Christopher, As a first year regional racer who went through a double school at Gateway Int'l in March of this year, I'll throw in my $.02 on the rented fendered car issue.
I rented a Spec Miata at $500/day to do the school, and it was absolutely the correct decision for me. My situation: no racing experience, 1 autocross weekend under my belt, and not very familiar with the F5 car I'd bought 3 months earlier. Subsequent race weekends reinforced my opinion about the correctness of the decision. I probably would have been overwhelmed with car issues which would have distracted me from learning during the on-track sessions. And having the car owner responsible for fuel and maintenance allowed me to concentrate on the driving. The school I attended had 1 open wheel group and 2 closed wheel groups. We were on-track for 30 minutes out of every 90 for the last day and a half of the school. The big question would have to be: How confident are you in your ability and knowledge of your car to deal with unforeseen problems in one hour, in order to avoid missing an on-track session. That's where the rubber hits the road on the issue. Missing a session wouldn't be a death sentence on the school, but it sure wouldn't help. And going from an SM at school to an F5 in a regional wasn't a huge transition. The lower center of gravity, better braking performance, and better horsepower to weight ratio gave me a safety margin in the transition and made it less likely that I'd get into trouble, IMO. Hope this helps, Kenneth Kirkland #18 MiDiv www.kirklandracing.com --- Christopher Eveland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all- > > I've spoken to a few of you off the list, and wish I > could have spoken > to more of you last week at the Nationals (wasn't > there for the 1st > part of the week), but I'll take this opportunity to > introduce myself > to the rest of the list. Currently I race a Lotus > Elise in autox, and > while I don't want to quit autoxing, I'd like to get > started in club > racing as well. > > Originally I'd found F500 by looking for classes > that it would be > possible to race in both autox and club, but the > consensus seems to be > that the setups are too different for that to be a > viable option in > just about any class. (Although if anyone here does > that, go ahead and > speak up.) Now that it looks like the Exige S won't > be allowed into > SS next year, I probably have another year of useful > life on the > Elise, so that's not as pressing of an issue, but > F500 still looks > like an attractive class to go to the track in. > > Anyway, my first question is about the SCCA driver's > school. I've > been advised that it can make a lot of sense to rent > a fendered car to > do this on the grounds that contact isn't such a big > deal. Also, > renting I gather gives you support at the track. > Sound advice? Is it > better to have your first open wheel experience in a > school or a race? > Also, how hard are the F500s to maintain at the > track? Can I run > races alone, or do I need to recruit family as pit > crew? > > Secondly, how hard is it to set up an F500? It > seems that w/o shocks, > one aspect of tuning is eliminated, but the > CVT/clutch variables get > added in. How much does the chassis matter? Is it > important to get > the latest and greatest, or is any GCR-legal chassis > going to be just > as good? Same question for bodywork, if downforce > has increased. > Although I realize I'll be on a steep learning curve > to start, I'd > like to be in a class where driver skill is the > predominant factor in > winning races. > > Finally, I've read through the FAQ on F500.org, as > well as the last > quarter in the archives of this list, but are there > any books or other > resources I should check out? > > Thanks! > > -Chris ________________________________ FormulaCar Magazine - A Proud Supporter of Formula 500 The Official Publication of Junior Formula Car Racing Subscribe Today! www.formulacarmag.com or 519-624-2003 _________________________________ _______________________________________________ F500 mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change options please visit: http://f500.org/mailman/listinfo/f500 *** Please, DO NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list! ***
