Investchem single seaters set to star
Investchem Formula 1600 is set for a bumper new season with dazzling new prizes for the series top six attracting a cracking field to South Africa’s premium national single seater championship. The series confirmed the spoils at its annual prize giving, where the 2020 competitors also drew their engines for the season out of a hat.
“Investchem Formula 1600 continues to lead the way in South African single seater racing,” series founder Ian Schofield pointed out at the Johannesburg function. “Formula 1600 offers both the perfect springboard for young guns stepping up from karting into circuit racing as much as it is a home for established champions for the kids to measure themselves against, while learning the intricacies of racing a pukka wings and slicks race car.”
“First of all, the best news — the Investchem Formula 1600 championship will reward our champions like never before,” Schofield confirmed. “Not only will we will pay our 2020 champion a cool quarter-million rand in cash, but he or she will also earn a test in an international Formula Renault racer — a car of similar potential to a Formula 3 machine, as well as a test in a South African championship GTC tin-top racer.
“Our vice-champion will earn R125 000 and a GTC test, with the third-placed driver taking R62 500 and a GTC test, while the fourth, fifth and sixth guys will take R30 000, R15 000 and R10 000 home, respectively. “We will confirm our 2020 field in good time before the opening race of the season at Zwartkops on 14 March and from there we can’t wait for another cracking year ahead.”
“We are here to celebrate our 2019 stars, so hats off to our championship top six; Scott Temple, Nicholas van Weely, Julian van der Watt, Tiago Rebelo, Andrew Schofield and Siyabonga Mankonkwana, and to our Class B champion Ivana Cetinich. We also congratulate our 2019 Rookie of the Year Alex Vos, Most Improved Driver of the Year Siyabonga Mankonkwana and Race Technician of the Year Pete Mabuso — you are our champions and we are beyond proud of each and every one of you!
“Now we are on the cusp of another new season, which promises to be among the best yet — we have a fresh batch of racing rookies and a bunch of young guns keen to upset the seasoned campaigners. “Last year Scott Temple’s experience triumphed, the year before we had young Stuart White win it before heading to Europe and Julian van der Watt sparked a US campaign off his 2018 title. “Now we stand at the start of a new year with new champions to crown, so what will it be — the exuberance of youth or the calm hand of experience that delivers our 2020 champion?
Investchem Formula 1600 races identical 1600cc Ford-powered ‘mini-Formula 1’ cars complete with wings, slick tyres and sequential gearboxes, the perfect training ground for budding drivers with big racing plans. Run over eight rounds at South Africa’s premier circuits, a level playing field guarded by tightly controlled rules and identical cars favours not only the quickest driver, but also the most adept at setting up the cars and working as a team