BHP. To make it more suitable for use in a spec formula the engines use a restrictor plate. This again has varied over the life of the formula. The BARC FR 2009 regs call for a restrictor of 35mm dia; this is a blue coloured plate if the RSport part is used.

To try to address some of the balance between the FR cars and commonly used Toyota and VX engines in Mono 2000 we have decided to allow the 37mm dia restrictor as used in the last iteration of the car. This is a red coloured RSport part with a part number RS01. The intention is to allow cars in to our Mono classes with the minimum of outlay and engineering expertise required, we feel that sticking to the FR rules as a package for each of the generations of cars is the best way of achieving this goal. With this in mind, we would not allow any further modifications to the specification of the cars other than the MSA mandated ride height and free tyre choice.

Russ Giles Jan 2011

Another picture of Tony Bishop, spun at Shaws, Mallory. Is he thinking"please don't hit me"? Too rare a picture to resist.

The always immaculate Richard Evans "Gen 1" FR1700.

Mark Smith's Gen2 FR

Gen 3 is represented by the Antel / Tony Bishop car

Pics: Andrew Cliffe, Derek Edwinstowe