Champ Car puts the kibosh on FF2000 Dallara

UPDATE #2 Word on the street is that the Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 Series has been cancelled for 2007. As we said a long time ago, there simply are too many open wheel series and there needs to be some consolidation of the sport so that it may strengthen.

11/27/06 Being told from high levels within Champ Car that there is no truth to this rumor.

11/27/06 According to AutoRacing1.com sources, there is a rumor going around that the Cooper Tires Championship Series FF2000 new car, which was a detuned Dallara F3 car, will not be raced by the series in 2007. Apparently, Champ Car was uneasy with the prospect of the slick Dallaras ($200,000 annual budget – see related Hot News item) running on the same tracks as the Atlantics (Million dollar annual budget), and suddenly the FF2000 series was unable to confirm many pre-negotiated dates with Champ Car, including Toronto. FF2000 was made aware that the Dallara was not welcome at Champ Car events. Accordingly, the Cooper series will announce a schedule within the next week using the Van Diemen chassis which has been the standard chassis for the series. Champ Car does not mind the (older) Van Diemen running at their events.

Previously, FF2000 was told by Champ Car that the Dallaras would have to run lap times 4 seconds a lap slower than the Atlantics. Accordingly, the FF2000 series planned on using a 180 hp version of the Ford Zetec (as opposed to a 215 hp F3 spec motor, which would have made the cars faster, more nimble, better looking and much, much less expensive to purchase and run than the Atlantic cars). The series will apparently try to run with the IRL and IndyPro Series on road courses in 2008 with a full spec Dallara with proper F3 horsepower.