Stohr FF - SOLD

[ChristopherBernard]

I also was awestruck when I saw this car for the first time. Kudos Lee!
Good luck with the sale!!

[ctracer18]

How desirable/difficult would it be to convert to Honda power, or is that simply sacrilege? Agnifilo I already know how you'd respond, but go ahead Also would this be SVRA eligible?

[GAC]

I do not know enough specifics about the Honda to say, but I will say that the engine subframe is very tight around the current engine. I do not know if the Honda would fit without making a new one. I would also say that this is supposedly a very good Ford engine. With the electric water and fuel pumps and 5.5" clutch, I am not sure how much advantage there would be to switching. Before I rebuilt the engine and discovered I was down on power, the Hondas would pull me on starts, but I would guess it would not seem to be the case now. In my one race on the rebuild against Ethan Mackey's Euroswift, it seemed to pull past him pretty well on the straight at Blackhawk. I think it would be a lot of expense for little gain. I have no idea about SVRA eligibility. It is a 1998 car with inboard suspension. I think the best use of the car would be by someone trying to win the Runoffs on a limited budget.

[Lee Stohr]

My intent in designing this Stohr FF was, of course, to try and beat David Bruns Swift DB1/6. It was then almost impossible to beat the low drag of the Swift. The idea of putting the radiator in the center of the chassis and letting the air exit over the engine and out the back was probably first done by Arnie Loyning's Viking. But Swift perfected the idea and Arnie quite rightly decided there was more money to be made doing engines than building cars. Arnie is a smart guy. I should have listened. Anyway, the center radiator concept works great for low aero drag on low horsepower cars. What David Bruns couldn't have imagined was that Formula One would evolve to high noses with the drivers feet well up off the floor. When I saw that, I got thinking maybe on a low horsepower car, the radiator could be packaged under the drivers feet, or at least the radiator outlet flow would be under his feet. This would allow the center of my car to be much narrower than the Swift. Unfortunately the Runoffs was then held for many years at MidOhio, where top speed isn't as critical as Road America or Atlanta. I was never able to take the car to those high speed events back then.

[Lee Stohr]

There is more to the Stohr FF than just the aero concept. With no radiator in the center of the car, I used a long input shaft to move the engine forward more than Swiift could. The Stohr track width is slightly wider and the driver sits lower for a lower center of gravity. In theory it should be faster with less understeer, but of course, car development and driver skill count just as much as chassis choice in Formula Ford.

[ctracer18]

I just started reading the SVRA car eligibility guidelines for FF, and three things already clarified: Ford engine only, and this car fits in the "Post Club Ford 1982-2008" classification. Tire choices are either Hoosier (Front: 135/545-13VFF, Rear: 165/580-13VFF) or Toyo Proxes (Front: R888, 185/60R/13, Rear: R888, 205/60R/13)

Thanks Lee for adding your design thoughts, hope you are well. So this could have been the ticket for the 2015 Runoffs ran at Daytona?

[stonebridge20]

How desirable/difficult would it be to convert to Honda power, or is that simply sacrilege? Agnifilo I already know how you'd respond, but go ahead Also would this be SVRA eligible?

I think all that Florida sun is baking your brains. Put on a hat!

[ctracer18]

I think all that Florida sun is baking your brains. Put on a hat!

Some would say I haven't much left to bake anyway, amigo. But I'll keep my straw hat nearby over the winter anyway, whereas you may need something warmer up north! You're welcome to visit anytime you wish to thaw out.

[stonebridge20]

40F and snow here yesterday and I'm still in shorts keeping the lady's happy. I'm good for now! Thanks for the invite.

[Jon Jeffords]

Some cool pics of this Stohr. Some miscellaneous ramblings as the former owner:

Some people have asked me if the elevated foot position is distracting. After the first three laps, you forget all about it.

After removing a handful of quarter-turn fasteners, the main one-piece body lifts straight up and off, making for very convenient 100% visual inspection and nut-n-bolt checking between sessions.

Unless Greg relocated them, the mounting location of the front shock reservoirs allows the compression setting to be cockpit adjustable.

Per the pic below, the drive shafts run inside the upper a-arm.

The electric water pump is very handy to bleed air out of the system during refills, especially with the radiator being all the way up front.

No bell housing per se. The clutch and flywheel are "out in the open."

The new owner should have one member of the crew dedicated to answering questions at the track. This car generates a lot of conversation. I was always tempted to have a sign made that said "All questions will be gladly answered after the FF checkered flag falls!"

