FF40th News Update

[Michael Rand]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Mike Rand FF40-07-01 (860)364-5252
michaelrand@sbcglobal.net
Steve Beeler
(313)441-4460 x1141
sbeeler@pmcorp.com

FF40th News Update:
Driver Licensing
November 25,2007

Since the announcement back in late June of the 40th Anniversary of Formula Ford celebration, July 24-26, 2009 at Wisconsin's world famous Road America circuit, event organizers have turned their attention to the myriad of details begging attention and definition. These include such things as car specs, Club Ford tires, evening programs, special guests and speakers, driver licensing requirements and the always important event schedule.

This month's FF40th News Update, the first in a planned series of monthly discussions and informational releases, will focus on driver licensing and eligibility. As the FF40th is being run in conjunction with Milwaukee Region’s Cat National, it might be obvious that SCCA membership and licensing play a key role in driver eligibility. And that is true to some degree. However, there will be three distinct Formula Ford race groups (Formula Ford, Club Ford, and Historic Ford) and numerous ways an interested and appropriately experienced driver can participate.
With over 18 months before the big event, there is time for any interested driver to arrange appropriate licensing through the organization of his or her choice. With the multiple licensing options, there is be no reason all drivers who wish to compete can't be eligible.

SCCA Membership

All drivers must be SCCA members. This is an insurance requirement separate from licensing. Membership in SCCA does not require licensing through SCCA.
This means a holder of an accepted club license need only join SCCA in order to participate and be covered by SCCA Participant Accident Insurance.

Race Groups and Driver Licensing

As the cars from each group are distinct so are driver licensing requirements in order to accommodate as many drivers as possible.

The first of the three race groups will be Formula Ford, current cars racing at the SCCA National and Regional level as well as cars from the Ontario Formula Ford Championship and Quebec's Formula Tour series. The Formula Ford race group will be run under an SCCA National sanction. Therefore, all drivers must hold an SCCA National competition license.

The second race group will be for the popular Club Ford class for second generation cars, generally pre-1981. Club Ford cars have slightly different specifications in various areas of the continent and Club Ford chassis eligibility and tire rules will be a topic of a future FF40th News Update. The Club Ford race group will be a restricted regional with multiple license options: SCCA National, SCCA Regional, or one of many accepted club licenses (see list below).

Then there will be the burgeoning Historic Ford race group for the first generation of Formula Fords. Monoposto Racing rules and regulations will be the defining specifications for the Historic Ford class at the FF40th celebration. The Historic Ford race group will also be a restricted regional. Vintage licenses will be accepted for the Historic Ford race group in addition to those listed for Club Ford.

Multiple Entries

Drivers may enter more than one race group subject to driver and car eligibility requirements. In fact, the schedule is being set up to accommodate multiple entries with a minimum of one hour between the three race groups. Several notable Club Ford drivers have expressed interest in racing in the Club Ford race then “moving up” into the Formula Ford race group. An SCCA legal Historic Ford has the opportunity to race in all three race groups…whew!

Log book and safety requirements will be different between race groups and will be covered in a future FF40th News Update.

FF40th LICENSE REQUIREMENTS



Formula Ford Club Ford Historic Ford

SCCA National Yes Yes Yes

SCCA Regional Yes Yes

PCA Club Racing Yes Yes
BMWCCA Club Racing Yes Yes
Midwest Council of Sports Car Clubs Yes Yes
ICSCC Yes Yes
Waterford Hills Road Racing Yes Yes
Confederation of Autosport Car Clubs Yes Yes
IMSA Yes Yes
FIA Yes Yes
SVRA Yes Yes
HSR/HSR West Yes Yes
VARA Yes Yes
Ontario Region CASC Yes Yes

Any Vintage Motorsport Council (VMC) member club Yes

Note 1: Any driver holding a competition license from a club or organization not listed above is urged to contact the organizers for clarification.

Note 2: This information is believed to be correct but the event supps will be the final word on driver eligibility.

[Michael Rand]

Bump, to keep the info flowing

[Steve B]

Bumped to the top...this should answer some questions that are bouncing around elsewhere on this forum. If you plan on running the FF event, you must have a national license.

