Shouty V8s And Retro Looks Make This Is Our New Favourite Motorsport Series

No, you’re not looking at a single-seater race car from the 1970s; this is actually a brand-new car for the Formula Thunder 5000 series and it’s powered by a monstrous V8 engine

Jack Leslie

13 Oct 2016

Shouty V8s And Retro Looks Make This Is Our New Favourite Motorsport Series

Often, motorsport championships want their cars to look futuristic and technologically advanced. But Formula Thunder 5000 is giving us a throwback to Formula 1 cars of the 70s with this retro-looking single-seater.

The prototype car for the new Australian series hit the test track for the first time on Monday and it’s certainly caught the attention of motorsport fans, largely because of its quirky looks and insane sound.

Powered by a 5.0-litre, 570bhp Ford V8 engine, the car will make its public debut at the Muscle Car Masters meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park at the end of this month. But we’ve been given a sneak-peek at what to expect thanks to some pictures being released.

We’ve also got a little sample of what the beast of a car will sound like, thanks to a few video clips from the test. The footage looks to have been filmed on a potato, but unfortunately they seem to be the only clips around right now.

If the series name sounds familiar, you’re not going mad - Formula 5000 was actually quite a popular series in the 60s and 70s, giving older single-seaters a chance to return to the race track and be used for what they were built to do – be driven quickly!

It was a pretty active motorsport scene in Australia and New Zealand, Europe and North America too but it soon fizzled out. Formula Thunder 5000 is looking to bring the name back to racing.

Following the test, completed by multiple Australian Formula 3 Champion Tim Macrow, the car will make its public debut at the Muscle Car Masters meeting and will then continue testing over the next few months.

The plan is for the series to begin with a season over the final months of 2017 and early months of 2018. How cool would it be too see and hear a full grid powering off the line? It’d certainly make quite a noise.

Comments

Well I was born in 2003

u n d e r a g e

Bernie, are you listening? To the glorious V8s?

Actually the engine regulation is decide by FIA not FOM.

We should spend our last drop of petrol on a V10 or V12 engine!

After that, after no more petrol in the world, we could start watching e-racers.

Why can’t F1 cars have such engines?!

Because they have to say to the world they care about resources and stuff… But they spend billions in a whole year… And wants to appear a bit “green-organic-vegan-clean”.
F1 should be a place not only for new technologies, but also place for good races!

Because such engines are WAY down on power compared to what F1 uses. The current hybrid engines have about 250bhp more than the V10s, not to mention delivering that from much lower in the rev range, burning far less fuel, and having a lot more thermal efficiency. Much as I would love to see it happen, that isn’t viable right now.

Am I the only one who it doesnt remind me of a 70’s car. Other than the intake which is definitely 70’s

The rest looks like it took styling from the mid 80’s to the early 90’s.

Yup, this. 1975-ish looked way different. I’d say this is 1990-1999 even. Not complaining though, I think that’s when F1 cars looked the most sleek and beautiful, now they all just look like cheese graters, with a too wide front wing, and a too narrow and too high rear, and a too narrow middle as well. Imho they’re very ugly nowadays. 2008 was the last year they looked alright to me.