So why did I sell it? Two reasons:

1) This car deserves to run up front. Being a backmarker who nearly faints several times in the course of turning 2:35’s at Road America, I felt this car rightfully belongs in the hands of someone who can drive it on the edge. Come on, look at this thing! It screams "take me to the front!"
2) I became so enamored with the car, that I couldn’t fathom driving it in anger. When I strapped in, my primary focus was “don’t hurt this car.” After only six weekends, I realized I needed a car that I could slowly start pushing the envelope to the point of oversteer/understeer, even if it meant taking off a corner or two, and there was no way I could mentally bring myself to do that with this car. Fortunately, when I now strap into a mass-produced DB1, I have no more thoughts of ‘asset preservation.’

[GAC]

Here is a partial list of spares that come with the car. I have not done a complete inventory, so there may be a few things included that are not on this list.

Nose
Two of my custom lightweight rotor and hat assemblies
Set of four iron rotors
Four AP LD19 calipers
Two longer gun drilled rear driveshafts
Wheel bearings (I think there are 2)
Two front tie rods
Two sets of Panasport wheels in addition to the set on the car
Full exhaust set
Two Odyssey normal racing lead-acid batteries
Lead weights for ballast
Rear suspension mounts for both standard and adjustable rear RC
Springs
Gears in a wooden gear case: 16:36, 17:35, 18:34, 18:32, 19:32, 20:32, 20:31, 20:30, 21:31, 21:29, 22:30, 22:29, 22:28, 23:29, 23:28, 21:25, 23:27, 21:24, 24:27, 24:26, 25:27, 25:25, 26:25 (18:32, 21:31, 23:28, and 21:24 are in the car)
Dog rings
Middle and rear floor sections that I replaced
1/4" and 1/2" rear diffuser wickers
Intercomp Setup Pad
Staffs Gearbox Manual
Jump Battery for starts, car is wired to run off the jump battery with the car battery disengaged to maximize battery life

[GAC]

I also have a number of bias ply tires, including rains, that can be included or are free to anyone that wants them. If they need to be shipped, you would need to pay for shipping.

[GAC]

All, I have been able to find some financial relief in my personal life that means I no longer need to sell the car. I still do not have the money to race it yet, but I am going to hold off on selling it for now. It was really killing me to have to sell it, so I feel a lot better now. Hopefully, I can find some sponsorship to do one more season. Thanks for all the kind words posted about the car here.

[GAC]

Well, the car is sold. It turned out that even if I had the money to run it, the time would not work with the wife and family, so I called the person back who had wanted it when I had decided to keep it, and he bought it. It is headed to the San Francisco area to someone who wants to be competitive and take it to the runoffs either this year or next. I think it's going to have a good home. I'm pretty sad about it but am moving on. The trailer is back up for sale. I'll make a specific post for it this week. I'm going to hold to the van for a little while longer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Stan Clayton]

We understand. And not to worry, the San Francisco Bay Area is the World Headquarters of Stohr, so we will make sure it's well cared for!

[Richard Hybels]

I wonder what ever happened to this car. Have not seen it at any races in the Bay Area.

Hybels

Well, the car is sold. It turned out that even if I had the money to run it, the time would not work with the wife and family, so I called the person back who had wanted it when I had decided to keep it, and he bought it. It is headed to the San Francisco area to someone who wants to be competitive and take it to the runoffs either this year or next. I think it's going to have a good home. I'm pretty sad about it but am moving on. The trailer is back up for sale. I'll make a specific post for it this week. I'm going to hold to the van for a little while longer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GAC]

I wonder what ever happened to this car. Have not seen it at any races in the Bay Area.

Hybels

I bought it back, so it is back in CENDIV. I ran a few races with it last year and designed an all new suspension for it this year to work with the radials, which was very disappointingly not finished in time for the Runoffs. So, it will be back running in CENDIV next season. I doubt it will go back to the west coast unless the Runoffs are held out there again.

[Richard Hybels]

Good move. It is a historically significant car. I remember seeing one at Thunderhill years ago and talking to Lee.
Put a Honda in it.
I bought a vintage Crossle recently with a fresh $8,000 rebuild and it lasted about an hour. A good Honda is about $1k from a wrecked car and spending big bucks in the hopes of more ponies does not seem to work. Others may disagree.
For many reasons including the historical significance of a multi winning Runoffs winning chassis ( twice engineered by Neil Porter and driven by Keith Nunes), I bought a Porter DB-6 with a Honda in it. .
The Porter DB-6 I sold in 2003 won the Runoffs in John Robinson’s very capable hands twice.