Steve Beeler, de facto EWC commissioner & FF40th co-chairman
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)426-8865 sbeeler@wowway.com
office: (313)441-4460 x1141 sbeeler@pmcorp.com

[Roland V. Johnson]

It's very disappointing that this is not a stand alone FF event! How much track time could a Vintage driver expect. An hour of track time for a 4300 mile tow is a tough sell.

[PaulT]

Still thinking about this event...

I agree. I live close only a couple of hours and I don't think it is worth my time to head up there for a single vintage race. I certainly hope others do!

Paul
Lotus 51

[Garey Guzman]

Really?

I've really been looking forward to this event - it has been on my work Calendar since it was announced!

Great track, great cars, great competition. There is even a great Mexican restaurant nearby!

Yes, I'll be making the 11.5 hour drive from Tennessee for it! I hope you guys change your minds. Especially you, Roland. It's always good to see old friends from California

[Roland V. Johnson]

I would love to make it, but if there is not enough track time I can't get my customers to spend that much on transportation, and take that much time off.

[Denney Bridges]

Roland--we here in NM are in the same boat-not enough track time to justify the long tow!

[lenhart05]

I haven't seen a schedule yet. Kinda hard to make a decision on track time. It looks like the weekend is a three day event like June Sprints. Three days of Practice/Qualifying/Race in three different Formula Ford ONLY race groups. Race vintage, club ford, and formula ford to triple your track time! 100 cars can start each race!

[John Nesbitt]

... Race vintage, club ford, and formula ford to triple your track time! 100 cars can start each race!

Will you lend me a CF and a vintage FF? I'd like to get that triple track time.

[Garey Guzman]

Actually, the Vintage guys could run all 3 races if they wanted, assuming the car meets GCR requirements.

[John Nesbitt]

Actually, the Vintage guys could run all 3 races if they wanted, assuming the car meets GCR requirements.

How many Lotus 69 owners will retrofit their cars to meet the current GCR?

[Steve Maxwell]

Isn't the point of attending an event like this, of this magnitude, more about the show and spectacle than about the track time? I'm running just the national and I may only get an hour of track time too. But, I really want to be part of this huge event celebrating the cars I love. It is about FF as a whole, the people; the community of drivers and builders/mechanics that share the passion. Even if I didn't bring my car I would still go!

It is odd to me that people whom love FF as much as I do would not be enthusiastically supporting this event. OK so the track time for some vintages of FF may be diminished when compared to say, club ford, that can run two or all three classes. Well that sucks but this will still be a great event. I guess the vintage guys are used to a bit more track time. Well it is important to remember that this is Elk Heart Lake and when you're not on track there are Brats and Beer, you know, Vitamins B and B1.

EVERYONE with a FF should go to this event.

My unsolicited $.02

SeM

[PaulT]

Steve you are right. This is exactly the reason I was feeling my original post related to not going was too harsh.

Paul
Lotus 51

[Garey Guzman]

How many Lotus 69 owners will retrofit their cars to meet the current GCR?

True but how many people that can afford a Lotus 69 could also afford a decent CFF? Personally, I'm really looking forward to this event so I got a CFF too! I wish I could have afforded a VFF but that just wasn't going to happen. Well, I guess if I skipped racing for the whole year, it might have happened but we all have limits as to what we are willing to do!

[John Nesbitt]

True but how many people that can afford a Lotus 69 could also afford a decent CFF? Personally, I'm really looking forward to this event so I got a CFF too! I wish I could have afforded a VFF but that just wasn't going to happen. Well, I guess if I skipped racing for the whole year, it might have happened but we all have limits as to what we are willing to do!

Garey,

I agree with you and Steve. I'll be there, if only with one car. Sounds like a don't-miss event.

John

[Wes Allen]

I'll be there! Road America will be so much fun next year,the 40th Anniversary, the June Sprints and the Run Offs!!! Somebody could pull off the "Triple Crown"!!! I'm planning on bringing both my Piper and my old Merlyn!

[Steve Maxwell]

Hey Wes,
Should we try to get the Pipers to paddock together and have a Piper paddock? I don't really have a preference. Just feeling it out you know?


SeM

[John Nesbitt]

Hey Wes,
Should we try to get the Pipers to paddock together and have a Piper paddock? I don't really have a preference. Just feeling it out you know?


