Dear MAC and Solo Events Board:
In regard to your request for input about moving the FF2000 to CM at a
weight of 1310 lbs. and without wings:
I oppose the proposal for several reasons:
First C Mod is not broken and does not need more cars at the Nationals. It
is true that the class has very little support in many regions but so do AM
and BM. A road race legal FF2000 could enter AM or BM at the vast majority
of local events and be top time of day. Are they entering?
Is there actually any significant "demand" for including FF2000's in CM?
While I can sympathize with the owners of FF2000's who would like to have a
competitive Solo II class for their cars (if there are any) they probably
should "wait in line" for a class behind the hundreds of thousands or even
millions of V-8 Pony Cars (Mustangs, Camaro's, etc.) that are not the
relatively few Mustang or Camaro or Firebird versions that actually are
competitive in F Stock <grin>.
If there are any FF2000 road racers who want to autocross competitively, do
they actually want to remove wings, add hundreds of pounds of ballast, do
all the sorting involved with two entirely different setups, change
gearing, and change to softer tires between road races and autocrosses? Can
you imagine the setup challenges: Wings vs. no wings. Ballast (hundreds of
pounds). Spring and bar rates with and without aero and with different
weight distribution. Tire compounds. Brake balance. Shock valving. Ride
height. Alignment. It is one thing to change a FF1600 between autocrossing
and road racing since the basic package stays the same. But take the aero
off and add hundreds of pounds, and I think you will have very few "takers"
who will do both autocrossing and road racing.
I do not believe that 1310 # minimum weight will be sufficient to slow
dedicated Solo II FF2000's enough to prevent them from being over dogs
against FF1600's or S2000's in CM. 30#'s more than the Solo II weight for
S2000's is not enough to compensate for the advantages a formula car has
over a similar "engined" and "wheeled" and "tired" sports racer has in Solo
II. We already know that a very well driven and prepared S2000 can win and
or trophy since several have done so over the years. Part of the reason for
thinking that 30#'s more weight than an S2000's Solo II weight isn't enough
is because I've done rather well over the years with a car that is
typically at least 20#'s heavier than many of the other FF1600's. I'm not
that fast and neither is my car!!!
One of the biggest appeals of CM to me, and apparently to many others, is
the fact that everybody knows that just about any Formula Ford 1600 has a
realistic chance of winning. All we have to do is prep and drive well. Even
better, the "best" cars to have appear to be the least expensive. These are
the 1980's versions that are too new for vintage, club, or spec ford and
are too old to be competitive in road racing in the US. These happen to be
the most available on the market. Why confuse things by adding another type
of car? Especially one that is likely to be an over dog.
One concern is that if the FF2000 cars are not competitive at first, due to
either lack of top level driver(s) or preparation, the original proposed
weight will be lowered. Plus, their wider wheels really add complexity to
the "equalizing" effort. Who knows what will happen but it could easily
obsolete a bunch of 1600 cars. And give the MAC and SEB even more work to
do, as if you didn't already have enough to do.
Also, who has scales at local events to make sure the FF2000 cars actually
add the weight? Or the tech inspection quality to insure that if the weight
is added, it is added safely? At least with the 1600 cc cars it is hard to
get much below min weight. A road race car with wings removed is presumably
a lot lighter than the proposed autocross weight.
Where would they add the weight safely? Especially with lightweight
drivers? It was hard enough trying to safely add 30 #'s to my car when my
wife was driving. (At least she got to drive it close to min weight!)
In summary: What's in this for "us" and for the sport and why should we
think the FF2000's will be equal to the 1600's and S2000's?
Thanks for your consideration. Now back to your regularly scheduled program
of trying to deal with all the other "I Car" requests and opinions.
Dick Rasmussen
CM 85
85 Van Diemen FF
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/autox-cm
|