Hey, maybe a couple of cents from me on your class. f500 is a quirky little car that I was enamored with for enough time to follow this mailing list and do an awful lot of research. There were only a few things that turned me off, but it very well may be my next step if spec miata ever loses its charm to me.
your right, the sound is terrible, theyre really unpleasant to watch. They are the worst hangover medication in the history of racing and I don't drink. I dont think that people are staying away from the class because of that. With "no suspension and no transmission" the cars should cost substantially less to purchase and maintain than they do. From out here it looks like there is a lot of money being spent on the next best thing...the montra of a spec class is much more attractive (though as an insider I know that is flat out bullshit). Your class members have been some of the warmest, least mysterious folks, you are all very helpful to one another, and the level of unbalanced individuals seems to be the lowest of the classes I've followed. I think in a lot of ways FF, and FVee are competing against you, diluting the class. As an insider I know there are stark differences between the classes. I can't afford FF and I don't want to deal with the personalities. FVee to me is a bunch of old hippies and the cars are past their prime. I think f500 is cool looking cars, with an interesting newer tech. As an outsider all of this is just "small open wheel" Take a look at your community for a moment. As a spec miata driver we have the obvious specmiata.com to support that angle, and we have miata.net. Both have extensive memberships, huge aftermarket and manufacturer support, and they easily advertise themselves. Where is f500's simple, generic resource on getting in and getting the wheels spinning. (think about other specific examples, i.e. vw vortex for some of the production classes, bimmerworld for those guys, etc, etc). Also, where is SCCA magazine and GRM magazine support? I don't think I've ever seen an interesting write up on what an f500 is or what the class is about. While I know none of you want 80 cars in a field, I think you could easily double your class if you wanted to by consolidating effort into some basic marketing. But do you want to? To me, f500 is the most obvious open wheel class to get into, with cost of ownership and maintenance comparable to several other classes. Unfortunately, at first blush, the class does not differentiate itself well from your compatriot classes. And I may be way off base, but just try to take this from the eyes of a "noob" -- it is my gut reaction to the cars. I find it funny that at races when I inquire about an f500 the guys kinda wince like im about to take a shot at the car, when I am just curious and ignorant. People joke about funny looking/sounding/smelling things. Again, though, when people find out I am genuinely interested they have taken great amounts of time and pain to explain all the ins and outs of the cars and the class and the culture. ...and im only at sfi3.2 today so take it easy with the responses. -- http://beatracing.com 97 STS2 CRX & 97 SpecMiata ________________________________ 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! ***
