SCCA Spec Racer

[Guest]

I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but a guy I am talking with about painting my car was telling me that the SCCA has this spec racer for ~$30K. This is a chassis, engine and sequential 6sp transaxle. There is very little modification you can do to the engine and transmision and remain qualified to race, but this sounds like a fairly inexpensive way to get into racing.

Does anyone have first hand knowledge of this SCCA spec racer?

 

[Guest]

I did find the website for what I think the guy was talking about. Here is a picture of one of the bodies:

There is also a formula body that can be changed out in a very short period of time:

The specs which can be found at: SCCA Enterprises

[ October 06, 2002: Message edited by: Lynn Larsen ]

 

Consider go-karts! Really!. Sold my last comp. go kart, 2 engines, gear ratios, extra tires?wheels/parts, driving suit, stand for $1300. Last raced on an asphalt road race course near here with a stock 4 cycleBriggs and stratton on pump ga. A true spec formula race vehicle! c

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Check out ff1600.com ,there is a long drawn out discussion about this car and other possible "spec racer" cars.I used to race a Spec Racer with the original Renault engine,now SRF,it was cheap to run and a lot of fun,until you go to national level and then just like any other spec class(nascar)some are more equal than others!!

 

[Guest]

Chip, I am kind of looking for a kart for my daughter. If you hear of any exceptional deals, please let me know. If you talk to Dan, would you ask him to give me a call please.

 

[Steve Toner]

Grassroots Motorsports ran an article in the August issue about racing on a budget.
Their road racing choices:

$5000: Formula 440 or Formula 500 car (see: http://www.f500.org/
$10000: Spec Miata
$15000: Showroom Stock Mazda Protege, Honda Civic Si, Mazda Miata (your choice)

For Vintage Racing:

$5000: MG Midget or Triumph Spitfire
$10000: Formula Vee
$15000: Triumph TR3 or TR4

 

Kinda looks like this car called the Red Back out of Austrailia by Carbon tech:

Click Here

 

It seems that the SCCA racer is from the UK, anybody know who the dealer is in the UK?

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Van Diemen is the builder of the car,
tube frame designed chassis

 

[Bill Musarra]

For you guys here in the U.S., particularly in the south. If you want to do some fun racing on the cheap, you should look into the Legends Racing Series. These are basicly old body styles (1940s) that are one seaters manufactured by one company powered by 1100 cc Yamaha engines that cannot be modified. They have about 3 classes if memory serves me. One or two classes are for the yougsters using late model bodies and one with Indy style bodies, and there is a pro series for the "big boys". True its roundy round, but I've seen one or two at Road Atlanta. Some of the best headsup racing you'll find for kids. Not to mention safe. I believe their season runs about 8 weekws during the summer. ESPN even covers it.

 

[Neal]

Bill,

Don't forget, you need a clown suit before you can step into a Legends car!

 

[Ian K]

And there's always the Factory Five Spec
Racer. Can be built for under $20K.

Ian

 

[Dan W]

Hi all, I race a F2000 car in reginal competition and have done quite a bit of reading on the recent "flood" of cheaper cars out their. At this point it sounds like some of them are half baked ,, hoping for more interest and orders to get things rolling. Check out formulacontinental.com at their mssg board for alot of info and good opinions from people involved in the sport.
Personaly i wouldnt recommend karts to a adult (the very fast high power ones) . Alot of people are buying them and dont have a clue how to race responsible and get over their heads and take out other people on the track causing serious injury usually to others. A friend of mine almost lost his leg and still suffers to this day due to this , and two people died in his karting club in the same year in accidents. I equate it to the jet ski factor. People can easily afford these things but dont have half a brain on riding them resonsibly .If you can justify a Formula ford, F2000 or a Formula Mazda or one of the new cars ,, do it instead.More protection and with a higher price tag hopefully less brain fade than in karts. If you built your GT40 you can work on and maintain one of these formula cars.Chances are if you do your own work with the proper aproach , your car will be more reliable than many other cars and you'll have more pride in your effort,,, just like a GT40 ,,thanks,,, Dan ,,Ohh lots of legends cars run at a local road coarse here ,but the performance isnt as high as in the formula cars.

 

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, but I've been racing an SRF since 1995.

This car is the "New Spec Car" from SCCA Enterprises, who have been selling and administering the SRF car and class since the mid 80s. I see someone already posted the link to the Enterprises site above.

At this point, the open wheel car will be the most popular, and will have its own pro series. On the amateur levek, the cars will run in established classes, meaning they don't get their own class until participation numbers reach a certain level, and will not be competitive with the cars they are up against at first. This is a little bit of a crapshoot, but there's a lot of interest in the open wheel car at this point and my gut says it will be a succuss.

'Iraceone' makes very valid points about safety, what you get for your money, and the transfer of knowledge between kit building and race prep.

On the Enterprises site, you can also read about the car I run, the original SRF. It is a well-established class (48 cars at the VIR pro race this weekend). Used cars can be had for $17-25k. The car only has 100hp at the rear wheels, so its more of a momentum car. That said, I've run the same engine and transaxle for over 5 seasons.

Fran's comments about the National level of racing are true, but there is much tighter compliance these days - not perfect, but all my friends are northeast national frontrunners in Nationals; they're not cheating and nobody from other divisions are blowing them away. There are some killer motors out there, but its not blatent.

I met a close friend racing these cars (he bought his in 1985), and both of us have run the same colors from the beginning. You GT40 fans might get a kick out of this photo of me following him down the front straight at Lime Rock:
http://users.rcn.com/gpinello/SRF/LRP.jpg

This is a great site. I look forward to reading the boards on a regular basis as a GT40 kit is high on my list of things to accomplish in life.

Regards,
GP

[ October 26, 2002: Message edited by: GeoffP ]