I only partially agree with these sentiments. I think we are having problems
keeping racers too. In my area whatever happened to Elivan Goulart? Last
time I saw him he was in a Pro Miata race at Lime Rock. Joe Wolf who sold me
the Invader in Jan 06 went to Spec Racer. Richard Judd ran one race at NHIS
last year and disappeared. If you look at the F500 for sale list the Edwards
Brothers (who prepped my current car) are selliing both their F500s and I do
not know if they are staying with F500 in new cars or not. Jay Novak was
going to go DSR but hasn't sold his car yet so according to him they will be
racing in F500 this year. Then what? Naturally the present ecomnomic
conditions have something to do with this. I am not looking forward to
paying 2.60/gal or whatever to tow 8hrs to the Glen for that F500 challenge
but I will as I think that is the right start. If any of you follow the
Apexspeed site look what Mike Rand did with the FF series and then there is
the East West series. We need a strictly F500 series to make staying in the
class more appealing.
To play Devils Advocate for a minute..what difference does it make if we are
a National class? Is a National Champion in F500 going to go anywhere? (but
up to maybe two or three other levels of Formula cars long before he will
get a test with Champ Car or IRL?) At least the D and CSR guys can go to
IMSA lites and actually get paid something for putting their necks out. Read
the Apex site for the FF and FC comments on going to Topeka. Even if a
miracle occured and I was the NE Div leader
there is no way I am going to tow from Eastern CT to Kansas. If we drop to a
Regional class so what? We get to stay close to home and see all our buddies
in the various classes every other weekend. I raced S2000 Nationally and
Regionally in 86-87-88 and I had much more fun (at less cost) on the
Regional level. Car is the same, track is the same, time on track is less,
more time for socializing and less the frantic mentality of Nationals.
I will do my part to help the class stay National but as far as I am
concerned the local IT and SP guys have just as much fun and some go to Road
Atlanta for the ARRC. Perhaps some day the F500s can return to Atlanta.
Capt E.
From: John Whitling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [F500] Class survival.
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:32:12 -0400
I totally agree with your assessment. We're not having any problems
keeping racers. We're having problems GETTING racers. Thus these
perception issues are large.
Chris Greenwald wrote:
> Part of the problem is getting people to give F500 a try. Once you
> drive the car, you will be hooked; however you may not give it a
> chance because it isn't the car you had envisioned. Forget the fact
> that many people envision themselves immediately starting out in F1
> or the Nextel Cup. As racers, WE don't care what it sounds like, but
> the people who haven't yet been in a race car do care. They care more
> about the IMAGE than the racing. That all changes once you get on the
> track.
>
> Just my .01
>
> -Chris
>
>
> On Mar 13, 2007, at 7:45 AM, edward capullo wrote:
>
>> George
>> You are new so I am going to be gentle. Did you buy the car to rev
>> up the motor and listen to it or to RACE it? Who gives a [EMAIL PROTECTED]
what
>> it sounds like if you are having fun and winning races? If you are
>> not in it to have fun and win then why are you in racing? I have
>> been in various kinds of racing since 1960 and have driven fully
>> muffled cars to wide open rails.(Nothing will ever top the sound of
>> the eight short pipes in front of me when I had my front-engined
>> rail not counting the sound of the other guy's eight pipes in the
>> next lane..just ask "Q") I believe that the "compelling reasons"
>> that had you decide on the F500 probably centered around cost
>> effectiveness (bang for the buck)
>> There is just no way to go as fast for so little money in any other
>> class. So DRIVE the car and let others worry about what it sounds
>> like...especially when you are PASSING them.
>> Capt. Eddie
>>
>>> From: "george" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>> Reply-To: [email protected]
>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>> Subject: Re: [F500] Class survival.
>>> Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 05:55:19 -0800
>>>
>>> Let me choose different words then in order to prevent a comparison
>>> to cars
>>> that don't exist when I start up my F500 at the racetrack.
