Flash
Very insightful comments. However I think you are wrong to think we are
mostly well balanced. Who in their right mind would strap themselves ( or
shoehorn as the case may be) into a teeny tiny race car that goes REAL fast
to sit on the grid in either almost snow temps in New England in early
Spring and late Fall with 100% humidity and 90degree heat the rest of the
racing season (even when it is raining) Of course then you have the guys in
the upper Midwest with their whiteouts towing to the track if they can find
it or the Suthron guys who can only race in Spring and Fall else the Gators
will be chewing on their heat stroke carcassas( same for the SoWest guys)The
West Coast drivers have to have the best reflexes of all as one side of
their track is ablaze, the other side is sliding off into the Pacific and
the track itself is buckling under the earthquake.We are a great group to
join. You will fit right in as you must be Bi-polar to drive a Honda and a
Mazda (talk about no brand loyalty)Sell the Spec Miata and tow with the CRX.
We have lots of F500s available.
Ed Capullo
From: "Flash." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [F500] Class survival. - losing vs. gaining - an
outsider'sviewpoint.
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:02:52 -0500
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
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