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My waistline has expanded.........to 30". I've ballooned out to 145lbs....... I was really skinny 30 years ago.

As for driving I'm driving really well these days as I'm getting more seat time...

I'm late to the party on this topic but wanted to reply anyway:

I can only speak for myself but I'm driving just as hard at vintage races as I ever did at SCCA events. Anyone who's seen me race or...

I seem to recall Jay Novak built a electric powered F500 for Piles Peak. I don't know the details on whether or not he used the standard F500 suspension.

If you subtract the weight of the motor,...

I run a 87 Novakar in vintage on the west coast of the US. I get thrown in with the wings and slicks group, which typically has Sports 2000s, Formula Continentals and D-Sports Racers. Typically...

I think James Wieda has proved that either layout can be competitive.

My takeaway from the race, beyond driving talent is the people running up front also put in a lot of effort to get that...

Your wife is a very wise woman.......................you should seriously consider this class. Perhaps you could do a rental for a race or test day.

I'm a former DSR competitor; F500 cars are fun...

I'll reiterate what I said on the FB page; this race rocked, if you were someone who's never driven one of these cars and saw that race your reaction was "man I want to race one of those"

While...

My tire guy is checking for me, so we shall see what happens.

I seriously doubt Hoosier would replace it. It's more of a nuisance the a problem. I only expect slicks to hold for 24hrs.

I figured it would need to be replaced but thought I'd check to see.if there was an alternative.

I posted this on FB as well.

One of my brand new Hoosiers has a pin hole leak in the side wall. It drops about 1psi per hour. Is some kind of sealant acceptable?

As I said over on the FB page; the race rocked regardless of how it finished.

For sprockets I use Sprocket Specialists out of Utah. They can do custom sprockets if you need them.

Lance tough weekend, I'm sure it will get better.

Glad you got it running..........seeing as I took all of your running motors.

I posted a longer version up on Facebook but figured I'd put it here as well.

This past weekend I did another vintage race with the Novakar.

I'd put fresh top end on the AMW motor and it was...

I'm running an 87 Novakar; I autocross it and road race it (in my case vintage racing).

I'm not looking to be anything more than competitive locally so doing dual duty is easy. A two stroke car...

I was at the drags with a friend and there was a snowmobile going through tech, I asked the tech guy what kind of times they ran assuming they'd be in the 10s. He laughed and told me to go...

I would imagine if you took the average F500 right off the track and ran it down the drag strip it would be in the low 12s high 11s. Changing the gearing and playing with the suspension would...

I'm 145lbs...……………….I put a farm tractor battery in the car. I don't need a jumper to start the car every time.

So off on one of my usual tangents; I am a bit perplexed as why some vintage groups would even question one of these cars. These cars are 30+ years old. When I ran mine VARA put me in the wings and...

I have a HANS adjustable as I run both a sedan and my Novakar. In the sedan I run it at 20 degrees and 30 in the F500. Takes all of 5 minutes to adjust.

Since I originally posted this thread I've vintage raced the car and went with the previous car owners set up which, for me, is pretty conservative. The car was nowhere near as edgy as my Autocross...

Jay if it's case of making batches keep in mind I still need pucks. There is an event in about 3 weeks that I'd like to make it to.

Jay as always thank you for chiming in, I appreciate it. Especially seeing as you sold the car to some other guy 33 years ago.

It's on my list of things to service; it's not horrendous but it's...

Garey, Jay and I are emailing on a different topic at the moment (friction discs) but I will likely end up asking him if he remembers the brand of rack it is. Of course this is the 3rd car he built...

At this point I don't even know what brand it is. I just found the set up a bit odd in there is a box bolted to the rack. My thought was the gear is pressed onto the steering shaft an hence it might...

Rick yes there is a bit off slop in the center, nothing horrendous just more than I think it should have. The car drives fine, only notice it when the car is static. I will likely have my machinist...

So on my 87 Novakar the steering rack seems like it could use servicing. See theattached photo, has anyone ever serviced this type of rack?...

I find it easier and faster to shift without the clutch, plus left foot braking makes for faster lap times.

Off on a possible tangent...

Since shifting was mentioned; when I ran a DSR with a Yamaha 1000 engine I pretty much went up and down through the box without using the clutch and left foot braked....

So at the risk of having the villagers come after me with pitch forks and torches:

There is nothing wrong with F500 as it currently is. It had the 3rd highest number of entries behind FV & FE. A...

George well said, there really isn't a wrong answer when it comes to picking either class.

I'll reiterate what I've said before; Many moons ago I had a FV and even gave thought to getting another...

I've found Greg's spreadsheet to be very useful, regardless of whether or not it's 100% accurate, it gives a would be racer a very good idea of the costs for various are.

I can speak about the ride quality of the older car as I just ran my 87 Novakar at Buttonwollow 3 weekends ago. The track is very bumpy in places and I was not beat up at all. Note I'm 5' 7" and...

@E1pix I just turned 58 this week, 60 is not old or late to start. 3 weeks ago I was on track with someone who is 81 years old, he only started racing 10 years ago. Also note he is not slow.

When I told people at the vintage races I was into my car for $5,200 including the new fuel cell I put in it, they were stunned.

F500 are the cheapest of the unwinged single seat cars as well as...

They've edged up incrementally over the last decade. I seem to recall the trap speeds at Daytona were pushing 150 if not over 150.

Jay it was really borderline for Solo hence the modification to the rear cowl. If you look closely you can see the radiator 12" behind the headrest.

I've been really happy with the car. Up until...

Jay I have all of the logbooks and notes from Larry's races.

As for getting old yes the car is 33 years old so in my eyes it's vintage.

Here is the car getting ready to go to grid. I've done...

Jay it's your name as the entrant and I think the tech inspector's name was Bledsoe.

Cornering speed wise the car wasn't far off the most of the S2000 cars.

The tires had three sessions from a...

Jay I will get photos up this weekend of the suspension this weekend. I knew it wasn't right and we should have worked on it but I simply choose to drive around the large bumps.

I do have the...

You should bring it out. The only gauge I had for lap times were modern F500s, so I figured I'd be several seconds slower than that but clearly the cars have come a long way. When I told people I was...

This past weekend I ran my 87 Novakar (3rd car built) with VARA at Buttonwillow.

The AMW ran all weekend without issue, although the cranking pressure is now pretty low (55 in the left cylinder...

Thanks. That is what I thought you meant seeing as our car have friction dampers.

Eric when you say to little torque on the rockers, to clarify, do you mean the torque setting on the fastener (friction damper) or are we talking pull / push rod position on the rocker?

I may be...

Jay for road course work I've set the car up using the Larry Dupois notes that came with the car and from what I could tell the car was pretty neutral. Again it was really cold so it was hard to get...

This is more of a curiosity question and could be my bias / preference of a car set up on the loose side. I noticed on my 87 Novakar and my friend's 05 Novakar that once you go past 120 degrees of...

Daryl, totally agreed; I figured my post was long winded enough as it was, so I left it as is.

I'll pass on what I do because I don't think a lot of people do this. I do these things whether I'm in my dog slow Datsun or when I was in the D-sports racer.

I take a look at the qualifying...