>>>
>>> Chuck, my comments are for the list to seriously consider and not
>>> directed
>>> at you.
>>>
>>> The exhaust note of the F500 sounds silly and stupid. The only
>>> thing worse
>>> is a mosquito buzzing your ear at 2 in the morning on a hot summer
>>> night.
>>> The exhaust sound was the ONLY reason why I held off from buying
>>> one over
>>> the last 3 years. There are other compelling reasons why ended up
>>> buying
>>> one, but I still can't stand the sound of it. Aside from that, I am
>>> still
>>> one of the new four that will be racing F500 on the west coast.
>>>
>>> Since the question was asked how to increase the numbers of the
>>> class, I
>>> thought I'd offer an "outsider's" opinion regarding the biggest
>>> reason why
>>> most folks I know have no interest in buying one: Race cars should
>>> sound
>>> "cool." The exhaust note of the F500 isn't cool. Why do you think
>>> kids &
>>> grown ups rev up engines? It sounds cool. When's the last time you
>>> heard a
>>> field of F500 revving up their engines to show them off? IMO, they
>>> don't
>>> because it would sound like a gathering of lumberjacks revving up
>>> chain saws
>>> because there's nothing better to do if you're holding a chain saw
>>> and not
>>> cutting wood. Chain saws are not race cars and if you wanted to buy
>>> a race
>>> car, why buy one that has a chain saw strapped to the rear of it?
>>>
>>> Hopefully I didn't offend anyone. See you at the track
>>>
>>> George
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "McAbee, Chuck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 9:25 PM
>>> Subject: RE: [F500] Class survival.
>>>
>>>
>>> > I think the bigger question is .....What does a race car sound
like?
>>> >
>>> > In SCCA we run everything from Showroom Stock to 5 Liter GT-1
>>> cars and
>>> > everything in between, hitting most of the notes between near
>>> silence
>>> > and the bass sounds of the Big Bores. I know we all can pick
either
>>> > classes or particular cars and say they either don't sound like a
>>> race
>>> > car or they just plain sound lousy. Truth be told, to me, F1
>>> cars no
>>> > longer sound like race cars....they sound like sewing machines on
>>> > steroids with a mega sound system, but they don't sound like an
>>> internal
>>> > combustion engine; at 20K RPM how could they.
>>> >
>>> > While I may be nearing the age of dirt, I can recall many
>>> devastatingly
>>> > quick cars the really didn't sound like race cars - the CART cars
>>> in the
>>> > 70's & 80's with the Turbo's acting like mufflers as far as sound
>>> > quality was concerned. The famous Porsche 917-30KL with it's
>>> twin turbo
>>> > 5.4L engine didn't really sound like a 'racecar'; but it sure could
>>> > perform.
>>> >
>>> > Maybe someone could design a pipe that would drop our exhaust
>>> sound 4 or
>>> > 5 octaves?
>>> >
>>> > We are what we are! Now let's get the cars out of the garage and
go
>>> > racing. With any kind of luck, I'll be at Road Atlanta in 2 weeks.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Chuck McAbee
>>> > SEDIV #16
>>> >
>>> > -----Original Message-----
>>> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
>>> george
>>> > Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 12:41 AM
>>> > To: [email protected]
>>> > Subject: Re: [F500] Class survival.
>>> >
>>> > I'm new to F500 racing and I think there's only one problem with
the
>>> > racecar:
>>> >
>>> > It doesn't sound like a racecar.
>>> >
>>> > Any other change is irrelevant IMO because if it doesn't sound
>>> like a
>>> > racecar, no one would if it had coilovers, a 6 speed transmission
>>> with
>>> > reverse, 13" tires, and a 5 bazzilion cc motor that ran on water.
>>> >
>>> > George
>>> > the new guy that's simple minded
>>> > _
>>> > -----------------------------------------
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[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name
of jwhit.vcf]
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