2020 North American Super Formula

[nj9703]

North American Super Formula, or NASF, is in a small way, a sister organization to the Southeastern Stock Car Association. When the previous owners of SESCA left, a small group of them who still had a passion for racing started developing a plan to organize a new open wheel racing sanctioning body, similar to F1, for America. Following the success of SESCA's 2018 return, many higher ups invested into this plan, as did higher ups from Segpay. Segpay as an entire company pulled its sponsorship from SESCA, and will now focus on NASF, however the majority of this partnership comes straight from the personal pockets of the company's executives. NASF will run its first season in 2020, with a 12 round championship featuring 20 different drivers and 10 teams from all over the world.

Vuse Team Baker (Statesville, NC)
Johnny Baker was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but spent the majority of his childhood living in Germany while his father served in the military. While there, Baker fell in love with Formula 1 racing, and since becoming an incredibly wealthy man in his late 40s, he has always dreamed of one day becoming involved in some way in F1. With the announcement of NASF's creation, Baker created his own team, backed by RJ Reynolds' Vuse brand, as he hopes to use this as a stepping stone to F1.

Brent Johnson
Brent Johnson, similarly to his team owner, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, but grew up in Europe. While there, he ran in junior touring car leagues, but was banned from racing in the countries of Hungary and Italy for 10 years following an on track altercation that turned into an all out brawl on pit lane. Brent won, no doubt about it, because he was the only one still conscious. He was fired from his team, and considered quitting racing altogether, but was hired by Johnny Baker to pilot the primary car for his team. Johnson will use the #24 in 2020.

Julian Alcaraz
Julian Alcaraz hails from León, Mexico, and has been an up and coming star for many years across Central and South America. The 23 year old has been racing in junior formula series since the age of 14, and has also made some one off appearances in Formula 3 and even Turismo Carretera. To keep in a semi-uniform fashion, Baker has asked Alcaraz to run the 42 in 2020.

Ford Performance SF (Dearborn, MI)
Ford's factory team enters North American Super Formula with high intentions, and with the large backing and the strong driver lineup, their aspirations are nowhere close to being seen as out of reach.

Edmondo Calabresi
Edmondo Calabresi comes to Super Formula from Siena, Italy, and will serve as the number one driver at Ford. The 28 year old spent most of his teenage years in what was then GP3 and GP2, but struggled to get any further than that. After spending a season as a test driver for Marussia in 2012, Calabresi eventually left open wheel racing and turned his sights to the British Touring Car Championship, where he has enjoyed moderate success. With 2019 being a contract year, and a desire to return to open wheelers, Ford's offer was enough for him to take the leap. Calabresi will pilot the famous #66 in 2020.

Keith Storey
Victoriaville, Canada native Keith Storey spent the last three years working on the Mazda Road to Indy. However, following the loss of his Indy Lights ride for next season due to a sponsorship fallout, Ford has taken the plunge and signed the 19 year old to a one year deal. Many believe that Storey is full of promise, however a large crowd believe that this will be too large of a stage for him to get his feet set on completely. Storey will run the #67 in 2020.

 

[nj9703]

Mercedes AMG SF Team (Brackley, England)
Based out of the United Kingdom, but entering with a German license just the same as in F1, the Mercedes factory team enters NASF with incredibly high goals for 2020. The team hopes its dominance in F1 can transfer over to their North American endeavors, and they certainly have the budget and expertise for that to happen.

Lucas Goulet
Lucas Goulet grew up in Durtal, France, not far from the famous Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans. For his 4th birthday, his father took him to the 24 hour race there, which quickly became a tradition after Goulet became fascinated with racing and cars. Goulet also became a fan of Formula 1, specifically his fellow Frenchman, Olivier Panis, and aspired to race there one day. Now at 23, after running exceptionally well in Formula Ford, he has been tapped by Mercedes AMG SF to pilot their primary car. Goulet hopes to use this experience and connection as a big step towards Formula 1.

Brian Henderson
Brian Henderson grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts and, like his teammate, has raced in Formula Ford previously. Henderson has also made a few hops into a Formula E car, and served as a test driver for Manor in 2015. The 26 year old knows his days are surely numbered if he hopes to someday reach F1, but he is more focused on becoming a NASF champion before anything.

