are there any more types of formula cars for FC?

[Skip Weld]

I am just wondering if tHere are any more types of formula cars that are being considered for inclusion
in the Formula Continental class?
I think I recall a rumor about making an F3 or F4 car legal with changes.
Any truth to these rumors?

[johnhafkenschiel]

I would vote for former FC cars with 8" front and 10" rear wheels with 1600cc max reciprocating IC engines. Also, flat bottom, FSV with 6" front, 8" rear wheels, 4 speed, open diff, 1600 cc max displacement.

[Rick Kirchner]

I would vote for former FC cars with 8" front and 10" rear wheels with 1600cc max reciprocating IC engines. Also, flat bottom, FSV with 6" front, 8" rear wheels, 4 speed, open diff, 1600 cc max displacement.

That's what it used to be. But let's be honest, not many FSV cars are going to run SCCA - especially 1600s.

[Lotus7]

I am just wondering if tHere are any more types of formula cars that are being considered for inclusion
in the Formula Continental class?
I think I recall a rumor about making an F3 or F4 car legal with changes.
Any truth to these rumors?

You just described the SVRA small bore open wheel group.
I’m curious why you’d want to add further “parity” issues into the Scca FC class?

[BrianT1]

I am just wondering if tHere are any more types of formula cars that are being considered for inclusion
in the Formula Continental class?
I think I recall a rumor about making an F3 or F4 car legal with changes.
Any truth to these rumors?

The ligier F3 car already runs in FA along with F1000 and Pro Mazda. The F4 car is way slower than a current FC. My vote is to leave the FC class alone. We don't need another car added as it already has a great rules package. FA with all the different car types is a mess and a joke. The only real FA's are the Swift 008, 014 and 016 and Ralts.

[Steve Demeter]

I would vote for former FC cars with 8" front and 10" rear wheels with 1600cc max reciprocating IC engines. Also, flat bottom, FSV with 6" front, 8" rear wheels, 4 speed, open diff, 1600 cc max displacement.

The former FC cars had 1100cc max engines, not 1600 cc.

And I doubt that any of them or the flat bottom water cooled FSV's are still around.

Most likely any of them would require significant roll over protection upgrades as well.

[Rick Kirchner]

All that stuff is in vintage if it runs at all. The 1100cc Cossies are horrible to be around. Like being around one of those old Kohler 6 cyl CSRs.

[Matt Clark]

I’m curious why you’d want to add further “parity” issues into the Scca FC class?

With the class numbers being rather small at times, I think allowing some tweaks to the outdated Crawford/Ligier F4 cars to add a little speed could be a good thing. I am not super up-to-date on the spec differences, but maybe just open up the wing rules & a HP boost? Something simple & easy to check.

I would argue that if you can even just get them close, but intentionally not 100% on par to deter running a pure F2000 car, a well-driven F4 could still be competitive at many events.

[Rick Kirchner]

This is just "re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"

[Matt Clark]

This is just "re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"

Why is everyone so quick to just let their classes die anymore?
Are we really supposed to just roll over or quit soon after things get sparse for a bit?

FV was "dead" 15 years ago... yet people made an effort & it is very good in many areas again.
B-Spec was literally almost completely gone... yet a couple of those guys made it really big again too.

I mean, at least make an effort to adapt, other than allowing updated engines because the legacy ones were completely out of support. The current competitive cars can be 25+ years old, and rules have barely changed for longer than that. I know change is scary, but at some point, you have to.
Heck, this isn't even costing existing cars anything... it simply is trying to keep numbers up to allow you to keep existing.

______weight__________wheelbase___________________ __HP
FC____1190 / 1210____ 78.75" min (RF01: 101.5)"______150
F4____1254____________108"________________________ ___160

My other comment about adding HP to the F4 was backwards... I was still thinking of the USF2000 having 170hp. So in FC trim, tweak the F4 power down.

[Rick Kirchner]

The reason is that no new chassis are being built in any quantity. Its great that out of the thousands of FV out there, you've pulled together enough under the old rules to still be relevant. Talk about resisting change!

But what's left in FC? Hundreds of Pintos sitting in garages, only two engine builders left, engine parts getting scarce because of bad rule making and nobody is running them to generate demand - and regardless, folks would want engines with more longevity anyway.

So you have the 160 or so late model VDs that are Zetec capable (does anyone have the real number once you subtract off totalled cars, FB conversions, and Pintos that didn't convert?) plus a dozen or so Pipers, Citations, RFRs and other oddballs. I'm betting under a hundred.

So we abandon the FC formula and try to shoehorn in anything with a wheelbase, width, and HP that's close to make up for the lack of new stuff. Not surprising I guess when you consider the history of the class - the 1100cc screamers, AC FSV, flat bottom WC FSV, then the ground effect cars until they found a way into FA and obscurity. With the F2000 cars displacing all of that. I can't think of any other class with that level of churn other than FA and perhaps GT1 when you consider the consolidation of all the big bore sedans over the years. If the SCCA still ran the ladder series to Indy you'd no doubt have a pile of those things every decade or so.

Arguably the FV guys had a larger base to grow back and less investment required to boot. Gotta wonder what you could have done with a sealed 1600......

S2000, a class that the club went out of its way to disenfranchise, had a similar problem - a few new VD chassis at the turn of the century and a Carbir here and there. But they've been growing the class in vintage, with a set of engine rules about two generations old by FC standards. Hmmm....

[douglap1]

When the SCCA unexpectedly established the FX class, I figured we would all be pushed in there eventually. Who knows, it still may well happen...