Vintage Eligible?

[Joefisherff]

Are there any plans to change what cars are vintage eligible or monoposto approved? I had a guy interested in my 84 Van Diemen but he said it was not eligible at this point. How often do they re-visit the requirements?

Thank You

Joe

[Brian]

Monoposto has dropped their FF70 club ford as a class, due to non-participation basically. They have also kind of stepped back from being an organizing rule setting group to more of a casual championship record keeping, fun at the track kind of club. So I'd say that 1972 and older cars are more or less set. Since Monoposto doesn't set the rules anymore, each organizing club will set class eligibility and may well welcome club fords if any show up. As far as Monopost is concerned they will be F. Libre and not eligible for championship points



Brian

[Rick Kirchner]

It's a club-by-club thing. On the west coast, VARA has huge VFF and CFF fields, and we have a smaller contingent of FC1 (rocker arm) and FC2 (pushrod through '97) cars.


Some of the vintage clubs are pretty stuffy. They'll only allow '72 and older until there are no cars left.

There is a double standard, if it's big, flashy, fast, and loud, most vintage clubs will find a place for them to run - even WSC cars as late as the Audi R8 and F333SP!

Work through your club of choice and grow the class!

[LolaT440]

I think on the east coast it is more about the owner and bank account than the car.

When was the last time a VFF ran at Lime rock? I ran mine with Emra there.

You really need to get a kick out of the vintage Ferarri 333 and Audi.

Why would you want to run that late of a car with vintage anyway? The fee's are higher, less local events. Just run a regular club like SCCA?

[Joefisherff]

My question was not about running it but selling it. Having it vintage eligible opens up more buyers to the car.

[Brian]

I've run 18 years with vintage clubs - only raced SCCA/CASC once in all that time. This year will be the first time I commit to a season of CASC regional series racing in my FFord.

There is a feeling that Vintage racing is safer due to the no-contact rule. May be true, but you also get a higher percentage of novice drivers so silly mistakes still happen. Very few young guns looking to impress Frank or Ron, but you get a few. Vintage events sometimes get like a circus, if you like that you're golden, if you like a bit calmer event you can find them too.

The big thing about vintage is the cars. I get a serious kick out of running on the track with a pre-war formula one car, a GT-40, a flock of other sportsracers or soon a flock of Formula Fords. Can't do all of that at SCCA events, some but not all.

Brian

[Rick Kirchner]

Lola440 - [size=2]On the west coast, our fees are very competitive, and in SoCal, we run Phoenix, Cal Speedway, Vegas, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Pahrump, and occasionally Laguna Seca. For most Phoenix is the longest tow (8 hrs for me), but otherwise the average is about 3 hours - that's pretty local![/size]
[size=2][/size]
[size=2][/size]
[size=2]Nothing like picking up a draft (albiet very briefly) from a McLaren! [/size]

[LolaT440]

Don't get me wrong, I love vintage cars. My savings account would be a lot bigger if i did not. My issue was I took a real long time to build my car, Merlyn. A dream you know. Just to run it at my home track in CT, LRP. Well the year I finished it, Vintage FF were excluded from events at LRP. So to use the car I would have to go 8 hrs to Summit, 4 to NHIS or 5 to Watkins Glen. It sounds close for the people out west. But for me, it is too much, I travel for work a lot, so to travel for a fun weekend was not for me. So I sold it and bought the lola to run SCCA at Lime Rock. I miss the Merlyn. It was a good looking car.

[Christopher Shoemaker]

The Vintage Racer Group has recently agreed to let CF run with the VFF gang at all of our events (included co-sanctioned events with other clubs). VRG runs primarily in the Northeast quadrant. The press releases should be out soon, however, if you want further information please feel free to reach out directly to me as I was the sponsor of this particular change in the Rules & Regulations for Vintage Racer Group (VRG).

In addition, I would like to address several other comments about the vintage guys being 'stuffy'! I agree.... However, in thier defense putting CF with VFF does not help increase competition amongst the cars. As a result, VRG has required that all CF must use the same tire specifications as the VFF cars - REASON - this helps to eliminate the biggest speed diferential (outside of driver) between the cars and helps to increase competition in this run group (we will still maintain seperate classes). Last year, SVRA and VRG did allow CF to run with VFF (treaded tires required) and it was very succesful.

I would suggest that all you CF guys who want to run with vintage come on out and give it a try. I think you will find the events 'fun-filled'! See you at the races in 2006!

Christopher Shoemaker
VRG #286
www.vrgonline.org
chris@vrgonline.org

[Tommy Shanks]

Joel,

To answer your original question; 'How often do they re-visit the requirements?"

The answer is never.

[bob darcey]

Strange. It seems to work quite well.