The Real Deal - JK Racing Formula BMW

No more armchair racing, we strap into the cockpit of the FB02 used in the JK Racing Championship.

I've been fortunate to have done hundreds of laps around the beautiful Buddh International Circuit, but the closest I’ve come to getting a Vettel-eye-view of the track has been from the drivers’ seat of a Westfield Sport 2000. So, I’ve been lining up this drive in a JK Formula BMW Asia single-seater for some time now.

The day finally arrived during the final round of the 2013 JK Tyre Racing Championship over the last weekend of November at the BIC. The original request was to have one or two engineers from the Eurointernational team – the folks who own, and run, the Formula BMW machines – stay over for an extra day following the weekend, so we could conduct a proper test of this full fledged racing car on the following Monday. But the best we could manage was a couple of laps after all the action was over on Saturday. Not quite what I had in mind, but enough nonetheless to get a sense of this beautiful machine – as race cars go, I happen to think that the Formula BMW is a very well proportioned machine with clean lines and a visual sense of purpose.

Now, it’s not insanely powerful by any stretch. It uses the 1.2 litre, four-cylinder engine from a BMW K1200RS motorcycle, which produces a reasonable 140 horses. But remember that it needs to propel just 465kgs, and it manages to do so with enough urgency to breach the 100km/h mark in under 4 seconds. So, it is fast! It also has a carbon fibre and Kevlar monocoque, so it’s cutting-edge as well.

Formula BMW is, essentially, an entry-level single-seater championship that’s held locally in various countries around the world. And it has one relatively well-known graduate – Sebastian Vettel, who was the German Formula BMW champion in 2004. JK Tyre, meanwhile, became title sponsor for the Formula BMW Asia series in 2011, and now they run these cars in the JK Racing Championship in India that consists of 4 rounds and 12 races – the aim of which is to hone young Indian talent. The cars, of course, run JK Racing slicks.

So, I arrived at the track on Saturday with a new helmet in hand (my old one didn’t have clips to attach the mandatory HANS device), and a new suit (my old one wasn’t up to FIA specs). The only problem was that this bright red Puma suit made me feel like a mobile fire hydrant in the pit lane. I then proceeded to run into Armaan Ebrahim and Karun Chandhok. I remember being on the track in Chennai the first time Armaan got into a racing car – he was in a race-spec Esteem and I was in a Formula Maruti. He was 11 at the time. Needless to say, I was more than a little afraid of being run over. On another occasion, I was in a Formula Maruti again, and this time I was complaining about the set-up to explain my lack of pace – in true racing driver fashion. It just so happened that Karun was around, and was more than willing to jump into the car to check it out. Needless to say, he was instantly much faster.

But back to the present day, and I think they secretly chuckled to see me dressed like a walking-talking safety triangle. Karun then asked me, with eyebrows raised: “When was the last time you drove a single-seater?” I mumbled an incoherent reply and slithered into the car.

Now, actually getting into the cockpit is the first task. You step over the sidepod and onto the seat, before sliding your legs in while lowering yourself into the seat. And while most single-seaters I’ve driven have been pretty uncomfortable, the FB02 was actually not bad at all. Of course, it was snug, but the makeshift seat was well contoured and quite comfortable actually. You are practically lying down of course, but there’s little chance of dozing off at the wheel of this baby.

Starting-up is pretty straightforward, but setting off is where it begins to get complicated. In this case, you use the clutch only to select first and get going. After that it’s simply a case of lifting off the gas, and forcefully tugging at the gear lever to go up and down the sequential Hewland six-speed box. It’s the first clutch release, though, that’s crucial – because that’s when everyone is watching you in the pits. Stalling a racing car the first time out is customary though, and that’s exactly what I did right on cue – even though the clutch release on the Formula BMW is completely straightforward. Nerves I guess.

As I drove out of the pit-lane, I attempted to pull at the gear lever to go up a gear, but that didn’t seem to work. You see, it only wants to let you shift around the 9,200rpm redline. What I should have done was used the clutch and pulled the lever to select second, instead I stayed in first till after C1. Suffice to say, Antonio Ferrari, owner of Eurointernational, was not impressed. By the time I got around the next corner, leading to the back straight, I got the hang of it – but not before I hit the limiter once or twice. I was simply being too gentle with this thoroughbred. The key with a race car is that you have to take it by the scruff of its neck, and not be intimidated by it – of course, you can (and should) be smooth at the same time. Slowing down at the end of the back straight gave me a sense of just how good the brakes were. Even though I braked far later than I would in a normal car, it was still much too soon. Of course, the key is to use left-foot braking – since you don’t use the clutch on the move, it’s simply quicker to use one foot on the throttle and the other on the brakes.

Through the twisty section after turn four, you get a sense of just how much grip there actually is – which is to say a fair amount. But what’s most surprising is the fact that the steering is very light and power is exceedingly manageable. This is a really easy car to drive. The faster you go, the more in sync with the car you become. Your inputs translate to action instantly – and that’s the real difference between a normal car and a proper single-seater. In a race car, you can be far more positive with your inputs, and these are transmitted so much quicker through the chassis and onto the track.

Since the car was so easy to drive, I was able to gain confidence very quickly and start pushing. By the second lap, I was approaching the top speed of 230km/h on the back straight – I assume so anyway (based on the revs in sixth gear), since we didn’t have any telemetry or timing data, nor did we have the chance of hooking up our own equipment. I was braking late – although I could have braked later still (since I was getting back on the power before the apex), and carrying a fair amount of speed through the corners. Turns 5-6-7 and 8 were incredible – with this single-seater stringing this sequence together beautifully. The parabolica showed up a hint of understeer, while turn 15 saw a twitch on more than one occasion – as the road drops away from you at the apex. Since it’s a very controllable chassis, there was no fear whatsoever.

As I turned the final corner, and powered onto the main straight I noticed my pit board with word ‘IN’ in big bold letters. It couldn’t be – I had only done three laps, and I was only just getting into a rhythm. But, he’s a brave man who disobeys an order from Antonio Ferrari, so I did as I was told – though not before giving it everything on my in-lap. And that was the first time I really got a sense of how much grip the Formula BMW actually had. I’m not sure I could tell the difference between mechanical grip and aero grip – either way, there was plenty of it. My in-lap was the first time I manhandled the car through the fast chicane at turns 7 and 8, and the first time I got fifth coming out of the parabolica at turn 10. We didn’t have any timing data, but I do have my on-board Go Pro video, which shows a 2 minute 17 second lap-time on my third lap – not too bad considering the fact that some of the race laps over the weekend were slower.

The difference between driving a road car versus a race car on the track is that you’re always worried about abusing the former. You always have brake and tyre wear at the back of your mind, whereas pushing a race car to the absolute limit is its sole reason for being. So, you brake as late, and as hard, as possible. You shift as fast as possible, and the more you extract from the car the more rewarding the entire experience becomes.
Formula BMW is a great stepping stone to the cut-throat international arena, and the JK Championship is brutally competitive – rightfully so. Thank you JK Tyre, now can we discuss my race seat please?