Hi all, I just got back from my first SCCA driver's school, so now that I've actually driven and (practice) raced an F500 I have a few more things to add. I'll try and write up some more detailed thoughts from someone who is actually joining the class later this week, but with a work deadline looming, I'll just make a few comments now.
On 3/23/07, Chuck Voboril <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
F500 needs salemanship and VERY little else to survive. Shocks-Good idea Bike motor alternatives-Good idea 2-stroke alternatives-Good idea However, none of these items appear necessary for impoved participation
Absolutely right, none of these are needed right now. Look, I was a little skeptical about the rubber hockey pucks for a suspension, and one of the SRF guys in my group had his nose stuck up in the air talking to me about it before we started racing.... ...but then we hit the track, and some things became very clear. First, the car is fast. I was the fastest in my group (which included two FCs) for at least one of my sessions. (They wouldn't show us lap times, but my instructor showed me my name at the top of the list, along w/ a pat on the back). Someone needs to make a table that has all the classes listed with lap records for a track, the cost to buy a car, and the cost to run a car for a year. There is nothing else close, and I think this could help w/ making people realize that its not just a low buck class (like FV ;) ), but a low buck high performance class. These cars are fast, and I know everyone wants to go a little bit faster w/ shocks or whatever else, but there's no need to loose sight of the fact that they are already fast and deserving of respect. As for the suspension, to listen to some of the people talk here, I thought I was going to need a cane by the end of the weekend from the jarring impacts of going over bumps, and that the car was going to be a handful to keep in control. The fact is, that in the decades that you folks have been working on these cars, they've gotten pretty darned good. Try to stop scaring us newbies away. :) I did learn to avoid going over the potholes at the end of curbing, etc., but the suspension actually works. Not only that, but it actually handles pretty well. I had a lot of fun pushing the limits and catching (most of the time) the car as I pushed a little too far. (apparently much to the amusement of some of the corner workers)
Things that are great about F500 as it is currently:
4) No shifting which is unique among formula cars-many came to this class JUST because of that.
You don't know how nice it was to be able to relax in the debrief room at the school as the instructors were telling the other drivers "brake, shift, _then_ turn" over and over again. :) And also how nice it is to know that you're not going to miss a shift in blow a motor. Not to mention that you have peak HP available _all_the_time_. You don't know how fun it was to blow by the gearbox cars on the practice starts. Anyway, I've written more than I meant to, so I should really get back to real work now, but please folks keep in mind how good things are with the current setup, so lets now loose track of what's right with the class, and more importantly lets do a better job of communicating that to people joining the SCCA rather than emphasizing our problems. -Chris (the new Red Devil owner) ________________________________ 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! ***