BMW Super Formula (Brownsburg, IN)
Another brand with a German license but no German base is BMW. This factory team has raised the eyebrows of many, as their return to F1 has been rumored many times, but hasn't come to fruition. With the new 2021 regulations coming in F1, many believe it is possible that Volkswagen has entered its brands into NASF as a way to gain experience in formula racing before an F1 entry sometime after the start of the new decade. The team is based nearby the Rahal Letterman Lanigan IndyCar shop, due to their connections with BMW through IMSA, and as grounds for technical support due to the Dallara spec chassis usage across both IndyCar and NASF.

Roland Biryukov
Coming from Tula, Russia is Roland Biryukov, an incredibly fast racer with a bright future ahead of him. Biryukov has dominated every series he has competed in, from karting to his limited Formula 2 starts. While he surprised many by not accepting a Formula 2 offer he had on the table, Biryukov is confident that he will be able to better perfect his racecraft as the #1 driver for BMW in NASF.

Luke Henry
Luke Henry reigns from Newport, Wales and will serve as BMW's #2 driver for 2020. The 22 year old has spent the past 4 years running touring cars, but was approached by BMW after showing he is incredibly consistent and able to bring a car home cleanly in nearly every race. Henry has jokingly compared his role to that of the "wingman" title that was once applied to Valtteri Bottas, but many believe this won't be a joke and that Henry will suffer from having to back up an incredibly talented driver in Biryukov.

 

[JeffJordan]

Great stuff.

 

[matheus357]

"Luke, it's James".
Loving those cars, man. Keep at it!

 

[Racingfan83]

Awesome!

 

[nascarfreak88]

Those Mercedes tho. Great work, and very creative idea. I like.

 

[nj9703]

Red Bull Racing (Milton Keynes, England)
Officially listed out of England, but with a shop in Miami, Florida comes the Red Bull Racing organization. This team is the first that has specifically listed their NASF organization as part of their junior formula program, meaning this is a recognized step to the F1 podium by Red Bull. The Austrian team has two capable drivers at the helm of their cars this season and is sure to be a contender all year long.

Nils Rasi
Growing up in Oulu, Finland, Nils Rasi became an auto racing fan in 1996 at the age of 5, and was arguably Mika Häkkinen's biggest fan. Now, at the age of 28, he hopes to earn the title of "Flying Finn" for himself, as he enters NASF. While he's a little older than most of the field, both he and Red Bull are confident that his experience and developed attitude and patience will help the team to grow and finish well. However, Nils knows that this is most likely a short term deal before the younger drivers come to take his spot for F1 development purposes and he will be willing to do whatever it takes to remain a Super Formula driver.

Chen Ku
China hasn't produced very many notable racing drivers, but Chen Ku is confident he will be one of many as he sets his sights on NASF with Red Bull. Ku left China at the age of 16 to pursue a racing career in Formula Nippon, where he has put up decent results. However, he is a rather streaky driver, and whenever he wasn't finishing on the podium it seemed like he had wrecked out. Many claim he has only gotten this ride due to his sponsorship from Huawei, and it is very likely that they are true. A similar claim has floated around the Formula Nippon garage for a few seasons now, especially considering how little experience Ku had before moving to Japan. Nevertheless, he will have a lot to prove in 2020, and Red Bull might just be the place to do it.

Konica Minolta Chaparral-Chevrolet (New Hudson, Michigan)
Konica Minolta Chaparral-Chevrolet will serve as General Motors' factory team, running under the revived Chaparral brand that once made its name in sports car racing. While this is essentially just mixed in with Chevrolet branding, it has generated some publicity in the automotive world, meaning it has served its purpose for GM quite well. This team has already had some setbacks with its staff and has a shaky connection to Pratt & Miller Engineering, meaning that in classic GM fashion, the team is more likely to just... be there. Lord knows that's all their livery is doing.

Herman Wolbert
Herman Wolbert was born in the Netherlands, in the city of Zwolle, where he began his racing career at the age of 13. Now at 22, after moving to the United States in the hopes of landing in the Mazda Road to Indy, he has instead found himself in the seat of a NASF car for 2020. Wolbert is a spirited driver, but it is very likely that he has been moved up too quickly. However, he did show great promise in his limited ProMazda starts, bringing the car home in one piece, so he will at least make for a steady driver to start off the campaign for this team.

