Following a
highly successful inaugural season the Brazilian Racing
Festival will be back for a second year kicking off
a six date calendar at São Paulo next
weekend. The action in the series, which was inspired by
Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa with the aim of
developing a new generation for Brazilian racing
drivers, again focuses on the one-make Fiat Linea
touring car racer and the grassroots Formula Future Fiat
single seaters.
The Trofeo
Linea is set to once again attract a host of champion
names such as Cacá Bueno,
Giuliano Losacco, Christian Fittipaldi and Allam Khodair
to its second season.
The Trofeo
Linea is a single-make category racing car based on the production Linea T-Jet
model, which is
built and marketed by the
Italian brand in Brazil. Powered by ethanol fuel, the
race-tuned 4-cylinder turbocharged 1.4-litre T-Jet engine has maximum
horsepower of 210 bhp. This unit will be fitted to a
6-speed sequentially-operating Sadev STR3 gearbox
imported from France. The Linea's Koni
dampers were specially developed for
the racing Linea, while the dashboard's racing
data-logging instrumentation was sourced from the Fiat
Group's Magneti Marelli division. Finally new Brembo
brakes, imported from Italy, stop the car, and the
interior harnesses and other safety equipment (including
a carbon-fibre steering wheel) were supplied by Sparco.
The development of the Linea was conducted by MetalMori together with the engineering
expertise of Fiat Automobiles. "Our goal was to make a
real touring car with high technology at an affordable
price," said
Carlos Henrique Ferreira who is responsible for the
project at Fiat.
The Linea ready-to-run costs R$ 155,000 and includes the cost of an engine change, new bumpers and fuel
throughout the year. FPT Powertrain Technologies and LG
bumpers, in conjunction with MetalMori, give full
their support at the tracks all year to ensure smooth
operation without additional costs to competitors,
except in the case of collisions. The ethanol fuel is supplied by the organisers free of charge.
Meanwhile Formula Future Fiat has quickly emerged as the
first-rung-on-the-ladder category in Brazil for young racing
talents to get their budding single-seater careers underway.
It uses cars imported from France that are fitted with
1.6-litre 16-valve engines developed by FPT Powertrain
Technologies. The biggest advantage of this category
is the low cost, enabling continuity for pilots
looking to make the next step from karting into a
'formula school' to gain more experience at the wheel of
next-generation single-seater racing cars.
Racing Festival (Brazil) - 2011 Calendar
07/08 May – São Paulo
11/12 June – Brasília
16/17 July – Londrina
13/14 August – São Paulo
24/25 September – Curitiba
29/30 October – Nova Santa Rita (Velopark – RS)
