Since everyone is once again questioning why we're not more popular, I must chime in with a few points of my own ...
First and foremost, F500 is a budget class. It seems to be the nature of things now that more expensive categories of everything are thriving or holding their own in this economy, while budget oriented things are not in a growth mode, from housing to transportation to furniture, etc. So it seems to me that the people that would be attracted to budget racing are on the decline as well. Two, our cars are different in many ways. Most of us in the class like what we have. Personally I love the CVT setup. But when you talk to a prospect, some point to the suspensions, some to the 2 strokes, some to the clutching, some to the solid rear axle, some to the 10" wheels. By themselves none of these differences are enough to repel a significant number of people but taken as a whole they become large impediments. Since point two does refer to issues we might be able to do something about, I have some of my ideas to throw out there. Suspensions .. we should allow an inexpensive non rebuildable gas charged shock. Pick a shock line, like the popular and cheap Gabriel gas bag shocks and allow anyone to use any size unit that the company makes in that line. Lots of flexibility, lots of dampening options, pricing around $100 a set. What's not to like? As for shock rubbers, we would use a rubber bumper up to 3" long that is mounted to the shock rod and simply compresses. It can be any bump rubber but it must be mounted on the shock rod, al la Koni silastos. Logical, cheap and much more acceptable than what we have now. We kicked this around briefly last fall and I believe it has legs. It would be easy to implement since there is a wide variety of shock sizes across an entire product line. Engines and clutches .. we should work to approve something like a 600cc bike motor with shifting, using the internal gearbox, and as with our current motors it should be totally internally stock and specific model. This will take some time and IMO it will not be as fast as what we have now, but we can make them competitive in a variety of ways. This should not be considered an end to the 2 stroke/CVT, but another alternative for the class. This will take a couple of years but we should begin now. It appears that we have a lot of interest in a program like this so there shouldn't be to much trouble in getting some people to start playing with this. Wheels and tires .. I'm of the opinion that we should eventually allow the option of 13" tires at some point in the future. Maybe set a date of acceptance, like 2 years out, and of course, don't exclude our 10" wheels and tires. This would be a pattern of growth/change for the class. It's not a big deal though .. IMO, none of these things would significantly speed up the class so they won't upset the SCCA order of things, but they would make our cars much more acceptable and in the case of suspensions, more reliable. Flame away .. Chris Reinhardt wrote: > I think Jay Novak pointed out, longer rubber isn't the answer, you need to > dampen it also. More movement without dampening=more issues... > > CR > >Christopher Eveland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Rubber suspension is OK if we allow longer rubbers. There are only a few > >It doesn't make much sense to me that after the 3" pucks got turned >down, we're reposnding by looking at new engines and transmissions. >My noob $0.02: > >A lack of gears was not a turn off when choosing to run this class as >my first foray into club racing. I'm coming from autox, and for all >intents and purposes we don't shift there either (put it in 2nd and >go). > >On the other hand, cracking frames due to bumps in the track is a bit >more scary. If longer pucks are going to fix it, then I'm all for >them. If a _spec_ shock is the way to go, fine too , but make sure >they are cheap, the $3k shock bill is why I'm leaving stock class. > >-Chris > > > >--------------------------------- >No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go >with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of jwhit.vcf] ________________________________ 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! ***
