Jim Isbell wrote:
>
> All this talk reminds me of an idea I once had.
>
> Does anyone have an interest in organising a race (staged rally type) for
> Formula cars from the Canadian border to the Mexican border? ( or reverse,
> or Round Robbin)
>
> By formula cars, I mean essentially all open wheel race designed cars (no
> sprint cars). There would be of course classes and the trick would be not
> speed, but accracy. Maybe a few speed runs of 50 to 100 miles in parallel
> with the main course for those who were interested.
An interesting idea. Unfortunately I see numerous problems with such an
event.
1) These cars are, by design, not able to be licensed for use on public
roads. This means all stages of this event would have to take place on
closed sections of road. The Police/Fire/Safety logistics would be
nightmarish. Other T/D rallies (California Millia, Copper State 1000,
One Lap of America) have the advantage of running licensed cars. Even
if they do use the road less travelled, they don't HAVE to exclude all
other traffic from the same road. Formula cars would.
2) These cars are also not designed with lots of ground clearance or
suspension travel. Running them on public roads would be downright
dangerous to the participants. You could choose roads that were
smoother and more capable of supporting these cars, but it would not be
very interesting to conduct this event down the length of I-5. *Yawn*
3) Let's calculate. At an average of, say 50 MPH for 1000 miles more or
less, you're talking about 20 hours of operation on machines that have
trouble finishing a 2-3 hour enduro. Don't most builders recommend at
least a minor teardown every 4 hours or so? I think you're really
pushing the MTBF of the components.
4) Formula cars are not the most comfortable steeds. Even at reduced
speeds, it would be nuts to run this in anything but full Nomex. This
would tend to require driver rest stops and/or driver changes every 2-3
hours at most. The CSRG Enduro, which mixes cars of all types, requires
driver changes every 30 minutes and a mandatory 5 minute "fuel" stop.
5) How are you supposed to do a T/D rally that depends on accuracy
without a navigator? There's no room in a formula car for either the
navigator OR a rally computer. There isn't even a speedometer in most
of these cars. You'd have to put in an ultra high-tech digital dash
with RPM, MPH, MPG, and a GPS. Where's the fun in that? ;=)
Admittedly, you said we could run this in stages, but is that what these
cars were really designed for? I drive a Formula car, and I really
don't think this is such a good idea. I would much rather see one of
two things: a high speed dash across say, Nevada, on a particular
section of closed road, OR another incarnation of the California Millia/
Carrera Panamericana involving cars that are actually designed to go
long distances and carry two or more people in relative comfort.
Unfortunately, the days of the mad dash across unrestricted roads may be
long gone. The last one in Australia produced fatalities, and may not
happen again. I believe there was such a run in Nevada recently, but I
don't know if it is to be a recurring event. A speed dash could be done
with formula cars on a suitably prepared road, but otherwise I just
don't think this is a good idea.
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