SeM

Why did a peck of Piper pilots pick a paddock together?

[Wes Allen]

Hey Steve,that sounds fine to me. Matter of fact we should try and get a picture together of all the Pipers. I'm half way through my winter rebuild with my Piper. I won't make it on track this year but...it will look good when it's done.

[Garey Guzman]

Why did a peck of Piper pilots pick a paddock together?

To prepare and plot for a pair of podium places!

[Michael Rand]

You Piper owner/drivers are hereby tasked with quaranteeing the presence of one Don Sievenpiper.
Make it happen, or we'll....., well I don't know what we'll do, but Don needs to be there......

[Steve Maxwell]

OK, John and Gary the rhyming needs to stop NOW!! It is creative and funny but still CREEPY.

Wes, I look forward to seeing your car at the 40th. A group photo shouldn't be too hard as there aren't too many Pipers out there yet.

Mike, I'll talk to Don about attending. We may have to substitute Miller with Budwiser though.

Steve

[John Nesbitt]

OK, John and Gary the rhyming needs to stop NOW!! It is creative and funny but still CREEPY.

Piper people positively prefer proper prose.

Sorry. I'll stop now.

[Garey Guzman]

OK, John and Gary the rhyming needs to stop NOW!! It is creative and funny but still CREEPY.

Piper pilot professes displeasure with puerile prose but privately take pleasure!

OK, I'll stop too - teleconferences were made for this sort of thing!

Beware the Swift owners - BEWARE!!

[John Nesbitt]

OK, John and Gary the rhyming needs to stop NOW!! It is creative and funny but still CREEPY.

Steve,

You do realize that the whole world now knows how to psych (oops - another p-word) you out before a race?

John

[andyllc]

A lot of people have been complaining about a lack of track time for this event. However, I have not seen a schedule....is it out some where for us to see? If so, any pointers would be great, and if not then why does everyone assume there will be no track time?

[Garey Guzman]

I doubt that a schedule can be released very soon since this event is being run as a Restricted Regional in conjunction with an existing National event. They'll need to finalize the schedule before submission to SCCA for Sanction numbers and if I recall correctly, they can't do that until at least after the Runoffs. The good thing is that we still have 42 weeks to get ready!

There may be some ongoing discussions about how the schedule might look but nothing will be definite until it's been approved by SCCA.

[Ian Lenhart]

A lot of people have been complaining about a lack of track time for this event. However, I have not seen a schedule....is it out some where for us to see? If so, any pointers would be great, and if not then why does everyone assume there will be no track time?

Lack of track time? How much track time do you feel is necessary to have fun and make this event worthy for your schedule. If I just wanted to drive my formula ford around the track, I would just go to an inexpensive test day at my local track and bomb around for 6 hours straight. It's the close racing and being part of community of great people that all share the same interest that keeps me in this class. All it takes for me is a close fought 25 minute sprint race to make me feel that all of this selfish spending is justified. With an event like this, I'm sure you will have someone to race nose to gearbox with.


Ian

[andyllc]

I completely agree! Hell that is why I race in KONI where we have 40 plus cars entered for every race! I wasnt complaining about track time or no track time, I will be there regardless because this will be a huge event. My buddy won it in Cali 15 or 20 years ago and I want my dad to win this one as I will be crewing for him. I already have my hotel reservation, I was just wondering why some people were complaining

[Michael Rand]

We the organizers, being Steve Beeler, organizer of the East West Challenge for FF and CF and Lola T-540 CF pilot, Mike Rand, currently administering the F2000 Championship Series and Crossle and Van Diemen CF driver, the Milwaukee Region of SCCA and Road America are all working hard at getting the various aspects of the event figured out.
We actually have monthly conference calls as we work through various questions and issues and certainly the event schedule is of prime importance to all. Anyone saying they won't have enough track time has no idea what they are talking about as the schedule is barely in draft form as of now and no more than a half dozen people have even seen it.
Rest assured, the event will be well organized and thought out and administered.
In reality the best case scenario for eveyone to see even a tentative schedule is still several months away. As soon as we are comfortable releasing it you can be sure to see it here on Apexspeed first.
Book your rooms and make your plans, as we have more definite solid news we will let everyone know as soon as possible.