Cooper FF2000 Series Dallara
COOPER FF2000: New Dallara Chassis Introduced for '07 Season
Written by: News Wire Palmetto, Fla. – 11/8/2006
New Dallara features carbon-fiber body and no-lift sequential gearbox. (Cooper Series photo)
Formula Motorsports Inc., promoter of the Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 Championship, revealed today that it will celebrate the Formula's 25th year with the introduction of a state-of-the-art carbon fiber Dallara FF07USA chassis in time for the 2007 season.
"We at Dallara are extremely pleased to bring a new chassis to North America, and play a role in the long successful history of Formula Ford 2000. It is our intention to work closely with the teams and drivers and FMI to ensure the quality and service that our company is known for around the world,” said company owner Gianpaolo Dallara.
The new FF2000 design will be very similar to the car that has dominated Formula 3 since its introduction in Europe. The car also will incorporate a sequential no-lift shift six-speed gearbox, an FIA safety seat and of course, the Ford DOHC 2.0 Liter/Zetec engine which has proven to be reliable and cost-effective since being introduced to FF2000 in ’02.
The FF07USA chassis is the result of extensive research and development including aerodynamic wind tunnel testing, seven-post shaker rig testing and rigorous FIA crash testing procedures. Each rolling chassis has a retail price of over $100,000 US dollars, but FMI will offer the first 26 chassis at a subsidized price of $67,500 to ease the equipment change for clients.
"This is an important step for the Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 Championship," said Jon Baytos, president of FMI, "and we are so excited to have such a fantastic machine as the Dallara-Ford available to us for 2007. The current breed of cars has served us extremely well and will still be featured strongly in 2007 with junior championships based on both the East and West Coasts, but we felt it was important to upgrade our technical package for the National Series to include a new carbon chassis and the very latest sequential shift gearbox so it will provide an even better motorsport experience for our drivers and teams who are looking to move up into the Champ Car Atlantic Championship and the Champ Car World Series.
“When it became clear that we had to upgrade our chassis, we looked at many different options but it always came back to Dallara. Their reputation around the world for safety, quality and service speaks for itself. Our fans, teams and drivers are in for a ride when they get a look at this little carbon chariot.”
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Originally Posted by redracer57
