That's been a bone of contention (F500 vs Solo Vee) in the class since it
started up. Personally I race a 500 but there is much to be said for Solo Vees.
Actually this last weekend Scott Nardin posted very fast times and ended up
beating the rest of the FM class (by about a second on day two alone) at the
CenDiv Divisions. He put in a great drive in his Vee.
And since there has lately been an effort by some Solo Vee owners to get more
power, we took the opportunity for Bruce Domick (Solo board member and mod car
maven) to run some "on course" tests in the fastest Vee along with the fastest
500 (mine). The results were pretty interesting as he was within a tenth or two
in both cars. He said that while the launch of the 500 was impressive, the Vee
did not seem underpowered once both cars were moving between corners. And the
Vee handles much better.
If you're into chassis dynamics, etc I'd get the Vee. You can tune shocks,
springs, etc. In a 500 you're very limited. One potential advantage to 500s is
the gearing. You're never in the wrong gear with a properly set up 500.
John Whitling
"Thompson, Adrian (A.L.)" wrote:
> OK, attempt to start a new thread instead of M3 classification and trophies!
>
> I've been away from Auto-X for a couple of years road racing but am thinking
> of coming back if not next year then definitely in 01. Looking around FM
> look's like a fun place to go fast without spending a fortune. The question
> is what do people think of the merits of Solo Vee's Vs F440/F500's.
> Although the F440's have done better over the past few years there seem to
> be allot of Solo Vee's appearing, what to these people know that I don't?.
> I think for larger people 200lb's plus there could be less of a power to
> weight disadvantage with a Vee.
>
> What do people think?
>
> Adrian Thompson
> 2002 Panther Suspension Engineer
> Visteon Chassis Systems
> Phone: 313 322 6544
> Cell phone: 313 418 5943
> Fax: 313 390 4714
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