Hello Folks,
I am an aspiring open wheel owner/driver for the 2009 season. I want to get into FB but there are some things that are making the decision tough. Your suggestions and advice would help out a lot at this point.
First, people in the know tell me an FB is too much car for a beginner like myself, considering I have no open wheel experience whatsoever. My only racing experience is hillclimbing and rallycross in 70's era specials (similar to DSR) or highly modified sedans. Neither are wheel-to-wheel racing, so I am concerned about a racing incident rendering me insolvent for the rest of the season.
Second, the question is of whether there is scope to develop as a driver in a class which does not see that much participation, atleast in the SE Michigan area where I hope to race. Don't get me wrong, I have not deluded myself into thinking I want to be an F1 driver someday, but some competition is good to have, if only to gauge whether you are making any progress at all with the car or yourself.
Due to financial constraints (I have less than $10k to spend as of this moment), the only option if I were to enter FB is to pick up a very old FF or FC and modify it. Fabrication etc. is not an issue but the question is will I be ultimately competitive with this kind of car against the $60k purpose-built cars, regardless of whether it takes 2 or 3 years to do this?
All of this is as opposed to simply buying an old FF or F500 and racing it as is. The FB draw, to me, is simply the fact that I can enter a class which is still in its infancy and grow along with it. The cheap engines (unlike FF) and real suspension (unlike F500) are other attractions to me.