[SIZE=2]Note: I also posted this on eformulacarnews.com, so if you saw it there I apologize for the repeat. Just want to solicit as much information as possible.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]Hello everybody,
First, want to say how helpful this forum and others have been at researching my possible venture into road racing and I think it is awesome how helpful and sharing your f500 community is!
To tell you a bit about myself --to give some context to my questions and comments-- I'm 28 years old and currently live in the Chicago area (originally from central IL). I began racing karts when I was 9 years old, first on the tarmac, then we primarily moved to dirt track. Around age 13, I began racing modified midgets/mini-sprints and spent about 7 years racing 600cc mini-sprints pretty much full time locally and regionally here in the midwest. My dad (my team owner and chief engineer and I had a lot of success, winning local track championships, a state championship race, and regularly placing in regional and national events and point standings. From there we went on and raced a non-winged USAC-style sprint car (approx. 600hp, 1200lbs) for a couple years in the Midwest Sprint Car series. It was an amazing experience, but ultimately got too expensive for us to fund with 'family' money and grad school and getting started in my career took priority.
I've battled the racing bug off too long and after participating in a few autocross events in my daily driver BMW--I've become extremely interested in getting into road racing! After doing some initial research, I'm very drawn to f500 (or f1000--but that might be jumping in over my budget)
Ok, now for my questions:
1) Why is it that when I look at pictures of various f500 cars, some of them look more like formula cars (without wings of course) and some look more like sports racers with fuller body work? It appears all these cars run in the same class, but can look drastically different.
2) Given that mastering the art can take years of experience, what is the learning curve on the basic set up of the suspensions on these cars? I know torsion bars and coil-over shocks for dirt track racing, but obviously this is a whole new game. Are there any books or publications specific to f500 that cover the basics of car set-up.
3) One of the things that really draws me to f500, or SCCA racing in general, is the ability to be able to go full out road racing, but also have the option to autocross virtually any weekend that I may not have the time to invest in a full race weekend. What kind of changes typically need to be made to a car to switch it from race set-up to autocross set-up, and vica versa?
4) How long does a set of tires last? Is there a spec tire for the class or different compounds? Are good autocross tires different than what you'd typically use as a race tire--build up heat faster vs longer wear? What are the costs?
5) Do you need to have a license/attend a driving school to race at regional races? While I definitely plan to attend a driving school in the near future and get my national license down the road, with my former race experience I'd like to be able to get my feet wet at a few local races before investing a couple grand in a driving school weekend.
6) Finally, do organizations such as the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs and others allow f500 to run at track days, high-speed autocrosses, PDX, etc...?
I think that's about it for now, sorry for the length, but any information on any of these topics would be extremely helpful! Don't worry though, your time and consideration will more than likely produce another member of your racing community by late this season or early next season, as I'm about 80% sure already that this is the route I'm going to go for the CURE.
P.S. Just to throw in my two cents, I'm very interested in the proposed 600cc MC engine adoption. As I said, I ran these engines for 7 years in the very abusive environment of winged mini-sprints and was nothing but amazed at how durable and dependable they were in that harsh environment. I only remember having one engine failure in 7 years of racing every single weekend all season long, with minimal maintenance or headaches. I think the adoption of these engines would most definitely spur huge growth in the class. I know personally of at least two other friends who would be very interested if this alternative was adopted. While I appreciate their uniqueness and charm, in my opinion the 2-stroke limited-availability motor and CVT transmission is the biggest drawback to entering the class. I don't want to go parts hunting for one, and I don't want to have to try and learn about setting up a unique transmission that has no application outside this class. Plus, I think shifting is one of the cool parts of racing... If you were running 600cc MC motors I would be actively on the market for either a late model car f500 or a new roller immediately.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]Thanks,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]-Nick Gaines[/SIZE]