Elite Racing League

All information on this page is not part of canon.

The Elite Racing League is a racing series made by ShaneEyoho, it is a single seater series and is not canon in the Formula rejects universe although it could be in the future should interest grow in the series.

General Information

The Elite Racing League (commonly abbreviated to ERL and often written as 'Elite Racing League') is a FICTIONAL open-wheel single-seater racing competition, the competition itself made its debut to the racing world in 1960 as a Formula 1 support series, the formula is governed by the FIA. What makes this season unique compared to the likes of F1, most of the races from 2016 onwards take place during the off season alongside various winter series meaning the roster of drivers and constructors can vary from season to season.

The Series started out, as mentioned, in 1960 and has seen many good races between now and then, the seasons can be seen below, as the ERL has a long and somewhat complicated history, each season page will run through the basics of what happened during those seasons.

The series stayed as a Formula 1 support series until 1997 when it broke away from the FIA and went independent following backing from title sponsor FedEx this would continue until 2004 when the ERL came back to FIA regulations and backing due to a decrease in ratings and race attendance.

Due to the series (between 1960 and 1997) being an Formula 1 support series, several Formula 1 World Champions participated in this series due to some of the Formula 1 teams at the time also having teams in the ERL (eg: Ferrari.)

The Elite Racing League made its debut on TV at the start of its 1978 season (18 months after Formula 1 debuted at their Japanese Grand Prix in 1976.)

1980 Formula One merge

In 1980 (due to lack of driver interest) a merge between F1 and its ERL support series was made due to their not being enough drivers on the market for the two series to have different grids so the FIA decided to merge the two championships, the ERL would still get its own championship/race slots it would just race the F1 calendar instead of its own, it also meant that future legends of the time could participate in the series more often this actually increased TV ratings as the ERL races usually took place on a Saturday before an F1 Grand Prix on the Sunday.

The merge lasted until 1987 when the FIA were satisfied to continue to run the ERL, once again, as its separate entity - the series would become independent in 1997.

In 1980 drivers weren't allowed to leave their official F1 teams however in 1981 the regulations for the ERL side of the race weekends, the drivers and teams were allowed to move freely between teams (eg: For the 1981 ERL season a McLaren driver could sign for Lotus etc...)

Seasons

In the official ERL rules from 1970 in order for a race to officially be a championship race there needed to be at least 12 drivers on the grid, this rule was changed to 14 as part of the many 1980's regulation changes, it was changed back to 12 during the independent run between 1998 and 2004 it was then increased to 20 for the "Modern Era" from 2005 to present.

Year	Grands Prix	Drivers Champion	Constructors Champion
1960	7	Jack Brabham (Cooper)	Cooper-Climax
1961	8	Jack Brabham (Cooper)	Cooper-Climax
1962	8	Jim Clark (Lotus)	Ferrari
1963	8	Bruce McLaren (Cooper)	Lotus-Climax
1964	9	Jo Bonnier (Ferrari)	Ferrari
1965	8	Jo Bonnier (Ferrari)	Ferrari
1966	8	Lorenzo Bandini (Ferrari)	Ferrari
1967	8	Jim Clark (Lotus)	Lotus-Climax
1968	8	Denny Hulme (McLaren)	Honda
1969	9	Jack Brabham (Brabham)	Brabham-Ford
1970	10	Denny Hulme (McLaren)	McLaren-Ford
1971	10	Niki Lauda (BRM)	Lotus-Ford
1972	12	Niki Lauda (Ferrari)	Honda
1973	12	Niki Lauda (Ferrari)	Ferrari
1974	12	Denny Hulme (McLaren)	McLaren-Ford
1975	14	Ronnie Peterson (Lotus)	Honda
1976	14	Chris Amon (Honda)	Honda
1977	14	Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren)	McLaren-Ford
1978	15	Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari)	Ferrari
1979	15	Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari)	Ferrari
1980	13	Alan Jones (Williams)	Fittipaldi-Ford