New(er) cars from Australia

[Bill Bonow]

Got some photos of two cars. The first has been on track for a couple years and wildly successful. The Checkmate.

The other is brandy new and will make its debut shortly in New South Wales, The Rayzor.

FV 1600 (what we call FST) has been extremely successful in Australia. The average championship meeting (equivalent to an SCCA National) typically has 40 cars (see final photo)

[Rayzor]

Bill
That 21 car really looks the business. I wonder who the genius behind it is?
Ray

[gbmetcalf]

In Australia do you guys have to run the cooling fan and how do you keep the belts from slipping at high RPM? What size Tires and wheels do you run?

G.

[Rayzor]

G.
We must run the cooling fan, and we actually run the belt slightly loose so that it does slip - splippage occurs on throttle hit and back off - but the friction catches the impeller up with the main crankshaft pulley in short time.
Wheels are 15inch diameter with a maximum of 6inch width.
Tyres (sorry - Tires) must be Dunlop CR82 as also used by Formula Vee in the UK and Ireland.
Ray

[Hardingfv32]

Does the fan move enough air to cool at max speed?

Does the cooling system require a proper intake duct?

Any trouble keeping the belt in place?

Brian

[Rayzor]

Brian
Its very rare for a fan belt to detach on any car in any race. We rev up to around 6000rpm on occasion (most gear changes are around 5000 rpm). When a fan belt does detach (I have never experienced this), I am told that there is an instant extra kick out of corners.
Some cars have problems operating at below 100C (some cars run up to 120C) on days around 30C - but this is, in my opinion, more due to the location of the oil cooler in a dead hot air spot under the engine cover, body shape, and air intakes, than loose belts.
We are now allowed to run a duct direct off the fan casing intake, (this is optional) and some people are now doing this, with air from outside the car now directly entering the fan intake. Not everyone is doing this, nor everyone needs to.
However, the typical Formula Vee, with its low pressure engine cover open underneath to the engine hot air discharge, suffers hot air recirculation into the intake to varying degrees.
Ray

[Rayzor]

While on the subject of newer Australian cars, here is another new Aussie car called a Sabre 02.
This particular car is driven by Daniel Reynolds, and he is currently leading the New South Wales State Championship, and is also in second place in the National Series (another Sabre 02 is leading the national Series.
The Sabre 02 has been on race tracks for about one year.
Ray

[Rayzor]

Sorry for getting carried away, but why not show a great picture of the best looking car in Australia, Darren Williams' Jacer. This model of Jacer has been around for nearly six years, but it still looks fabulous. Even better with Darren's great scheme.

[gbmetcalf]

Ray:
Don't apologize post as many as you want. The cars look great!

G.

[Hardingfv32]

On the Sabre 02, what is going on with the rear control arm and push rod? It seems to be attached very low at the axle. What would be the benefit of this?

Thanks for the previous answers.

Brian

[Rayzor]

Brian
The Sabre 02 rear pushrods pick up at the bottom from the standard VW lower damper mount - in the US you can chop out your damper "horn" off the axle boss. The Sabre 02 pushrod rod end is sandwiched between the axle boss lower damper mount and the rear leading arm lower tube (the leading arm comprises a top tube - which bolts up at the axle - you can't see it because it is hidden by the axle tube - and a lower tube, much like Bill Bonow's Evo trailing arm). The vertical rockers and mono-shock are mounted behind the diff centre.
Ray
PS Off topic, but I hope you all like this shot of an ex-Alboreto Ferrari 156/85 F1 I took at a local Historic meeting yesterday.

