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Hi was looking too possible purchase a Van Dieman rf87.Is there anyone out there who has raced or knows anything about them ie chassie weight,handling,braking, they seem too get a bad wrap for a car that did a lot of winning during the 87 British Season. I know they were the first pushrod front suspension VD and Irvine did smoke the field in the 87 formula ford festival in one.
cheers Mark.
I had one here in the UK, back in the day. The longer wheelbase changed the handling from the RF85/86 cars, but a wide track factory update worked. Parts are available and they're okay to work on.
Every new model Van Diemen did a lot of winning in its introductory season in England, for whatever reasons you choose to believe.
An RF87 here in the USA now is a "tweener" car; not vintage, not current;
buy it, run it, enjoy it, but meaningful race wins are unlikely.
I did notice the 87 runs the steering box in front of the front wishbones like more modern FFs but they went back too steering behind the front suspension for 88/89 like and 86 wonder what the thought process was there from Van Dieman.
In Australia our historic class runs Fc Pre89 along with Fb and Fa cars the fields and events are huge, the local Kent engine series for more modern cars is some what dead as they run in with the more powerful durtatec national cars.
The logical reason for moving the rack away from the front would be to make it less vulnerable in an impact. Also it gives the steering arms more protection from being bent during close racing.
I raced a rf87 for a few years. I really liked it. The wheelbase is similar to a modern car, however it is a bit narrower as someone mentioned before. Running on super sticky slicks vs a treaded tire maybe a different experience, but I had no problem turning the car and braking was amazing, super stable. What I really like was how I fit in the car. I have a broad shoulders and can’t fit in a RF85, but had plenty of room in the RF87. If the right deal was found near me, I wouldn’t hesitate to own another.
Ian
They sound like a great car that handled well Ian, can you remember what your car weighed in at less driver as I’m 95kg and our min weight is 485kg so didn’t want a really heavy car. I owned an RF89 and it came in at 404kg which was fine for not giving away too much straight line speed.