Formula Holden
| Formula Holden | |
|---|---|
| Motor racing formula | |
| Category | Open wheel car |
| Country or region | Australia New Zealand South-east Asia |
| Championships | Australian Drivers' Championship |
| Inaugural season | 1989 |
| Status | Defunct |
| Folded | 2007 |
Formula Holden was an Australian open wheel racing category introduced in 1989.
Known during its development as Formula Australia, it was initially for chassis constructed from aluminium only, running a 3.8 litre Buick V6 engine as it was then utilised in the new versions of the Holden VN Commodore. Many of the engines used in the category were built by Perkins Engineering, who normally built Group A Holden Commodores and V8 race engines for privateer touring car teams, as well as company owner, multiple Bathurst 1000 winner and ex-Formula One driver Larry Perkins. Early in 1990, Perkins was reported as saying that his Formula Holden engines were putting out approximately 320 bhp (239 kW; 324 PS). To make the V6 engines suitable for racing (in the Commodore road cars the engines developed 221 bhp (165 kW; 224 PS)), a number of specialised parts were supplied by original series sponsor ACL (Automotive Components Limited).
Second-hand Formula 3000 chassis were targeted immediately as a cheap source of cars in addition to local constructors, and under CAMS rules, all cars had to be at least one year old. Formula Holden also used a Dunlop control tyre in its early years. For the 1992 season cars constructed from carbon fibre were allowed. In 2006 an engine upgrade was made available to the 3.6 litre Alloytec V6 engine, although take-up of the Alloytec V6 was far from universal. The engines were usually mounted in ex- Formula 3000 chassis, a large number of which were sourced from the Formula Nippon championship in Japan, but also included cars from other sources and a few specifically designed for the class, like the Australian designed Cheetah, Elfin, Spa (designed by F1 designer Gary Anderson), and the Shrike cars which were designed and built by technical students at the Croydon Park Institute of TAFE in Adelaide.
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