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Derbyshire single-seater specialist Hillspeed is delighted to announce an
exciting new partnership with sportscar manufacturer Juno Racing; the latter
having finalised the design process of a brand new Formula Ford chassis which it
aims to debut during the 2008 race season.
Richard Ollerenshaw’s Hathersage based team, which runs multi-car squads in
Formula Renault UK and Formula Renault BARC, has forged an agreement with Juno
to provide operational support and technical assistance as the Lancashire
company readies its first ever single-seater creation for action in this year’s
UK Formula Ford Championship.
The latest constructor to confirm its desire to compete in the ranks of the
resurgent category, Juno is confident its build of the brand new car will be
completed by the end of May. From there, a dedicated test programme will be
handled by Hillspeed before a decision is taken on when to give the chassis its
competitive debut.
Commenting on the deal with Juno, Richard Ollerenshaw said: “This is an
incredibly exciting development for everyone at Hillspeed. To be involved with a
prestigious manufacturer such as Juno to help develop a brand new car is a
fantastic opportunity.
“We’re relishing working with Ewan Baldry (Managing Director of Juno) and
the rest of his team and we’re all confident the car will be a tremendous
addition to Formula Ford which is, once again, going from strength to strength.
I have very high hopes for this partnership and can’t wait for the testing and
development to begin.”
Juno, which operates from premises in Leyland near Preston, is aiming to
develop the open-wheel, single-seater, side of its business and has a long-term
goal of becoming a company not dissimilar to the world-famous constructor
Lola.
For Ewan Baldry, who is a former designer at the Williams Formula One Team,
selecting Hillspeed as Juno’s partner for the new Formula Ford programme was a
natural choice due to the team’s professionalism and faultless presentation and
preparation.
He commented: “We started discussions with Richard (Ollerenshaw) last May.
At first we were unsure whether to get involved with an existing Formula Ford
team but after a couple of articles regarding our plans appeared in the
motorsport press, we received a lot of interest from a variety of experienced
teams and also drivers.
“I’ve always been very impressed by the way Hillspeed operates, the
professionalism and presentation Richard applies is second to none. Juno will
retain ownership of the car while Hillspeed will look after, prepare and run the
car for us.”
Having become a huge success story in the world of sportscars, Juno sees
the design and creation of its brand new single-seater as the opening of an
exciting new chapter in its history. While unlikely to be ready to test until
early June, should the car be fast straight out of the box it will be given its
competitive debut as soon as possible.
“We’re not under pressure time-wise to deliver this car and we certainly
don’t want to run it in UK Formula Ford until we know we’re competitive”, added
Baldry, “It won’t be ready for the start of the season but if early testing
shows the car is quick we’ll race it as soon as we can.
“We’ve been pretty successful designing and building our sportscars but
the longer term plan for the company is to be a race car manufacturer like Lola
for example. In order to move the business along, we wanted to build a
single-seater and Formula Ford seemed to be the best option as it’s enjoying a
major revival and these are exciting times.”
The project actually marks the first ever full car design process handled
solely by Juno Racing’s Head of Design, 26-year-old Joel Allison.
Blackburn racer Bradshaw confirmed as test
driver
Development work of the new Juno chassis will be largely
undertaken by experienced Formula Ford driver and current Formula Palmer Audi
competitor Tom Bradshaw. The 18-year-old, who has past links to Hillspeed, has
agreed terms to drive and develop the car in between his racing commitments to
the FPA series and also his A-level studies.
With just one season of karting under his belt prior to his car racing
debut in the 2006 North West Formula Ford Championship, the Blackburn-based
driver impressed with his pace and ability en route to a superb title victory.
He then elected to make the move into the Formula Palmer Audi category last year
where he will also remain this season.
While the FPA championship calendar fits neatly with his educational
commitments, so does the development programme for the Juno Formula Ford
chassis. By the time the brand new car is ready to hit the track for its maiden
test miles in early June, Bradshaw’s A-levels will be completed and he will be
able to dedicate his full attention to motorsport.
Speaking on the opportunity to work with Hillspeed and Juno, Bradshaw said:
“I’m really looking forward to helping develop the chassis. Working with Richard
(Ollerenshaw), Ewan (Baldry) and everyone else involved in the programme should
be good.
“I first got to know Ewan through one of the lecturers at the University of
Central Lancashire who runs the UCLAN race team in North West Formula Ford 1600.
He mentioned the new project just as we were going to contact Ewan to talk about
his sportscars and then everything with the test programme slotted into
place.
“I believe Ewan has been approached by a number of teams and drivers and so
we feel quite honoured to be asked to help develop the new car. Not only will it
be good to help Hillspeed and Juno, I’m looking forward to testing as it can
only be of benefit to my motor racing aspirations.”
Hillspeed’s involvement with Juno will, of course, run alongside the team’s
Formula Renault operations. In the UK series, Richard Singleton and Alex Morgan
have already been confirmed while in Formula Renault BARC the team will field
three cars for Michael Lyons, Menasheh Idafar and Ahmad Al Harthy.
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