Foxdale Auto Racing Team

Foxdale Auto Racing Team or commonly known as just Foxdale are a Manx racing team based in the village of Foxdale on the Isle of Man. Managed by former F1RWRS champion Pippa Mann, the team was the product of the merger of two previous F1RWRS teams established by Pippa's brother Douglas Mann, those being former constructors' champions Anglo-Manx Racing as well as Manx-Anglo-Nippon Racing Team. For 2014, Foxdale's drivers were Douglas Mann and for the first half of the year, former F1 driver Jack Christopherson for whom it was his maiden season in the series, before being replaced by Pippa Mann after a string of poor results.

Foxdale's Creation
Prior to the 2013 season, the Mann siblings ran two separate teams in the F1RWRS that had been formed back in 2011. Anglo-Manx Racing (AMR) had been formed off the back of Douglas Mann's poor 2010 season with the West Cliff Racing team, the Manxman deciding that setting up his own team would give him a better chance than leaving his fate in the hands of other team principles. A second team, Manx-Anglo-Nippon Racing Team, or MAN, was established mid-way through 2011, in part from Douglas' sympathy towards Hagane Shizuka who was suffering with the woeful West Cliff team that season. Both teams then continued into 2012, with both enjoying a high rate of success, MAN finishing third in the constructors' championship whilst AMR went on to win it, with Pippa Mann also sealing the 2012 drivers' title in the process.

For 2013 however, the list of entries wanting to enter the F1RWRS was growing, and with a whole host of rule changes transforming the sport too, the Manns felt that it would be more efficient to merge the two teams, AMR and MAN, into a more manageable single team. This team they named Foxdale, after the village where their motorsport operations were based on the Isle of Man. The name itself had been previously used in the F1RLFS Cup (now Rejects of LFS) in which the siblings participated and double-dutied in 2011 (they also attempted to compete in 2012 but the series collapsed before the season could start).

The 2013 Season
With the new-look F1RWRS, regulations had changed vastly, and for pre-season testing it seemed that the merger had paid dividends with Foxdale looking extremely quick at the hands of both Pippa and Douglas. This proved to be spot on, with the team dominating qualifying throughout the year, but the speed came at a cost, and absolutely abysmal reliability meant that the Foxdale team didn't record a finish until the Macau Grand Prix, the 13th race of the year. The unreliability prompted the team to hire a pay driver, with reigning champion Pippa Mann stepping aside to allow Ben Fleet to drive from the 5th race onwards, the Monaco Grand Prix, the idea being Fleet's cash could somehow fix the mechanical problems. Fleet in fact turned out to be a revelation, taking pole in seven of the eleven races he entered. However the Macau result proved to be Foxdale's only finish, with Douglas' car holding together to seal an emotional first win for the team. The points were enough to see them out of pre-qualifying for 2014, where it was hoped the unreliability could be ironed out and a serious challenge for the championship could be made.

The 2014 Season
Foxdale's second year could only be better than its first. Despite enjoying their first win, both Pippa and Douglas were desperate to fix the team's unreliability, which immediately meant switching engine suppliers. The quick but fragile Hart engine was switched to a Renault RS01 in a deal which saw the French manufacturer supply both Foxdale and new team Acuri Autosport. Whilst slightly down on power in comparison to the Hart, the Renault was far more reliable. On the driver front, Pippa Mann remained on the sidelines since allowing Ben Fleet to drive, becoming the team's permanent manager, whilst Douglas stayed on, and was joined by former F1 driver Jack Christopherson who came off the back of winning on his F1RWRS debut for Castrol Jones Racing at the non-championship 2013 Bud 500. With a very solid line-up, it looked very likely that Foxdale would have a far better year in 2014 than the previous one.

In reality, whilst the season was an overall improvement on 2013, Christopherson had a terrible time, managing only one race finish before being fired by Pippa Mann at the halfway point of the year. Many paddock members showed consternation for the way Foxdale had treated Christopherson, a veteran with many years experience, but the truth was the team needed results. On the other side of the garage, Douglas Mann had enjoyed a lot more success, taking the team's second victory in the French Grand Prix, along with two other points finishes by the time Jack was fired. In the Englishman's place, Pippa took the seat and returned to driving. This immediately proved to be a good decision, as she took two consecutive points finishes in Germany and Belgium. Douglas failed to make the points for the rest of the year, but Pippa scored twice more, before handing a drive to debutant Martin McFry from California, United States at the final race of the year, the Japanese Grand Prix. There McFry showcased his potential, finishing in an excellent 4th place that could have been a podium had it not been for some late-race mechanical problems.

Douglas' win and the steady stream of points finishes gave Foxdale their best ever season in the F1RWRS, with 7th overall in the constructors' standings with 27 points. The aim for 2015, with the ban on turbos being implemented, was to capitalise and rekindle the success of the predecessor AMR team.

The 2015 Season
Over the course of the off-season, and prior to 2015, it became clear that Foxdale were struggling to raise the finance necessary to fund a new chassis to replace the F1-4 used in 2014. Sponsorship had been sparse during the previous year, and no backers had been found to support the team going into the 2015 season. The result was a compromise. Foxdale were forced to run an upgraded F1-4B chassis, and stuck with the same Renault engines as before, and as such, expectations for the season were accordingly low. On a more positive note however, Martin McFry was signed up for a full season after his impressive debut at the end of 2014, whilst Douglas Mann would drive the other car. For the first race of the year, the Tasman GP though, Douglas drove for the Aeroracing Engineering team, with sister Pippa taking his place. Pippa had gone against her initial ambitions in the series and signed for Aeroracing to do a full year in 2015 after team boss Phoenix McAllister convinced her that the team would be competitive and would give her a chance to enjoy the sort of success she had in her championship-winning year of 2012. The two had switched places for the first race of the year though to allow Pippa to help set the team up for the coming year.

Complete F1RWRS Results

 * * Season in progress
 * † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.