OCTOBER 22, 2001

Dernie's new "F1 design"

VETERAN Formula 1 designer Frank Dernie has been out of Grand Prix racing for a few years now, working mainly on CART designs but the former Williams, Lotus and Ligier designer has recently unveiled the Lola B2-50 which is the car which will be used for the next few years in Formula 3000. This is built to identical specifications as F1 cars although the engines remain restricted 3-liter Zytek V8s and the tires are Avon slicks rather than the grooved rubber used by F1 cars.

The revamped Formula 3000 series is still hoping to one day gain "Junior F1" status but at the moment the trend is for Formula 3 drivers to leap into F1 leaving the F3000 men struggling to break into Grand Prix racing.