Formula X expansion

[Purple Frog]

FX could develop int a small way for small classes to have their own "national championship".
For instance only 6 old Formula Dinosaur cars show up to the Runoffs.
Those six drivers could get together and buy a trophy, and at the end of the day declare a "national champion", even though it would not be "officially" recognized by SCCA.

[Daryl DeArman]

My hope is that performance targets will be eventually defined and that adjustments can then be made to attempt equalization between groups of close to equal performance,

Not an easy task but??

But then you get the constantly moving of the goal posts, the accompanying bickering/lobbying and politics that comes along with competition adjustments, the subjective process. Nobody's happy thinking the guy in the different widget in front of him has been gifted some kind of advantage.

[John LaRue]

But then you get the constantly moving of the goal posts, the accompanying bickering/lobbying and politics that comes along with competition adjustments, the subjective process. Nobody's happy thinking the guy in the different widget in front of him has been gifted some kind of advantage.

And this my friends is what you get when you use spec lines rather than a pure formula. There is a place for both formats, but with each comes compromise.

[rallaer]

I believe the "FC" cars that ran at Homestead and this weekend at Sebring had MZR engines, thus the FX designation. And maybe different gearboxes...

My son and I ran in FX with our zetec FCs. We wanted to test the new Hoosier tire and he needed seat time. We put a FX sticker on the wing. That was the only difference...

They ran in FX and FC at Homestead. BTW I spoke to a new FM driver at Homestead that was more than annoyed to be smoked by much faster FC cars. He was told when he bought the older FM car that it would be ‘competitive’ in the FX class. Not sure how this move by SCCA will rebuild the orphan classes.

The new FM driver should be very concerned about being competitive if he is running in a class with F2000 MZRs as well, since my zetec FC has been beaten many, many times by a MZR. Not sure why he didn't do research ahead of the purchase.

[dalz]

And this my friends is what you get when you use spec lines rather than a pure formula. There is a place for both formats, but with each comes compromise.

I don't think the line between the two genres is as clear-cut as you seem to imply. In FC are you allowed to break open a Zetec and tweak its performance to an inch of its life? "Spec" infiltrates all of racing in the name of cost and sanity, so melding both philosophies is part of the challenge, but not all of it by any means.

[John Nesbitt]

...

The new FM driver should be very concerned about being competitive if he is running in a class with F2000 MZRs as well, since my zetec FC has been beaten many, many times by a MZR. Not sure why he didn't do research ahead of the purchase.

This. ^^

That new FM driver should have read the FX rules, particularly the opening section. There is absolutely no guarantee that any particular class will dominate, or even be competitive.

As others have suggested, the way forward is for individual (sub-)classes in FX to award their own private national championships at the Runoffs. To borrow a phrase: "Trophy -- $10. Camaraderie -- Priceless."

[Jnovak]

Why isn't F1000 in there then?

I agree tom. Too easy a fit??
Stockish motors and appropriate weight!


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[sheltonracing]

My son and I ran in FX with our zetec FCs. We wanted to test the new Hoosier tire and he needed seat time. We put a FX sticker on the wing. That was the only difference...




The new FM driver should be very concerned about being competitive if he is running in a class with F2000 MZRs as well, since my zetec FC has been beaten many, many times by a MZR. Not sure why he didn't do research ahead of the purchase.

A big portion of my "research" was looking at the FX results at the 2020 Runoffs. 11 FM's and Bob Wright in his DP08. The purchase of the car was more about pure car counts rather than performance within the class. After not driving a Sports racer or Formula car for nearly 15 years, I knew the learning curve was gonna be steep but I was willing take that chance because the FX car counts were pretty low for the first year. Show up to three weekends, finish all the races and qualify for INDY. My original goal was to ATTEND Indy in September, that has been amended to include ATTEND and be COMPETITIVE. Now about that Competitive Part....

[Jnovak]

But then you get the constantly moving of the goal posts, the accompanying bickering/lobbying and politics that comes along with competition adjustments, the subjective process. Nobody's happy thinking the guy in the different widget in front of him has been gifted some kind of advantage.

Q

Do not make the performance decisions subjective. Make them as objective decisions and state that in the rules. I think that this makes more sense IMO! Now the above is simply assuming that FX is a single class but it could easiy be 2 or 3 performance based classes for example FX1 FX2 etc or FC FB ETC i think that 2 or maybe 3 classes would be tidy enough!

[Daryl DeArman]

Do not make the performance decisions subjective. Make them as objective decisions and state that in the rules.

They should be objective. It will just never happen. Way too much missing data so politics and personal opinions will factor in filling all the blanks to support whatever decisions are made.

[problemchild]

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