Racecar Engineering – September 2019

42 http://www.racecar-engineering.com SEPTEMBER 2019

F3 REGIONAL – TATUUS T-318 / LIGIER JS F3R

W

hen it was decided that GP3

would, eff ectively, be renamed

International Formula 3 and

take its place on the F1 bill, as

it has this year, there was a feeling within the

FIA that there would be a need for something

to fall into the gap between the new Formula 3

and F4. FIA single seater commission president

Stefano Domenicali even talked of an ‘F3 Lights’,

but the new formula was eventually given the

name of Formula 3 Regional (F3R).

F3R was actually due to begin in 2017, but it

faced various delays, meaning the new category

did not debut until this year. Thus far, two

chassis manufacturers – Tatuus and Ligier – have

been selected for the four championships that

run as F3R categories. And having previously

designed F4 cars for championships in Europe

and the Middle East, designing an F3 Regional

car made perfect sense for Tatuus.

‘The concept is mainly based on the

requirement of the FIA to defi ne the parameters

from F4 to F1,’ says Corrado Casiraghi, technical

director at Tatuus. ‘Regional F3 is the next step

up from F4 and is a car that should be the fi rst

[that has] some higher power and some [more

advanced] aerodynamics for driver training.’

Where F3R diff ers from its higher level

cousin is that whereas it is a spec formula within

specifi c championships, it’s not just one car

across the world. ‘The regional programme is

like Formula 4 where every country has the

choice of a chassis and an engine programme

and it’s not like Formula 3 International, where it

is one [specifi cation]; that is a very diff erent set

of rules,’ says Max Crawford, general manager of

Ligier’s North American division.

Regional accents

In a relatively short time-frame Ligier released

the JS F3R, the car chosen for the F3 Americas

Championship, where it is powered by Honda’s

I4 2-litre K20C1 engine. Tatuus, meanwhile,

produced the T-318, which has been selected

for the F3 Asian Championship (and its winter

series), the Formula 3 Regional European

Championship, the W Series (all powered by Alfa

Romeo engines) and Formula Renault Eurocup,

Two of a kind

Formula 3 Regional has opened up new opportunities for racecar

manufacturers in a market that sits between International F3 and F4 –

we took a close look at the F3R offerings from Tatuus and Ligier to

get an insight into the tech that underpins this intriguing category

By LEIGH O’GORMAN