Another Help Me Decide, Because I'm a Flake, WTF To Do Post

Tom1200 said:

alfadriver said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

One other thing- you also seem to prefer a sports racer over the open wheeled equivalent.  So IF you chose an FF sports racer- what class would that be in?  And would it be fast enough?

BTW, I'm asking questions as I honestly have no idea what would be best- just asking the questions that come to mind hoping that it helps you answer your own question.  Last time I raced was a decade ago, and my racecar was sold about 5 years ago now- and I know it made it on the track when I was not able to do that.

So if you slap a sports racer body on a FF it instantly becomes a CSR (note CSR is now SCCA P1). For vintage it would be fine.

Would it be fast enough is the overriding question.

After reading all of the responses I think my choices are budget CSR OR just buying  said F600.  The budget CSR would be a bit faster than the F600. 

The engine in a FF is stock and a camshaft and milling the head for higher compression would gain you a solid 20 hp over stock while being legal in CSR. 

If you want a super cheap other idea for racing......

cheap FWD focus, civic, or something. Gut it, cage and safe seat and harness. dirt track or local pavement track for circle track almost any given weekend. Less then $2000 into car and run just about anywhere and still be able to do autocross.

In reply to frenchyd :

Exactly.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Plus it's a production piece so no exotic unobtainum parts 

 and the real important thing. Formula Fords are dry sumped. Thus you won't have a problem with oil starvation. 

Today's update: my fabricator and I had a discussion last night and he recommended I find a defunct sports race project rather than converting a FF.  The only caveat being if I find a nicer newer F500 at good price. 

In reply to Tom1200 :

Of course, now I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to fit your old F500 into my already over-filled life. 

In reply to fasted58 :

We ran an FZR1000 as well, we inadvertantly overcooled the motor. When the car was built we simply used the FZR radiator; that worked fine in the older months but in warmer months the car ran very hot (265F water temps).

A friend gave us a huge aluminum radiator, which we duly installed and then the motors started to grenade.

I happened to know someone who worked on Yamaha's superbike program and he knew what it was instantly. Apparently the clearances are such in the FZR motor that they need to be fully warm anything below  150F water temp and you risk losing oil pressure to the big end rod bearings. On the first blow up I found a piece of rod under the starter. The second motor tried to tighten up on the warm up lap......I shut it off immediately but it was to late.  

By that point I was done with the car. I'd spent $1700 on engines in two months at a time when I only made 40K a year.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

When and if I sell my old car, I'll likely let it (and the 4 spare Rotax motors) go for around 5K.

I forgot to mention that after the lengthy discussion we came to the conclusion I want ER as in faster-er, as in doesn't have be fastest.

I still love F500 so faster-er maybe the F600 I found or it could be a CSR/DSR project. The main thing is it needs to be a single seater and in or around 10K.

Tom1200 said:

Today's update: my fabricator and I had a discussion last night and he recommended I find a defunct sports race project rather than converting a FF.  The only caveat being if I find a nicer newer F500 at good price. 

I agree with your fabricator.  But I would persist in searching for a Sports racer over a faster F500. 
  I love to dice wheel to wheel.  Open wheel racing invites interlocking wheels which is a really serious accident.  It also prevents racing with anything other than open wheel.  
    Just going faster isn't very rewarding to me. Once you have mastered the car, what next? Another even faster car?   
  Your sedan is a classic example.  It's fun because you can push it really hard and against other racers.   You want to race other cars not a time slip.   
  If all you wanted to do is drive fast laps.  You could just put a more powerful engine in your Datsun.  Do HPDE events.  
   The fun is beating other drivers, not cars.  That kind of guy winds up with Corvettes and Vipers. 
      Think of it this way.  Money no object, 

 Race Indy cars at the 500?

  Race NASCARS at Watkins Glen? 
 
   Race Can Am at Elkhart Lake?  

In reply to frenchyd :

A few of things here:

Formula 500s have full width side pods and sports car noses to eliminate interlocking wheels.

The Datsun is fun as a take it out on an empty track and drive like a hooligan but yes having glorious 78 mph duels with other gutless wonders also makes it fun.

I like single seaters for the sensory experience they bring; if it were only about dueling with loads of cars this post would never have happened as I would simply buy a vintage Formula Ford.

As for being stuck in the open wheel race group I don't care about that. If I had a sports racer instead of a formula car I'd be running the same exact events, autocross and vintage races. I run SCCA & PCA track days, the SCCA ones don't allow sports racers in with production cars and we don't have enough formula cars / sports racers locally to have a separate run groups.