About Formula Vee's

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Formula Vee is the entry level open wheel car category powered by the venerable Volkswagen 1200  1600cc engines with VW front suspension, brakes and transmissions. The cars are built on a robust lightweight tubular space frame with safety for the driver being first and foremost and covered with simple, lightweight fibreglass bodywork There are more Formula Vees racing on Australian tracks than any other category of open wheeler.

Formula Vees were originally conceived in the USA in the early '60's with the "Nardi Vee" and it did not take Australians too long to adopt and begin manufacturing these inexpensive and easy to handle race cars as their entry level open wheel formula. Lack of any great outright engine power, no aerodynamic aids , a one make and type of tyre, stock VW drum brakes and other such controls over the class promoted reliability and placed the focus directly back onto the driver, right where it should be! This has ensured that Formula Vee in Australia has flourished consistently over the last 30 years to become one of the largest categories of race cars.

 

The driver with the best preparation, setup and the smoothest driving was rewarded with race wins, not the guy with the biggest wallet!. It is fair to say that many of the successful car racers in Australia spent time learning their racecraft in these simple, reliable and robust little cars!

As in all forms of one make class racing, over many years the supply of older VW Type 1 components and 1200cc engines begins to dry up and with a view to ensuring the continued viability of Formula Vee as the premier entry level open wheeler racing car category in Australia, The Formula Vee Association of Australia has adopted the 1600cc "twin port" engine and has introduced disk brakes, rack and pinion steering and some suspension freedoms.

These 1600cc machines are becoming more popular by the day and more and more 1600 cars are being rolled out. This will tend to be at the expense of the older 1200cc machines.

Many 1200cc machine will happily accept the fitment of the slightly larger 1600cc engines. The 1600cc engines are controlled even more tightly than the older 1200cc engines, coupled with only one set of gearbox ratios and final drive (diff) ratio allowed, will ensure ensuring even cheaper initial setting up costs to encourage the lower budget racer to Formula Vee racing.

As a result of the tight controls on chassis, engines, transmissions and tyres also ensures that owners of older cars are still competitive with the very latest of machinery and many races are won by cars 20 years and older!

Formula Vee racing is administered by the Formula Vee Association of Australia that is made up of delegates from all states around the country and any rules and regulations must be put thru the association before being presented to Cams (Confederation of Australian Motor Sport) for final approval.

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