The formula racing class most people have heard of is Formula One. But that's just the top of a motor racing ladder that has many rungs to it. The FIA also sanctions the Formula Two championship and several Formula Three series around the world, but soon aspiring racing drivers will have a more accessible step available to them in their aspirations to make it to F1. The new Formula 4 championship will launch next year in the UK, offering cost-effective but modern machinery.

The car, called MSV F4-013, is designed by veteran racecar developer Ralph Firman around a spaceframe chassis with front and rear wings (unlike, for example, Formula Ford), Yokohama tires and a 2.0-liter Ford Duratec engine producing 175 horsepower and augmented by a Cosworth engine control system and Sagev six-speed sequential gearbox. Privateer entries are projected to cost just £35,000 per season, with professional teams limited to a maximum of four cars at £70,000 apiece. The series is being run by former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision company.

MSV already runs the FIA Formula Two Championship and the MSV Formula Three Cup, and operates several race tracks across England, including Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton, Cadwell Park and the Bedford Autodrome. It is being run in collaboration with the British Racing Drivers Club that owns Silverstone, so expect the series to have its run of the best racing circuits the UK has to offer. Pictured is a rendering of the new MSV F4-013 along with a few shots from Palmer's F2 races.