Formula Vee

Olympic Formula Vee racing at Nürburgring in 1969

2008 Formula Vee 45th Birthday Party at Roebling Road Raceway

Formula Vee (Formula Fau Vee in Brazil and Germany) or Formula Volkswagen is a popular open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford or Formula BMW.

On the international stage, Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg, all Formula 1 champions, raced Formula Vees in Europe or America at the beginning of their careers. In Australia, V8 Supercar drivers Larry Perkins, Colin Bond, John Blanchard, John Bowe, Jason Bargwanna and Paul Stokell were also racers in Formula Vee.

Formula First, raced in the US and New Zealand, employs the same chassis, but with upgraded motor, brakes and steering.

Description[]

The class is based on a pre-1963 Volkswagen Beetle, utilizing a collection of the stock parts to form a competitive race car around a purpose-built tube frame and racing tires. The VW engine, transmission, front suspension, brakes and wheels are stock or modified stock parts. The chassis is a tube frame design and the body is fiberglass or carbon fiber. The intention of this class is for the average person to build and maintain the car.

2004 SCCA National Championships Runoffs Winner Jeff Loughead

Over the years, the rules have evolved to improve performance, lower cost, or to allow replacement of discontinued parts. In 2003, Grassroots Motorsports presented Formula Vee with the Editors' Choice Award.^[1]

A top-running Formula Vee will go 190 km/h (120 mph) and corner at about 1.6 g. It weighs a minimum of 465 kg (1,025 lb) with driver or 500 kg (1,100 lb) with driver as raced in the Australian 1,600 cc (98 cu in) specification.^[2][3]

In 2008, a brand new ready-to-race car would cost about US$15,000. The car could be bought as a kit for about US$8,000, minus the Volkswagen parts. It costs approximately US$700 per race to maintain.

Each year, Formula Vee is one of the classes at the SCCA Runoffs, which awards a national championship. While it is primarily a class in the Sports Car Club of America, many other organizations have adopted the Formula Vee as a class.

In 2021, the Formula Vee was developed and released for the iRacing simulation software as a free vehicle available for all users.

Variants[]

Variants of the Formula Vee rules exist in the Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Germany and New Zealand.

Particularly notable is Formula First, raced in the US and New Zealand, which employs the same chassis, but with later model Beetle parts, a larger 1,600 cc (98 cu in) motor (New Zealand uses the 1,200 cc [73 cu in] variant) and other upgraded components such as disc brakes rack and pinion steering.^{[citation needed]}

(Formula Super Vee, although initially similar, soon moved to water-cooled 1.6-litre (98 cu in) VW four-cylinder engines for higher-tech and faster cars).

SCCA Runoffs Winners[]

Year	Driver	Car
1964	Lewis Kerr
1965		Beach 5
1966	Bill Campbell	Zink
1967	Bill Campbell	Zink
1968	Bill Scott	Zink
1969	Bill Scott	Zink
1970		Zink
1971		Lynx
1972		Autodynamics
1973		Zink
1974	Harry MacDonald	Lynx
1975		Lynx B
1976		Agitator
1977		Lynx B
1978
1979	Wayne Moore	Zink
1980	Wayne Moore †	Zink Z12.5
1981
1982	Bill Noble	Caracal
1983		Zink Z12
1984	†	Zink Z12
1985		Citation 85V
1986		Caracal D
1987	Stevan Davis †
1988		Caracal D
1989	Bill Noble	Caracal C
1990	Bill Noble	Caracal C
1991		Mysterian
1992	Stevan Davis
1993	Bill Noble	Caracal C
1994	Bill Noble	Caracal C
1995	Jon Adams
1996	Jaques Lazier	Mysterian M2
1997		Caracal D
1998	†	Protoform
1999		Mysterian M2
2000		Mysterian M2
2001		Vortech
2002		Vortech
2003		Vortech
2004	†	Vortech
2005		Vortech
2006		Vortech
2007		Vortech
2008		Vortech
2009
2010		VDF
2011		Mysterian M2
2012
2013
2014		VDF
2015
2016
2017
2018	†
2019		Protoform P2
2020		Vortech

Michael Varacins has the most titles with seven.

† Denotes President's Cup Winner

List of Formula Vee championships and Events[]

Country	Series/Event Name	Active Years	Additional Information
Australia		1965–present
Canada		1965–present
		2015–present	Also competes in the United States of America.
		2013–2014	Also competed in the United States of America. This series became the Challenge Cup Series.
Ireland		Unknown-present
Brazil		2011-present
New Zealand	Formula First New Zealand Championship Series	1967-present
South Africa		1966–present	Longest running motor racing championship in South Africa
United Kingdom		1967–present
		1979–present
United States	Formula Vee at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs	1964–present	Oldest Formula Vee event in the world.
		2015–present	Also competes in the Canada.
		Unknown-present
		2013–2014	Also competed in Canada. This series became the Challenge Cup Series.

See also[]

• Formula Vee at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs
• Super Vee

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Formula Vee.

• http://www.nefv.org/ Northeast Formula Vee USA https://www.facebook.com/groups/nefv.org
• Challenge Cup Series (US, South Africa & Brazil collaboration)
• Formula First USA
• formulaveeracing.org (US)
• formulavee.org (US)
• formulavee.us (US)
• ApexSpeed.com (US)
• Formula Vee (Ireland)
• Australian Formula Vee Website
• Australian Formula Vee Specifications
• New Zealand Formula First (née Formula Vee)
• Formula Vee (UK)
• 750 Motor Club (UK organising club)
• Formula 1200 – Canada
• Formula Vee at Curlie
• Formula Vee South Africa
• Historic Formula Vee in Australia
• Historische Formel Vau Europa

References[]