Vintage FF shock rules

[Dave Harmison]

I believe some vintage groups require steel bodied shocks. Do any of the groups outlaw or penalize having gas valve stems on shocks?

[BorkRacing]

Dave it depends on which class you are talking about.
Which group do you run with?
Historic cars 1967 to 1971 typically have stricter rules than the Club Ford cars or the Tweeners/Post Club Ford cars.

Robby

[Dave Harmison]

I am hoping someone can give me a run down of which clubs have what restrictions.
The car is a 1969 Formula Ford.

[tstrong]

As mentioned above there are many vintage groups throughout the country and their rules can vary club by club. Monoposto rules are the most universally accepted but still there are differences across the clubs. Per Monoposto Al body, non remote reservoir, no more than two way adjustable gas shocks are accepted. As you mention some clubs still require steel body shocks on the early cars. Best advice is to look at the rules for the clubs in your area/ you plan to run with. If that doesn’t work for you defaulting to Monoposto is probably the best bet. Todd

[Dave Harmison]

Thank you, Todd. I am trying to build the car so it is moderately widely accepted. I will not be the driver as I am far too big to drive it. I want a friend of mine to drive it and I don't know where and with whom he will want to race. MY preference because I have experience with them, would be to put steel Bilstein monotubes on it. BUT, in order to do my own repair and tuning on monotubes I have to put valve stems on them. Hence the way I asked the question. I am aware that some racing organizations outlaw valve stems.

[BorkRacing]

Dave,
To be honest tuning monvalve shocks isn't going to do a lot on a 1969 car. Pick a valving for the front and for the rear and go with it.

[DK540]

When I got started just a couple of years ago I didn't realize any of this and eventually had to make a rules matrix myself so I would know about the shocks, the cyl head, the tires, etc. Tricky for a newbie. But, when you write it all down on paper (for me anyway) you will see the common ground and settle into a class and a group/organization and it will all settle out and you'll pretty much follow that organization's rules and only make a change if you want to race with someone else, such as for the 50th races next year, or the F1 support race in Montreal, etc.

DK

[Dave Harmison]

Any chance you could summarize the shock part of that matrix?
I downloaded the Monoposto rules and they allow aluminum shocks but reading Beeler's 50th post it sounds like there may be classifications made on shock type. What organization is Beeler's 50th with?

I am having the steel Dunlop wheels powder coated right now and have an iron head so at this point it's about shock body selection and whether valve stems get anyone's shorts in a knot.
BTW: I have not put a full belly pan on the car. I see that as very unoriginal. I also recognize that that means the car is less safe. Is that going to be an issue? Monoposto says it's allowed but I don't think required.

[SEComposites]

It still blows my mind that Formula Ford can have so many regional and club regulation variations. Imagine if all FFs racing were to the same spec. That would make too much sense I suppose.

I made sure my Titan conformed to this HSCC rule set.

https://hscc.org.uk/wp-content/uploa...-Regs_2018.pdf

[Dave Harmison]

That's interesting. I never would have guessed they would outlaw monotubes. According to the Bilstein website, monotubes came out in 1954. I don't know when they would have been available on Formula Ford's.

[SEComposites]

I'm not sure these old cars are as sensitive to dampers as the newer pushrod cars. As has been mentioned before in other threads its more about driver than anything else (assuming a half decent set up). I've seen cars in the UK with Ohlins steel body dampers to meet these regs and I know Quantum will make HSCC legal steel body shocks too. But then the championship has been won recently on cheapo AVO units too.