Tyler Conti
Coming from Monroe, Louisiana is Tyler Conti. Growing up an IndyCar fan, Conti has loved road course racing for nearly all of his life, no matter what racing series. Conti originally began racing asphalt late models across the Deep South, but transitioned to road racing around the age of 17. The 20 year old now takes on his biggest challenge with the Chevrolet factory team in NASF, and many expect him to become the primary driver by the time the season's summer break ends.

 

[nj9703]

Toyota-Jones SF (Bakersfield, California)
With precaution and skepticism of NASF, and therefore no desire to make a full-fledged investment, Toyota made a deal with private investor Larry Jones to form Toyota-Jones SF. Toyota officials used their connections to ink HKS as the primary sponsor, and helped to expand the teams budget for engineering backgrounds. Toyota-Jones SF might just be the perfect mix of private investment and factory support to have plenty of success. (thanks to @crazyboy335 for the shape that makes up the base, and also coaching me on how to make it look decent)

Moriya Yokoi
One of the clauses of the contract with Toyota stated that the team must have a Japanese driver. Here is where Formula Nippon's most recent runner up, Moriya Yokoi, comes into view. Yokoi already had a great relationship with the people at HKS, and with an incredible season that saw him miss the title by 10 points, a gap he lost after a mechanical failure with only 3 races remaining, he is most definitely a capable driver.

Libby Bradley
North American Super Formula's canon female driver reigns from Manchester, and she's just as much a City and Oasis loving girl to win over the fandom from uhh... idk, me I guess. But also her fantastic driving abilities that she has shown in the BTCC over the last two seasons have proven that she deserves her place for the 2020 season.

Staten SF (Los Angeles, California)
Another privateer team, this time a Ford customer, Matthew Staten has opened Staten SF for the 2020 season. Backing from Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's flagship airline, will see the team in a white, blue-gray, and green look for 2020.

John Shaffer
Our second Canadian to join the NASF ranks, John Shaffer, comes from Toronto, Canada and will pilot the primary car for Staten SF. His family connections to Canadian National Railway have backed him with more than enough funding to secure his seat. Nevertheless, he has shown some skills in his limited karting and single-seater experiences. Shaffer brings the car home at the end of the day though, and while he may not be the fastest, is certainly a safe bet to keep the equipment together and funded.

Carlos Lima
Coming from the birthplace of Aryton Senna, São Paulo, Brazil, is Carlos Lima. Carlos is another driver with large backing, his coming from Banco do Brasil. Lima is another driver who has shown moments of promise in karting, and many believe he will continue to learn and adapt. However, his track record in terms of safety does not match that of his teammate. Lima is known to easily let his temper get the best of him, and either overdrive the car or put it in very dangerous situations. We'll just have to wait and see how 2020 fairs for the young Brazilian.

accenture Thompson Racing (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Greg Thompson, along with a title partnership deal with accenture, has founded the 9th and final team entry for the 2020 NASF season. A Honda customer team, Thompson hopes the engine power at the heart of the car can overcome the issues to come on the mechanical and aerodynamic side. Thompson has been struggling to find worthy engineers for his team, on top of having only just enough funding to get by.

Leon Vogler
Leon Vogler comes to NASF from Nürburg, Germany. Growing up a proud Michael Schumacher fan, Vogler began racing at the age of 12, and has quickly risen through the ranks in Europe. However, with his career stagnating, Vogler has jumped over the pond with big aspirations of showing his skills to the F1 programs that have invested in NASF. The skill is most certainly there, but many, including Vogler himself, know it will be a struggle to show it off in the Thompson Racing Honda.

Dominic MacNeil
From Perth, Australia comes Dominic MacNeil, an incredibly down to earth and genuine person and racer. MacNeil is another driver with incredible skill who just has never had the equipment or funding to show it off. MacNeil does not know where he wants his career to go after this, and has asked some reporters "Why does it need to go anywhere?" NASF investors surely wouldn't mind a personality like MacNeil making NASF his home for as long as he can.

Aaaaand that's all folks! 9 teams and 18 drivers. I've absolutely loved working on this set, even if it has been incredibly frustrating at times due to me being very inexperienced with open wheel templates. I feel like I've learned a lot over the course of the set, especially on helmet design. Now that it is complete, I will be working on getting ratings dished out and more as we approach 2020.

 

[mvdbutler]

Sweet Super Formula Cars