Stohr Racing at Homestead???

[Matt Conrad]

There's an entry showing for a 2007 Stohr F1000 for the Homestaed Race this weekend. From discussions I had with someone that looked at the car last weekend it was far from "race ready" and even had PVC half-shafts.

Is the car really running or is this an entry "just in case"?

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Cars, Inc.

[Tom Sprecher]

but it could be. To be honest from what I saw the car was not that far from being race ready. If the 10/10ths boys had some axles made up and instruments to install it was about a day or two max from being run.

[cvogeley]

I'm sitting in GR's motorhome in the Homestead paddock. The half shafts are late to arrive, so the Stohr F1000 will be on display. We will test it shortly after we return from our Florida swing. Besides the half shafts and a seat for the driver, it is race ready. Expect test results posted on our website towards the end of the month.

Craig Vogeley
Stohr Cars North America

[Purple Frog]

I sort of thought the pvc axles were neat. I was selling them to people as the trick way to soften the drivetrain shock when flying off all the bumps at Sebring. I had believers.

[Stan Clayton]

Hey...if a certain Spec Miata can use muffler pipe for his roll cage at the Runoffs, why can't Stohr North America use PVC for half shafts at Homestead...?

[Lee Stohr]

No way, did that really happen?
Probably doesn't matter much what the roll cage is made of, when all the attaching sheetmetal on a Miata is about the thickness of a beer can

[Stan Clayton]

The main roll hoop (with the inspection hole drilled in it) was the correct 1.5" x .095" DOM, but much of the rest of the cage was "muffler pipe". The Club bought a new sonic wall thickness checker last year, so the tech guy was randomly checking tubes at post-qualifying impound when he went, "Oops!". (Think about it...hold the transducer up against any roll cage tube for a second or so and you have an accurate reading to the thousanth of an inch. No more need for a hole.)

The car owner had just bought the car, so no action was taken against him. He was able to get a new cage put in the car in KC overnight (literally!) and was back on track the next day. But to make matters worse for the shop that built the car, the ARRC used the checker on SMs at their race a few weeks later, and several more of the same shop's cars failed for the same reason.

As one might imagine there is some serious a$$ kicking going on these days...

Note: I'm not talking out of school, as this was all over the SM forums at the time.

Sad, huh?

Stan

[stonebridge20]

There's one way to get rid of all the spec Miata's.......Kill the drivers !

The owners of that "shop" if members of SCCA should have their memberships pulled for life!

Agnif

[D.T. Benner]

Won't work any more? I recall a car that was found to have a sub standard roll bar 35 years ago (after a crash) The original builder of said car had saved weight by Giving the thin tube a good dent with a Ball Peen Hammer and then filling said dent with body filler Lead! and Then drilling the inspection hole Thru the lead/dent portion of the roll bar! Kinda like filling your fire bottle with Helium insted of Haylon -the guage shows a full charge but boy is it light! Don't try this yourself.

[Brian]

There was (as I recall, anyway) a Trans-Am Corvette involved in a fatal accident at Mosport not many years ago that got transported out of the country very quickly and cut up into tiny pieces. It was mostly 16 Ga tubing - and they are tube frame cars!

That and a few other incidents really changed our rules on serious accident investigation at the track, that's for sure.

Brian

[jimh3063]

I saw said vehicle at Sebring and it looked damn near race ready.
It did have PVC halfshafts. It looked like once that halfshafts were replaced it would ready to go.

I'm not a race car engineer, nor do I play one on tv but it looked pretty close to race ready to me.

I must say. I was surprised how physically large it was though.
It is one slick looking piece of kit as well.

Jimmy Hanrahan

[GoPro]

I saw said vehicle at Sebring and it looked damn near race ready.
It did have PVC halfshafts. It looked like once that halfshafts were replaced it would ready to go.

I'm not a race car engineer, nor do I play one on tv but it looked pretty close to race ready to me.

I must say. I was surprised how physically large it was though.
It is one slick looking piece of kit as well.

Jimmy Hanrahan

Same size as a PRO FM I think, right? Drooooooooooooooooool...

I've seen so many sweet PRO FMs at Infineon...babied by the Worldspeed guys. Talk about a ripping operation.

I can't wait to toast a few with the F1000 (hopefully!!! :-)