F500 race car and enclosed trailer set-up

Busy setting up the new 6x12 enclosed trailer for my new to me F500 I picked up over the winter,I tow with a V6 rav4 so keeping things reasonably light and loaded in the correct location is important. The F500 is a 1990 kbs invader mk5 converted to mk8 4 link rear,it was black and gold when brought home so some glass repair and white paint later it looks much better.Since I'm using it for autox this year I added a pair of civc rad fans I had kicking around,also replaced all the fittings in the coolant lines to reseal the system.The steering arms were mismatched so a new pair were sourced from Quadrini racing in New York(crazy nice guy btw)along with a crush box I'll need for road race next year.Went thru the car and performed a basic alignment with best guess set-up,ran the 1st event last weekend but learned nothing other than I needed to build a foam seat for lateral support as it was friggin cold and a major snowstorm blew in just before lunch.Next event is next weekend so hopefully things will go better and I can start to get comfortable and add speed.Built the foam inserts today using 2 part expanding foam,went surprising well with no issues. Built a 4' shelf over the wheels of the trailer this weekend,seems to accept all the usual crap you would drag around for an event and it towed better than last weekend with the heavy stuff crammed up in the front of the trailer.

Thats it for now,the car will be going through some changes to make it road race friendly and probably much faster next year as we don't have an F500 class up here in Canada so I should be free to add some power to fit in with the 750cc bike engine F4 cars.

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Ever drive it on the space savers for fun?

The first thing I thought when I saw that was how much fun it would be to have a formula car on space savers. Anyway, looks like a cool car, this will be a neat project to follow. Take a lot of pictures of the ins and outs of the car. That stuff is always cool for those of us that don't get to poke around on them ourselves.

I've made a grand total of 3 runs in the car....on frozen slicks that probably weren't much better than the space savers that day.My experience is the lighter the car the greater the need for slicks with heat in them.My last car was 900lbs and sucked on 710's but WAY more predictable/stable on non dots.

CVT driving impressions? Is it as weird as it sounds?

Congrats! I'm hoping to join the F500 ranks in a year or two. A guy I know in my region races one w2w and we have a couple of autox cars. I'm also quite interested in the trailer you're using.

Black and gold? That car has been for sale on the various F500 forums for awhile, no?

mazdeuce wrote: The first thing I thought when I saw that was how much fun it would be to have a formula car on space savers.

I think that the fun would be over very quickly.

I'll be watching this one. I've always been interested in these little things.

If I could get in a position to be able, this is what I would be doing...

Interested to hear about how living with the 2stroke drivetrain is. From what I have gathered tuning the clutch is something that takes time to learn.

I likes it, looks like a lotta fun that won't break the bank. Plus one for the 750 engine plans.

If you put in a 600cc bike motor your car is legal for F600 in the states, which would help your resale value if you ever look to sell it down the road. (also opens up more club racing possibilities if you venture down here)

Agreed. If going to a MC engine, F600 is growing in popularity.

Personally, as much as I think the F600 cars sound like sex on wheels (do a youtube search), there is a lot more local support for the 2-strokes in my area, so I'd probably stick with that for awhile. And seeing how you're in Canada, snowmobile knowledge up there is probably pretty high. Plus, the CVT has so far proven to be better for a dual-purpose (autox & RR) car. Not having to shift on an autox course is a big advantage.

The 600 also has a weight penalty for auto-x in SCCA rules.

Yep well versed in the F600 possibility,bought it with the intent of autox this yr as is and then doing the 600 conversion next winter.After looking the car over to assess the amount of effort to add bike power I don't think I want to go that route despite my love for bike engined cars(my last 2 projects are bike powered).The F4 class I'm hoping to run it in up here allows for 2 or 4 stroke engines up to 800cc,nearly all are bike engined but I could put a larger displacement rotax twin in the 500's place and keep the same clutches for not much cash or effort comparatively.Also these things are tiny with no room for your feet and 3 pedals(my feet are normal at size 9.5 and I need driving shoes on to work 2 pedals)and the shifter would need to be paddles on the column but still need a hand clutch and not much space to stick it without being in the way to try and drive it. I need to get used to driving while feeling like I'm in a full lenght body condom while laying on my back,hopefull the weather is better for the event this weekend and I'll post up a run if I have any decent ones.

I think you need snow tires for it. I saw the pic of it off the trailer, saw the snow and went "Yep, that'll just about kill me" which is code for "This right here is about the most fun I can have in a car, clothes on or not".

Nope not going to put snows on this one,my other car is much better suited to those. http://youtu.be/_AbPkpyLRW8

Strangely enough my summer only car is sled engined and my winter only car is bike engined-certainly didn't plan that one out very well.

Ian F wrote: Congrats! I'm hoping to join the F500 ranks in a year or two. A guy I know in my region races one w2w and we have a couple of autox cars. I'm also quite interested in the trailer you're using. Black and gold? That car has been for sale on the various F500 forums for awhile, no?

Yes it was owned by Scott Newton and he bought the nationals winning car so sold this one.

Drove the car under better conditions on sunday,waiting to see the results but I set FTD by many seconds apparently so that was good.The bad news is that I discovered that my neck,which isn't in that great of condition after some roof falls yrs ago can't take the laydown driving position combined with the bumps and G's.I had to make 3 runs nearly back to back due to timer problems and after those I nearly needed help from the car suffering extreme dizzyness/nausous and was done for the day.There's no way I could last thru a road race as planned for next year so I'm putting the car up for sale.Looking for a legend car with its upright driving position to replace it.

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Dang that sucks. Cool car though!

Where are you located?

I brought the car from New York to Ontario Canada.Easy peasy to cross the border as I have the original SCCA log book etc.

Sure a seat mod or karting neck brace won't help?

No, it won't help him.

How much do you want for the car?

Bummer for hanging up track dreams

Supreme bummer, was looking forward to you living my dream so I could do it vicariously.

Woody wrote: No, it won't help him. How much do you want for the car?

+1

Bummer about your neck.