CM : Add GCR-compliant FC w GCR Spec Hoosier R60A Tires
To include the GCR spec tire FC to CM, letter #33424 has been submitted to the Solo Events Board (SEB).
Quote:
Letter ID Number: #33424
Title: CM : Add GCR-compliant FC w GCR Spec Hoosier R60A Tires
Class: CM
Request:
Allow GCR-compliant FC utilizing GCR Spec Hoosier R60A tire to run CM. To wit, recommend editing the SCCA National Solo Rules Appendix A MODIFIED CLASS C (CM) rules as outline below.
~ Relocate FV and FST from section B to section A as follows:
“A. Modified Class C (CM) allows the Solo® Vee and the following SCCA® Club Racing GCR-compliant cars: Formula F (FF), Spec Racer Ford (SRF), Formula Vee (FV), and Formula First (FST).
Exceptions to the Club Racing GCR for these cars:
1. Spec tire requirements do not apply.
2. Formula F (FF) weight with driver (min.):
Ford Cortina engine (lbs.) .................................................. .....1050
Ford Kent and Honda Fit engines (lbs.) ................................ 1100”
~ Add FC to section B as follows:
“B. SCCA® Club Racing GCR-compliant Formula Continental (FC) utilizing GCR Spec Hoosier R60A compound tires.”
Thank you for your consideration.
Chris Pruett
50 CM
1985 Swift DB1
Think and Research before you write letters
Pru, What are you thinking???
I was testing the dreaded FF Spec Radial R60 tires on my Reynard in Oscoda earlier this year and they were not completely out of the box. Horrible to drive on because they are radials, yes, but R60 compound was only 0.5 second off the times set with 4 year old R25 bias ply tires that we used for comparison. If they were bias ply R60 tires instead of the radial tires, the gap would have been much closer. That is on the same car, same day, same course, same drivers. Add in the power advantage of an FC car and this combination would become the dominant force in CM.
I have won Divisional and National events before at Grissom on used club racing R35 bias plys tires. You were probably there at the time. The R60 tire is not that big of a jump if you can get heat into them (hot sunny day on concrete).
There is a place for FC cars, it is BMod. Quit attempting to find another place for those cars. I do not believe that wings should be welcome into CMod.
Your speculation and bench racing, based on zero knowledge and testing, should not lead to letters to the SEB.
100% cannot and will not support.
Read My Previous Statement
Chris,
FC is legal for BMod. It has no place in CMod, nor should it. Stop trying to solve a non-existent problem.
The Reynard was converted from Formula Continental to Formula Ford to complete in the Esso Pro Series in Canada in 1994. It was not converted for the purpose of autocrossing. We are currently trying to develop the car for club racing on the spec radial tire.
Think about how fast the Reynard would be with another 30 HP and an improved tire footprint due to the wider wheels. Do you really think that is a good idea for the class. As we have proven in testing earlier this year, the R60 tires would not slow it down enough to make up for the difference in power and tire footprint.
I really wish you would think first and start an open on-line discussion before you write a letter to the SEB so that you do not waste both ours and the SEBs time with baseless suggestions that lack data, logic and merit.
Letters Should not Initiate the Conversation
Chris,
Letters to the SEB suggesting dramatic rules changes should not initiate the conversation within the class and the solo community, they should be a result of the discussion. Anyone can suggest anything, but without facts, data, and a purpose for the proposed change that fills a needs, there is nothing to really go on and no meaningful discussion can take place. It is frivolous.
I would suggest a different approach for FC cars, one similar to Solo Vee. Why not allow several simple engine mods and a larger wheel/tire package to allow the FC cars to be more competitive in BMod? It has been demonstrated that the biggest restriction to engine power on the Pinto engine is the size of the Weber 32/36 DGV carburetor. There are bolt on manifolds that allow the use of dual side draft Weber carbs for that engine, similar to the ones used on Super Vees, that might be an easy bolt on for most cars. Other 4 barrel cab manifolds also exist for this engine which might fit a current FC car without large scale modification. This and possibly a camshaft change should get those engines up to the 170-180 hp range, which might get them into the range of power needed. I believe that the Hewland Mk9 and LD200 gearboxes are rated for this power level based on European and Australian series using these gearboxes with this power level. We would need to do more research on what tire sizes are available that would get the cars into the range needed, and the same for the wheel package that would accommodate them and still fit the cars. 8" front, 10" rear might be an option depending upon wheel availability. I would prefer pursuing an open discussion in that realm for the FC cars, prior to any submission to the SEB, rather than putting a winged car into a non-winged car class based on a tire compound that would have dramatically different results on different days in different weather conditions on different surfaces.
I autocrossed FC cars in a spec driver series/challenge in Pennsylvania in the late 90's, so I also know the potential of these cars. An FC would easily tromp an FF, regardless of what tire the FC is limited to. Previous proposals were made to equalize the FC to FF performance with an unrealistic and unsafe amount of added weight, enough to question the structural integrity of the car. To my knowledge, no one attempted to test an FC car at the proposed weight and the discussion quickly faded.
FC cars were intended to be a step up from an FF, just as BMod is intended to be a step up from CMod. Let's see if there is a not-so-intrusive way to make FC cars competitive in their current BMod class first before trying to detune them for CMod.