On the east coast, Vicki O'Connor decided to establish a similar series. During these years, the series attracted guest drivers from Europe, including Formula One, particularly at the Trois-Rivières street race in Quebec, Canada. [1] The SCCA considers it its fastest club racing class. Formula Mondial was an international category introduced by the FIA in 1983 with the intention of replacing both Formula Atlantic and Formula Pacific, the latter being a variant of Formula Atlantic that had been introduced in a number of Pacific Basin countries in the late 1970s. Cars meeting Super Vee specifications were also allowed but are now rarely seen. The series could not sustain the success of earlier seasons and was cancelled for 1984. This rebirth expanded to an East Coast "Atlantic" series the following year and the two ran concurrently through 1990. Byron owns a prep shop at the track for Formula Mazdas, as well as other track rental setups. If you read this and are the new owner, we'd like to post more pictures and your story of it. This rebirth expanded to an East Coast "Atlantic" series the following year and the two ran concurrently through 1990. In 2009, to shore up small race fields, the pro series introduced a "C2 class" for amateur level cars, primarily the Swift 014.a, currently the dominant chassis amateur competition. The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. Only one series ran in 1975-6, in the final year taking the title 'Indylantic and adopting Indianapolis-style single-car qualifying. [5] The new formula has lowered the costs of running a full Atlantic season to around $500,000–$600,000. This reduction in costs, plus the addition of the aforementioned $2 million prize, had an immediate effect on increasing the number of competitors in the series (car count), which had dwindled over the previous few seasons. WCAR had originally sprung up with the FIA's "Formula Mondial" championship and when that folded prematurely, WCAR became Atlantic racing in the United States. Hasselgren Engineering provides machining, fabrication, engine building, design services and sales. On October 31, 2008, an official announcement was made that the Atlantic Championship series had been purchased by Ben Johnston, an Atlanta area businessman and one-time Atlantic racer. The series raised to prominence a great number of drivers including Michael Andretti, Jacques Vlleneuve, Scott Goodyear, Joey Hand, Buddy Rice, Sam Hornish, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Brian Till, Dan Wheldon, Alex Tagliani, Calvin Fish, Danica Patrick, Simon Pagenaud, A. J. Allmendinger, Graham Rahal and Katherine Legge. However, he elected not to accept it as he felt that without other sponsorship, he would be driving for a non-competitive team. FormulaSpeed 2.0 Mazda MZR. Guest drivers included James Hunt, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Riccardo Patrese, Patrick Depailler, Jacques Laffite, Didier Pironi and Vittorio Brambilla. Both WCAR and ECAR ran races for a while until the two series were merged under Vicki's management in 1991. But the formula was under threat from Formula 3 and no series ran in 1977–78. Converted to Formula Atlantic specification for 1973 but used with more success in Formule Libre. ", In early 2010, Atlantic Championship personnel publicized several features intended to attract new drivers and retain existing racers and teams. Conceived by John Webb of Brands Hatch (who would later also develop the Sports 2000 class) as a category for national competitors with the performance near a Formula Two car but running costs at or below that of a contemporary Formula Three car. Incidentally, this race and all subsequent Atlantic series races except those on ovals, used a series signature standing start following a group warm-up lap. The Atlantics series is a developmental open-wheel racing series in North America, also called a "ladder series". For example, the 2007 season featured 30 drivers.[6]. In its place a "Pacific" series was conducted exclusively on the US West Coast in 1985. This meant that competitive amateur teams could also participate in professional races and that old pro series equipment could be raced at the amateur level. Katherine Legge also competed in Atlantic for a season. For 2009, a new high definition television package was announced on HDNet, which features live coverage of certain events and replays of others.