Photo: Aquila Racing Cars
Nordic 4 has announced it will retire its long-used Formula 4 cars after this season, with the category being replaced by a new chassis taking technical inspiration from Formula 1000.
Launched in 2017 as Danish F4, the championship has also been open to Formula Ford cars in its ‘Formula 5’ class. Mads Hoe won the overall title in 2021 as an F5 driver, and remains competitive today against first-generation F4 machine.
There was a visit to Norway in 2018, Sweden was first in 2019 and then there has been rounds in the country since 2022. This pre-empted an alliance with the Formula Renault 1.6-spec Formula Nordic which began with sharing grids in 2023 and has expanded into a joint Nordic Championship Formula title this year.
Danish manufacturer Aquila has been contracted to provide Nordic 4’s new car for 2026 onwards, which will be faster and cheaper to run than its F4 predecessor, after championship organisers deemed contemporary entry-level single-seaters on the market not suitable for its needs.
The halo-shod Aquila Formula Nova will have a tubular frame chassis, a three-cylinder motorcycle engine with a power output of around 135 horsepower and a driver-in weight of around 400kg. Test runs are planned soon, and delivery of the cars to customers is scheduled for the end of 2025.
The technical specifications are similar to F1000, which is an open single-seater category based around small and affordable cars with motorcycle engines from different brands. There are other common features, but the category has evolved differently around the world.
F1000 was previously known as Formula Jedi in the United Kingdom, and Aquila’s own F1000 car has closed wheels. It has been the basis of one of Scandinavia’s most popular entry-level car racing series, since the lightweight open-cockpit cars prepare drivers well for higher levels of single-seaters and prototype sportscars.
Australia adopted F1000 with a greater focus on its sportscar similarities, and its cars had more complex aerodynamics, while the largest F1000 scene is in the USA where there have been multiple chassis manufacturers and championships.