Fisherman's Race Car

[John D]

Fisherman, who makes that race car of yours. I gather it is a SCCA Formula racer of come kind. I don't know enough about Formula racing to comment. Does your car use the little 13 inch racing slicks? John D

 

[the fisherman]

Formula Ford

John, that is a VanDeimen RF04 Formula Ford race car, you are correct it is raced in SCCA road racing events all over the US. FF is a strictly controlled class, the motors are based on 1600cc Kent Ford block, a good motor only makes about 120hp or so, the cars are light 980# . They are fast if driven correctly (read:never lift off the throttle) I spent quite a bit of time in these cars in the late 70s to late 80s. The cars are much different to drive now from what I remember, but we have done some testing,with some real engineers, that know how to decifer all the diagnostic downloads, etc. etc. we never had any of this when I last did this, anyway, we think we might suprise some people this year, if we don't have problems, we're on a very limited budget. If you want to know more about the cars, Goggle Formula Ford. As for the wheels, only 51/2 width. They are a lot of fun to drive, big feilds,very close racing, in fact quite often way too close,I love it, it's the kind of thing that I think you're born to do.

 

[John D]

I am building a Lotus 7 replica. There are several builders and designers of these cars, which are intended to be “Low Cost”. As you know, there is no such thing as a low cost sports car that actually runs. Mine is a street car which can run on “track day”. My plan is to use tires that are shorter and wider on the track and taller narrower tires on the street. I believe the tires on some classes of formula cars utilize 13 inch wheels? There seems to be a good bit of rubber out there which I can choose from for my car. This is of particular interest to me at present because I am working of the brake system and 10 inch rotors appear to be what I should use in order to employ 13 inch wheels with racing slicks from formula cars. There seems to be a variety of similar cars that are raced in several Formula classes, some with really interesting slicks.

What size wheels does your car use? What size brake rotors? John D

 

[the fisherman]

Brakes And Wheels

All Formula Fords run on a 5.5w. 13d. wheel. The brakes on this car are 10d. they are scalloped and cross drilled, to reduce weight and improve cooling. We use OZ center lock wheels on this car,three sets, with a combination of GoodYear slicks and rains, also at times we will probably use Hooiser's. Maybe for your track days you could probably find a good set of Spec. GoodYear 600 compound tires, they're relativly hard and will last through quite a few heat cycles before they go off, and they should be easy for you to find, some FF guy in your area probably has some.

 

[John D]

Fisherman, Thanks for the info. I agree. There seems to be quite a number of FF racers in the region. The Legend cars, dwarf cars, and other motorcycle engined cars mostly use 13 inch wheels, maybe the same tires as FF. I am thinking my rotors and calipers need to fit inside a 13 inch wheel, which makes 10 5/8, maybe 11 inches, about max for the rotor. Wilwood has brake components that appear to be made for cars in the 1000 lb weight class that run 13 inch wheels.

All this race car knowledge probably has an application in off road. You reckon? John D