Interesting take on what is happening in F 1000 Eric and a good analogy to what can happen to well intended folks actually Lee Stohr was pushing at first for composite chassis(to expand his new capabilities) and of course now the whole thing has turned full circle with the concern over safety with the performance potential of the cars.Personally by the SCCA mixing formula fords inthe f-500 grid they have put F-500 in a spotlight ,people are seeing an entry level fairly simple car run with and BEAT the much more expensive f-f too bad they won't be together at the runoffs! Dave Craddock
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Chris Reinhardt Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 5:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [F500] Editorial: How did F1000 go wrong? Ed, I think you missed the point.... Eric I agree, "if" there was to be a bike motored F500 type chassis, I think it should be added to the F500's, and not replaced by it. It seems odd how one particular manufacturer was talking up building a new chassis F1000 car, while the rest of the planet was dead against it, and then it went through.... Who's hands are in who's pockets!!! CR edward capullo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Eric - Excellent post!!! We must remain focused on how to make F500 "as it is" more popular or we might stand a chance of losing our "most bang for the buck" status. I too am a regular reader of Apex Speed.com and followed the F1000 right from its' original concept. 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 Capullo >From: Eric D Christensen >Reply-To: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: [F500] Editorial: How did F1000 go wrong? >Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:13:27 -0700 > >Every once in awhile I have to exercise my right as the host of f500.org >to stand on a soapbox and editorialize. And yes... I know I'm opening >myself up for flames by doing so! Bring it on! > >This isn't strictly F500, but I think it is F500 related in a way. What >has happened to F1000 in the course of being adopted by SCCA is a great >example of how good ideas and intentions can get derailed. > >Formula 1000 was originally conceived as being a (reasonably) low cost, >grass roots class. The intent was to get some older, no longer >competitive FC cars out of the garage and back on the track and to do so >inexpensively. Flat bottom car with a factory stock 1000cc bike motor, >chain driven, and no go-fast / spend-faster trick parts. > >Sound like a familiar theme? > >The original spec was for a simple flat bottom wings & slicks car with a >factory stock 1000cc bike motor and a chain drive. The first F1000 cars >built were just that - older FC chassis like 80s era DB-3s with a >wrecking yard bike motor. All told you could buy a chassis, put a motor >in it and even with fabrication costs have a F1000 track ready for about >$20K. Not bad for something that turns close to FA times, right? I'm not >ashamed to say, I was intrigued enough to start looking into it very >seriously. > >Then the fun began. Once SCCA started showing interest in sanctioning >F1000 things started to change. I'm not going to go into all the details >of what happened, how it happened or who's to blame. Heck, I don't know >all of the details and it's be more speculation than fact anyway. But >somewhere along the line F1000 morphed from a grass roots, low cost, >home-builder friendly class to being another big bucks class. > >Original concept: Retrofit existing older FC chassis and provide a place >for them to be competitive again. >As adopted by SCCA: New, purpose built F1000 chassis are the norm. >Several manufacturers have either released or will release for 2007 at >around $40K. Now that's a big jump from doing $2000 of fabrication on a >$10K chassis. > >Original Concept: Factory stock 1000cc bike motors with no modifications >allowed. >As adopted by SCCA: Stock bore, stroke and displacement - than means >BUILT engines with aftermarket parts, blueprinted and balanced. And of >course all the care and feeding that goes along with a built up motor. >Basically you are looking at DSR engines - they start about $8000 and go >up from there. That $1500 junkyard engine is going to need $5000+ of >work to make it competitive. > >The net result - The $20K F1000 concept has become a $50K car. Yeah, you >can still build one for $20 and run around in the back of the pack, but >you won't be competitive. Kinda like running a Kawasaki in F500. > >No conspiracy theories here... but I find it interesting that by the >time SCCA adopted the F1000 concept, it's costs has skyrocketed to the >point that Enterprises' FSCCA cars are a lot more cost effective. > >Anyway, the point being that the best intentions don't always come to >fruition. Keep that in mind when talking about fundamentally changing >the F500 concept by adding coil-over shocks, bike engines, etc. While >some changes are going to have to happen over time to keep F500 a viable >class, we must remain VERY vigilant that the concept of F500 is a grass >roots, home-builder friendly, low cost formula car. > >I guess I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that there *may* be an >opportunity to revise F500 to fill the void left by the hijacking of >F1000. There still is considerable interest in a low cost bike engine >formula car. If there is a way that a bike engine could be added to the >existing F500 spec as an additional configuration, it could be a very >good thing for the long term health of the class. On the other hand... >if done wrong, it could obsolete the 2 stroke / CVT combination and >current chassis and raise the cost of the class dramatically (ala >F1000). We must remain vigilant... > >----- >Eric D Christensen >Proadmin, Inc. Get on board. 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