RICHARDSON RACING READY TO UP ITS GAME FOR FORMULA FORD 2014
Andy Richardson at the wheel of the Richardson Racing EcoBoost Mygale at Thruxton. Photo: www.jakobebrey.com
Richardson Racing is set to expand its Formula Ford operation next year after a successful debut season in single-seaters. The Lincolnshire squad is targeting a three-car entry in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.
“We are hoping to run three EcoBoost cars next year,” says Andy Richardson, who was the team’s sole pilot in 2013, “and we have four or five very interested drivers, so things are looking positive, although not necessarily for me as a driver. My options are open and I would like to come back to Formula Ford as a driver, but the team comes first and if there is no car for me, then so be it.”
Richardson Racing jumped into the deep end at the start of the 2013 Formula Ford season, taking delivery of a loaned Mygale chassis literally on the eve of the opening rounds at Brands Hatch. “We arrived at the track at 9pm and that’s when we started fitting the wings on to the car,” recalls Andy. “We hadn’t even looked at the car from an engineering standpoint; we just just checked the regular things and went racing. But by the next meeting we were running mid-pack and the one after that we were at the front.”
There were mid-season frustrations with set-up issues, but by the end of the year Richardson Racing was once again back on track. “We got a lap record at Silverstone despite our car being the slowest through all the speed traps by some margin: all the time we were losing down the straights we were more than gaining around the corners. We showed that towards end of year our car could be phenomenally quick and that our engineers had done a great job. The plan for next year is to get some quick drivers on board and aim for the titles.”
Richardson Racing has now taken full ownership of the Mygale it ran this season and is close to finalising a deal on two further chassis.
Andy, whose track career prior to this season included national-level karting and Ginetta GT outings, was delighted by his first taste of single-seater racing. “The EcoBoost Formula Ford is just an amazing car to drive – quick on the straights and great in the corners; it just feels awesome to drive. From the team’s point of view, the car is really reliable, the gearbox is built well and lasts, the engine lasts, and it’s a nice car to engineer, very responsive and you can play around and do whatever you want. It’s a great engineering challenge.”
Overseen by Andy’s father, Gwyn Richardson, and with invaluable assistance from technical staff Gordon Fisher and Stephen Brown and logistics chief Gary Midwinter, the Richardson Racing operation looks set to become an enduring feature of the Formula Ford paddock for seasons to come.
Formula Ford 2014 will feature 30 races at 10 rounds alongside the biggest attraction in UK motorsport, the British Touring Car Championship. The championship will boast live coverage on ITV4, as well as bumper trackside spectator attendance, and boasts a £30,000 cash prize fund.