Hi Chris, and welcome!
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?
I would certainly recommend renting a car for drivers school as opposed
to trying to run your own. You will be SO busy during driver's school
that you will not have time to correctly maintain the car between
sessions. Your assessment is correct that renting a car with support
will make it MUCH easier on you and allow you to focus on learning and
driving instead of the logistics of prepping the car.
Fendered or formula rental is entirely up to you. I personally don't
think it makes much difference. The driving techniques are essentially
the same (unless you rent a front wheel drive car). What you learn in
just about any car is transferable to just about any other car. There
are a couple of techniques that are specific to F500 (mostly related to
getting optimal performance from the CVT), but you'll get those figured
out pretty quickly once you start getting seat time. That said, if you
can find a reasonable older FF that would be my preference for drivers
school. Contact shouldn't be an issue during driver's school. If you
make heavy enough contact to do damage, you're probably out no matter
what you're driving.
On race weekends, you have lots of time between sessions, but it's still
very helpful to have at least one crew member. I've run races without
crew, but I wouldn't recommend it. Aside from just having a second set
of hands and eye to help with prepping the car between sessions, it's
helpful to have someone to assist on pre-grid, and to give you info from
the pit lane via radio or pit board.
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.
You need to be running a reasonably modern chassis / engine combo to be
competitive. Technology HAS changed over time, and newer chassis and
engines are both faster and more reliable. Also running a chassis that
lots of others are running allows you to compare notes and get set-up
assistance for others. Most of us do happily and openly exchange
information and help each other out. There aren't a whole lot of big
speed secrets.
I would recommend a recent NovaKar, Invader, or Red Devil with a Rotax
engine as a good solid package with the capability of being nationally
competitive. You'll get good support and advice from the chassis
manufacturers and have parts readily available with these chassis. Avoid
one-off or limited production chassis, and don't get into trying to
update an older chassis unless you really like fabrication and are
willing to spend LOTs of time testing.
Also, it's far better to start off with a used chassis that has already
been sorted and set up. Once you have a couple seasons of experience in
F500 you may decide that you're up for the challenge of sorting a brand
new car, but for starters it's better to buy a car that's already set up
and nationally competitive. Several usually come up for sale right after
the Runoffs. Sorting a new chassis can take many days of testing, and if
you don't have a good frame of reference as to how a well sorted car
handles and performs you will find it a very difficult process.
CVT tuning is significant, and does pose a steep learning curve unless
you have background in snowmobile racing. However, like everything else,
your fellow competitors will help you a lot. That's another reason to
consider a car that's already sorted. That way you will already have the
CVT set up.
There isn't a lot of magic speed to be found in the CVT, but there is a
lot of speed to be lost if it's set up incorrectly. There are no "demon
tweaks". Once you have a decent baseline clutch set-up, then just
regular cleaning and maintenance are all that is required to keep it
running efficiently. Now, the top competitors are always tuning and
testing clutch set-ups and chassis set-ups. But it's no different from
any other race cars. The big difference with F500 is that there are less
tunable components, and the ones that there are are generally less
expensive to tweak with. But you will have to test and tune with any
race car to obtain optimal performance. Even Spec Racers and FSCCA guys
spend a tremendous amount of time testing set-up changes.
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?
I wish there was a "F500 for Dummies" book. Would have saved a lot of us
time and energy when we got started in F500. The one book that I would
recommend is Olav Aaen's Cluytch Tuning Handbook. It will take a lot of
the mystery out of how the CVTs work and how to tune the effectively.
You can order it directly from Aaen Performance (www.aaenperformance.com).
Your best resource for information will be your fellow competitors. One
of the things that makes F500 such a great class is that we like a big
family and everyone helps each other out. We all want to make sure that
everyone has fun and the class continues to grow. So don't worry too
much about the learning curve. You will have all the help you need along
the way.
--Eric
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