Ralf Firmans RF01

[TheStag]

Ralph Firmans new F1000, the RF01.
More to come!
The Stag.

[VehDyn]

Hmmmm. That looks very nice. Very nice.

[TheStag]

More Pictures of the RF01
Stay tuned!
The Stag.

[TheStag]

From illustration to reality, stay tuned more to come!
The Stag

[Rick Kirchner]

So what are the differences between this and formula Ireland? Wasn't that a MC engined car?

[quartzracer]

Nice! Look at the size of the rear brakes

[se7en]

Love the brazed joinery! You Brits STILL have the knack and, apparently, the skills.
Ken

[Sean Maisey]

I thought Mr. Firman sold out to Panos/Elan and retired.

Cool to see another F1000 design hit the market. The more the merrier.

Sean

[camaroz1985]

Where is the main hoop?

[TheStag]

This is Ralph and Angie Firman's new company, it is housed in the Firman Technical Center, located across the street from Snetterton, just as it's has always been, with most of the key staff from the previous company. As Sean previously eluded to Ralph sold the old company to Elan/Panoz.
More Pictures to come!
The Stag

[TheStag]

The Historic Quonset Hut site.

[Keith Carter]

Where is the main hoop?

If it's anything like the other VanDiemens, it'll bolt on.

[TheStag]

As with most Baldwin designs after 1998 it will be a bolt on roll Hoop.
The Stag.

[TheStag]

Just to clarify, with all due respect this is not a Van Diemen!

[TheStag]

RF01 in progress!

[sidney]

I'm guessing that when Ralph sold out, there was a period of non-compete that has now expired. It certainly has lines similar to the old Formula Ireland car. The "chimneys" in the hut are not shown on the models. Obviously, there have been some updates to the design already. Nice to see another person with Mr. Firman's reputation entering the fray.

[Brian]

What is the new company and the new car going to be called? XXXXXXXX RF01


Brian

[TheStag]

The company is called Ralph Firman Racing, and the first chassis is called RF01.
Stay tuned, more pictures coming!

[TheStag]

Here it is boys, check it out in it's first set of Firman bodywork!
The Stag

[Misterkris]

wow looks very well developed.

-Is this really the car that was rumored to be the VD car? Or a totally different project?

[pilotodefc]

Just makes me think F1000 is the wave of the future
BEAUTIFUL car.

HECTOR

[S Lathrop]

This is a car designed by someone who understands the performance potential of F1000. A tube frame F3.

[CSHAW]

Very Impressive, great work guys. Are you going to posting the specifications any time soon?

I am getting more excited about this class all the time.

This is going to get fun.

C Shaw

[ReynardF1000]

Now THAT'S a proper FB!
It looks a bit heavy, though. I wonder if the Euro/Brit version of FB is heavier than our minimum 1,000 #'s?

[ghickman]

Now THAT'S a proper FB!
It looks a bit heavy, though. I wonder if the Euro/Brit version of FB is heavier than our minimum 1,000 #'s?

I wasn't going to mention this but since someone else has I'd guess this chassis is very heavy unless Ralf's using some real thin wall tubing. Weight is not a FB chassis friend.

[TheStag]

Hey Jordan
you should wait a couple of seconds were are sending down the line some pictures of the test.

[TheStag]

Initail test pictures with ex Cape Motorsports pilot Joey Foster at the wheel.

[Brands]

Looks like a proper race car, nice work. And at Brands as well! Looking foward to seeing it over here. My car looks similar in construction and I weigh in at a shade over 1000lbs with fuel and driver. A winter diet should get me under 1000lbs.

[RedRacer27]

And very noisy I hear!!!

[andyllc]

No diffuser??

[Purple Frog]

I saw the same thing Andy. Noticed a lot of rear wing. I'm guessing it's still in development, or they didn't want Joey testing with the only one they had in the rain
Other that the missing diffuser, a very prper race car. Only thing I see it needs is purple paint.


.

[Fatoldman7]

I was curious about the lack of diffuser to, I also noticed that in some of the pics the car was running chimneys, and others they were missing, are they worth all the effort? It also looks like you are running one radiator, and one oil cooler? If this is true, and you don’t mind sharing… how big are your coolers? Nice looking car, I hope your testing goes well.


What happened to the rest of your pictures?

[Misterkris]

So are the chimeneys detachable or different bodywork?


beat me to it.

the barge boards in the prototype pics going to be tested?

[Rennie Clayton]

What happened to the rest of your pictures?

He edited all of his posts to specifically remove the previous photos.


Cheers,
Rennie

[TheStag]

This is the initial system checks, the chimneys are used for extra cooling, testing at Brands in October (rainy and cold) they were not needed. More pictures of the RF01 with barge boards, diffuser and some more goodies will be posted soon.

[TheStag]

I couldn't load the new pictures until I removed the old ones, sorry about that.

[carnut169]

Let the Stig drive it Stag!

Looks good. Pricing? Production plans?

BTW- Photobucket is free and you can post more than 6 pics at a time....

[Gary_T]

BTW- Photobucket is free and you can post more than 6 pics at a time....

But they block photobucket at work! I want to see the shiny pictures too! I've got 8 months of silly season dreaming before racing starts again.

Gary

[RussMcB]

Hmm. I've never bumped into a limit with picture posting on Apexspeed. Are there times when Apexspeed makes you remove pictures before you can add new ones?

So as not to totally hijack this thread: I've thought for a while that, with VD's success in FF2000 and with their experience with motorcycle powered cars, and the advantage they might enjoy by producing a F1000 in some kind of volume, they would be the car to beat. For whatever reason, they have decided not to build an F1000 (I've heard privately), so, perhaps Ralph's car will pick up that mantle.

We'll see! :-).

[Blair Robertshaw]

Russ,

Did you hear that "these guys are not going to build a production model" or that "Van Diemen" is not going to build a production F1000 / FB / F? model?

Looks to me as though "these guys" are going forward!