<<<When I saw Lee Stohr first say he wasnt interested in building a
F1000 car only to change his mind and to make preparations to build and
sell one my first thought was there goes the low buck concept.
Ed CapulloB >>>
B
Hmmm....I wonder what a Stohr-built F500 would go for? $30K? $35K?
I think F1000 was ordained to go this way from the start. It didn't
really matter how they wrote the rules; if they are designed around
existing chassis (FC) with a new, more capable powerplant, the builders
will take note. A brand-new design from a good builder will almost
certainly be faster than a re-fit to a 10+ year old car - where's the
surprise in that? The SIR will minimize the differences between
engines, but not eliminate them. There will be people willing to spend
the money to get the extra speed present in the new design and a
'built' stock engine - again, no surprise. The more people in the
class, the more likely it is that this will happen. Also, the closer
the rules are to an existing class/design, the more likely it is.
So, what prevents someone from doing the same thing in F500? What
prevents someone from buying 10 engines and mixing/matching parts to
get the absolute best combination? What prevents someone from doing
wind-tunnel testing and high-end FEA on the suspension design and
charging an extra $10K for a car that's .5 sec faster? The only things
that have prevented cost escalation in F500 are:
1) The lack of transferability of the technology. Our suspension and
solid-axle rules mean that Stohr, et al, can't effectively re-use a
proven DSR design, so they would have to invest a TON of money at high
risk. This is a natural barrier to entry for the other builders, and
it has proven effective.
2) Rules stability designed to prevent cost escalation. This also
keeps older chassis' fairly competitive.
3) The desire of the current crop of builders to keep things at a
manageable level. Kudos to Q, Novak, Don, etc for keeping things
cost-effective.
IMHO, THIS is the real 'secret sauce' of F500 that makes it such a
great value.
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