NEW QUESTIONS ?

[Mark H]

The replys from everyone has been very helpful thanks! Anyway,I talked to someone at a local race shop and they said there was not enough FC cars in the SEdiv to have fun racing. So they switched to FM.That leeds to my question,Is racing a sealed engine,spec car more fun than running a open class,proformance motor,multi manufactur class,with less cars and a greater seperation in lep times?
Thanks for the help

[dc]

Mark, this is one of those funny things that is tough explain. Its a brutal Catch 22. There aren't any FC's racing, because there aren't any FC's racing. Go figure. The results from the last poll show a HUGE skew to certain parts of the country. Why? We donno. It has a lot to do with the number of tracks and events in your area, but it isn't logical that this class is regionally specific.

Personally, I would not want to race a bloated, low-tech FM myself, even if they are carrying more horsepower. There just isn't anything appealing about them to me, looks or otherwise. That's just an opinion. No offense to the FM guys who drop by here.

Maybe this isn't a rational conclusion to come to, but if guys are ignoring FC to go buy FM cars just to be in bigger fields, then they are ignoring what makes the FC class so entertaining. If they just wanted competition, they could buy Spec Fords and go race in big fields. Something tells me it has nothing to do with field size. I'm guessing that if guys are dropping cash on FM cars, they aren't the same market for used Club Contis or even 5 year old Van Diemens.

I guess I don't get the allure of FM either.


-doug

[Dan Kennison]

"ditto"

[El Guapo]

In 1999 I took the plunge and ran in the West Coast Pro Formula Mazda series. The series itself was well run, well promoted and populated with terrific people. The drive train in the FM cars is superlative. Almost no maintainance on the motor which cannot be over-reved, and has a power band as wide as anything I,ve ever driven. But, I HATED the chassis . This is 1970's technology. The chassis is exteremely soft, and requires a good deal of "horsing around" to get the car to go through low-speed corners. Of course, this is only my experience. Your fun may vary, but depending on what you want out of it, I think th Formula Continental will teach you more about driving a modern race car.

[LarryWinkelman]

As an FM driver, there is a lot to like and a equal amount to dislike about the car. But, the fields in most parts of the country are big, the racing is close. The main advantage is the cost: they are cheap to run and cheap to maintain and cheap to crash (relative to an FC). Other factors: there's lots of doctor-lawyer-dot.com.millionaire types out there who really like the arrive-and-drive services provided by dealers and others. And, the cars don't become obsolete. There is no cFM class for older cars, because a 10 year old car is still competitive. The same car is good for schools, regionals, nationals and pro races.

[Jim Belay]

Mark,

I realize that the question you posed is in the CFC section of the Forum, but the Southeast does in fact have the third highest car counts in FC at Nationals. The only class in the Southeast with more cars is Spec Racer.

I used to do testing during regionals at Road Atlanta but they combined all open wheel cars into one group and there isn't much point in driving around in that mixed, large group. There are quite a few early to mid 90's Vandiemens in Atlanta that are collecting dust in garages. The cars don't have much of a chance of winning at Nationals and are not classified as CFC, so they sit. I run my 93 at Nationals and always have someone to race. We are usually grouped with FA and FF. Perhaps you should reconsider the Reynard/Swift and just aim for Nationals in a 90's VD later in the year.

As far as the Formula Mazda is concerned, perhaps the Robertsons, Kevin and Keith could give you insight as they are the FM drivers to beat in the Southeast and they are currently buying used Continentals.

And last, and most importantly, the Mazda is truly an ugly race car.

Jim Belay

[Chris Arbuckle]

Jim,

Your comment makes a lot of sense. I have been considering CFC in Cendiv for the past year and am leaning towards a mid 90's VD vs a Reynard for parts availability. I also think that a pushrod car would be more interesting than a rocker arm car as far as set-up and tuning are concerned. If any of the VD owners you know are interested in Porsche 911's and might be interested in trading a "dust collector" for a car that is appreciating let me know!

Thanks,
Chris Arbuckle