Director of RFR, Ralph Firman, was the founder and driving force behind Van Diemen Racing's success as the global leader of volume race car manufacturing for 3 decades (consider 30 years vs 3 decades, the higher numer "sounds" more impressive) until its sale in 1999. Ralph set up RFR early in 2008 to cater to the club racing enthusiast and the same volume car market which he dominated throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

As with race drivers and race teams, there exists that same competitive element amongst the car manufacturing fraternity which has unfortunately been diminished over recent years, with the onslaught of the one-make series adopted by clubs and organisers around the world. However, the new and exciting Formula 1000 class introduced in the USA and open to all manufacturers, inspired Firman to re-enter the fray by founding RFR and building a new car.

Gathering together many of the talented individuals of the Van Diemen era, from engineering, purchasing and manufacturing, a programme was devised to produce a totally new and radical car for the developing series. David Baldwin was again commissioned with the design, and with this part of the project now complete, the first prototype chassis was assembled at RFR's new 10,000 sq. ft. factory unit close to Snetterton circuit in Norfolk, England.

With in-house machining coupled to fabricating and bodywork facilities in adjacant units, this first car was built on schedule and tested at Brands Hatch at the beginning of October 2008.

Having completed approximately 2000 miles of development testing, the RF009 car has now been signed off for production to teams and drivers.

The Factory

Having sold Van Diemen in 1999, Ralph Firman formed a small building company to undertake some projects in both the residential and commercial arenas. One of these ventures included the re-development of some industrial land close to Snetterton circuit into a number of modern commercial units, one of which now accomodates the new company, RFR.

With the intention of keeping costs and overheads down and at the same time allowing short lead-times on prototyping and manufactured components, the company has invested in a range of CNC, automatic and manual machines which are operated by a small number of staff.

Housed in adjacant units on the same industrial complex are Raceshop Fabrications and Performance Panels Plus, small businesses set up by former employees and suppliers whose experience in the racing car industry enable most of the RFR production to be undertaken "on-site".

The People

Ralph Firman	Ralph Firman began his career in motor racing running Formula 3 cars for a series of drivers, amongst whom the most successful was Emerson Fittipaldi, later to become F1 World Champion. After a period of years, Ralph committed to building his own car, and in 1972 Van Diemen was created, the history of which is well documented. During his tenure, some 5000 single seater and sports racing cars were produced and his Duckhams/Van Diemen Formula Ford team was the starting point for many successful drivers - amongst the most notable being Ayrton Senna and Eddie Irvine. (There was a period when 7 drivers in F1 had started their racing in a Van Diemen chassis.) Elan Motorsports purchased Van Diemen in 1999 together with G-Force (manufacturers of Indy cars), and Ralph took over as C.E.O. of the Elan Group resulting in the winning of the Indy 500 in year 2000. Stepping down in 2004, he persued other interests until 2008 when he decided to return to the sport he loved, forming a new company, RFR, and building a new state-of-the-art F1000 car for the US market
Angela Firman	Angela Firman was a director of Van Diemen Racing for 30 years. During that time she controlled all purchasing and administration for the Company. She joins RFR in the same capacity, bringing with her a vast amount of knowledge and experience in these fields.
David Baldwin	David Baldwin began his career at Lotus Components and graduated to chief designer where, amongst other projects, he was instrumental in designing the Lotus 59 and Lotus 69 F2 and F3 cars in the late 1960s. During the 1970s he worked at Team Lotus, Ensign F1 and McLaren F1 where he was highly respected for his mechanical engineering expertise. In 1978 he became a share holding director at Van Diemen, and was the mainstay of all design for the Company until the change of ownership in 1999. David has now undertaken the challenge of designing the new F1000 car for RFR.
John Uprichard	John was educated in Northern Ireland where he qualified as an engineer and in 1986 he joined Van Diemen as Sales and Marketing Manager where he remained for 20 years. Upon his departure from Van Diemen, John continued to work alongside Ralph on various construction projects including what is now the new RFR factory premises. He returned to his position in sales and marketing with RFR at its inception in 2008.