This thread is meant just to provoke thought and not as a big flame session. But something Cory posted earlier got me thinking....
I love F500/600. A few years ago when I started seeing Jay's prototypes of new 600 cars and I posted here that was the direction to go with my grandkids. So I dig the class.
That said as an outsider looking in I'll post my opinion of what I now see.
Looking over the 2014 records it appears there are ~50 different F500 drivers. Now in the big scheme of things spread of this whole country that isn't a whole bunch. It appears about 20 of them are driving F600 cars. What that says to me is that would mean that in 4 years or so there have been more new F600 chassis sold than probably any other formula class with exception of probably FF. It also may mean that at that rate F500 may hit a tipping point where there are more 600s than 500s.
Meanwhile the CRB/BOD is working on strategies to lower the number of classes in Majors and the Runoffs. Certainly a class with 50 entrants could conceivably become a target. It happened to S2.
As a side note...The only class that can literally impose a mandatory change seems to be SRF. One of the largest classes in the club. Enterprises changes the engine and then says if you don't change you won't be going to the Runoffs in a few years. Seems draconian, yet the purchase numbers for the conversion kits is very impressive. No other class that I know of could change like that. Sometimes it seems good to just have a king in charge instead of a democracy. :)
I see the F5 class as possibly one with the greatest potential for growth because of its relative affordability compared to its track speed. To me it is a hell of a lot more attractive than FV with $10,000 motors.
Here is what I see as the primary roadblocks to continuing F500 growth:
1. A typical SCCA clubbie attitude that the imbedded base wants no change unless it favors what they already have. OBTW,This holds true in every class, not just F5. :)
2. A wheelbase that is too short to safely fit a lot of American drivers into the chassis. It is not a weight problem for 200 pound guys could make minimum weight. Its a size problem. At 6 foot or so you are literally packed in like a sardine. My opinion is the car needs about an 84 - 86 inch wheelbase to be roomier and even more stable. Thus increasing its possible customer base.
3. The guys imbedded with 2 cycle engines love them. And I understand that. But I think its safe to say the average newbie is not attracted to the 2 cycle experience. (Proof of this could be the count of new F600 cars in the last 4 years compared to F500 cars.) If the SCCA makes it so the 2 cycle has a bit of an advantage then the class will not grow and the Concorde Agreement will roll over the class. Somehow everyone in the class has to strive for as much equity as possible. In my opinion if the 593 is certainly dominate or perceived to be so, guys will quit building F600s, and the good growth we have seen the last few years will fall off, stagnating the class. I look at last year's Runoffs and I see Jay Novak put his kid into a 2 cycle car because he didn't see a F600 as having a chance, and that is the very same guy building the most new F600 chassis. That says something to a newbie buyer.
4. On the other hand, I also think that if there were equity, the F600s would within a few years outnumber the F500s. That thought certainly doesn't please the imbedded F500 guys. Yet it is sort of a fact in racing that classes with high participation and growth, cycle out a lot of old chassis. We saw that in the boom years for FC when '95 cars were extinct in '96, and then '96 cars were history in '97., and so on. The old cars were moving down to newbies in regional racing. FV in its history of being one of the most active classes in the club has cycled out a lot of old chassis from the front of national grids. Its just racing.
If I were king I think I would know what to do. But, thankfully I'm not king. ;)
But I do think all the members of the class have to work hard at compromises that will help the class grow.
Just my view. My view is no more special than any other. As always YMMV.
I love F500/600. A few years ago when I started seeing Jay's prototypes of new 600 cars and I posted here that was the direction to go with my grandkids. So I dig the class.
That said as an outsider looking in I'll post my opinion of what I now see.
Looking over the 2014 records it appears there are ~50 different F500 drivers. Now in the big scheme of things spread of this whole country that isn't a whole bunch. It appears about 20 of them are driving F600 cars. What that says to me is that would mean that in 4 years or so there have been more new F600 chassis sold than probably any other formula class with exception of probably FF. It also may mean that at that rate F500 may hit a tipping point where there are more 600s than 500s.
Meanwhile the CRB/BOD is working on strategies to lower the number of classes in Majors and the Runoffs. Certainly a class with 50 entrants could conceivably become a target. It happened to S2.
As a side note...The only class that can literally impose a mandatory change seems to be SRF. One of the largest classes in the club. Enterprises changes the engine and then says if you don't change you won't be going to the Runoffs in a few years. Seems draconian, yet the purchase numbers for the conversion kits is very impressive. No other class that I know of could change like that. Sometimes it seems good to just have a king in charge instead of a democracy. :)
I see the F5 class as possibly one with the greatest potential for growth because of its relative affordability compared to its track speed. To me it is a hell of a lot more attractive than FV with $10,000 motors.
Here is what I see as the primary roadblocks to continuing F500 growth:
1. A typical SCCA clubbie attitude that the imbedded base wants no change unless it favors what they already have. OBTW,This holds true in every class, not just F5. :)
2. A wheelbase that is too short to safely fit a lot of American drivers into the chassis. It is not a weight problem for 200 pound guys could make minimum weight. Its a size problem. At 6 foot or so you are literally packed in like a sardine. My opinion is the car needs about an 84 - 86 inch wheelbase to be roomier and even more stable. Thus increasing its possible customer base.
3. The guys imbedded with 2 cycle engines love them. And I understand that. But I think its safe to say the average newbie is not attracted to the 2 cycle experience. (Proof of this could be the count of new F600 cars in the last 4 years compared to F500 cars.) If the SCCA makes it so the 2 cycle has a bit of an advantage then the class will not grow and the Concorde Agreement will roll over the class. Somehow everyone in the class has to strive for as much equity as possible. In my opinion if the 593 is certainly dominate or perceived to be so, guys will quit building F600s, and the good growth we have seen the last few years will fall off, stagnating the class. I look at last year's Runoffs and I see Jay Novak put his kid into a 2 cycle car because he didn't see a F600 as having a chance, and that is the very same guy building the most new F600 chassis. That says something to a newbie buyer.
4. On the other hand, I also think that if there were equity, the F600s would within a few years outnumber the F500s. That thought certainly doesn't please the imbedded F500 guys. Yet it is sort of a fact in racing that classes with high participation and growth, cycle out a lot of old chassis. We saw that in the boom years for FC when '95 cars were extinct in '96, and then '96 cars were history in '97., and so on. The old cars were moving down to newbies in regional racing. FV in its history of being one of the most active classes in the club has cycled out a lot of old chassis from the front of national grids. Its just racing.
If I were king I think I would know what to do. But, thankfully I'm not king. ;)
But I do think all the members of the class have to work hard at compromises that will help the class grow.
Just my view. My view is no more special than any other. As always YMMV.
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