[Rayzor]

Here are a couple of other recent Aussie cars, maybe not so new though.
The first one is Leigh Hemming's Polar, and the second is the Mako 3 driven by Simon Pace. Of course we have to mention the Stinger (last picture), this one driven by Dylan Thomas.
Ray

[Rayzor]

I forgot one of the more recent new Aussie Formula Vees - the Corsica, which was engineered and built by former Formula Vee National Champion, Gary Ogden, his brother, Dad, and his friend Daniel Kleinig.
Gary is a member of the factory Mako team (see Simon Pace's Mako above), having been a Mako driver all his Formula Vee career, but he and Daniel (son of Mako builder, Frank Kleinig), decided to resurrect their idea of what a Mako should have been in place of the current Mako 3.
The Corsica features an interesting rear pullrod and rocker set up, with coilovers located longitudinally beneath each head with their fixed mounts against the firewall.
Simon is not slow in his Mako 3, being a regular top ten driver, so the Corsica better be faster. It certainly has become competitive in its last races with Gary driving.
The name Corsica comes from a combination of the names of Gary's kids, Corey and Jessica.

[jsteeb]

These cars are awesome!

[Rayzor]

Thanks. I think so too.
We have a great Formula Vee scene down here, with around 100 cars racing during the year in all six Australian states. There is a State Championship in each state, and there is a three round National Series. The highlight each year though is a National Titles weekend, which rotates to a different state each year. This year the National Titles are in Perth (the most isolated city in the world) in Western Australia. Around 45 cars should make the trip (5000km each way for some).

[Rayzor]

If you don't mind me broadening Bill's topic to cover not so newer cars from Australia, here are a few more New South Wales Formula Vees.
The first is Morgan Freemantle in his trusty ASTEC, the second is Michael Cluderay in his Jabiru, then Mat Pearce in his orange Mk 3 Jacer (similar to Darren Williams' above), and finally Garry Hook in his Mk 2 Jacer (a rare picture, because it is actually running).

[gwizdek25]

I'm curious, what is the reason for using treaded tires? Longer useful life?

Mike

[Rayzor]

The main reason is - no wets!
We only carry around what's on the car plus a spare. Four or five wheels in total. Not ten wheels (dry on the car plus wets and spares in the trailer.)
We have always run treaded tyres - 46 years now in Australia - but occasionally someone throws up the slick tyre suggestion. It would mean almost everyone replacing their trailers to fit the extra wet/dry wheels.

[jsteeb]

That's awesome! I didn't know you guys could use the same tire for the wet! Man...I am racing in the wrong country!!!

Over here, we can't even get a group of guys - the majority of which complain about the cost of tires to be competitive, to all agree to use a spec slick tire (not FST, but certainly in many of the other classes). Go figure The lame part is the number 1 argument always appears to be... Well, racing's expensive, so suck it up cupcake.

*sigh*

[Rayzor]

Jason
Things may sound great in theory, but you need to look at your whole situation.
Our tyres (sorry, tires) cost us around AUS $1150 per set. Our top competitors use two to four sets per year. Our midfield runners should use two sets per year.
So an average tyre cost is around AUS$2300 per year.
AUS$2300 is currently around US$2500.
I would imagine that you guys selected Hoosiers on cost grounds. If they are relatively much less costly, say less than half, than our Dunlops, then you may still be ahead by running slicks and wets.
Three years ago, our AUS $2300 would have been US$1500. Back then, things may have been different, and buying Dunlops would have put you way ahead (ignoring the different wheel diameter for arguments sake.
Incidentally, I had problems with setting up my Evolution when it shipped over - because it was designed for 13 inch wheels, and we operate 15 inch wheels, I had to lower it all round not to have ridiculous ride height. This placed too much camber on the rear, which took lots of balancing of rocker angles and pushrod lengths to get good grip all through a corner without snapping half way, and also not look silly.
After tuning the rear, the Evo looked like a speedboat with its nose up, but it turned in (and still does) like it had infinite front grip. I have since had to grind out the ride height adjuster slot to lower it, and it now looks like an Aussiefied Formula First.
Attached is a close up photo of our current Dunlop tyres - this is the famous David Cutts Spectre, superbly rebuilt to its original 1980's spec by David - one of Australia's greatest ever Formula Vee drivers (behind the rear wheel), and with his twice National Championship winning brother, Jason, behind the steeringwheel.
Also attached is a photo of my Evo 1 on its first test day at Oran Park. This track was demolished in late 2009.
Ray

[Bill Bonow]

I would imagine that you guys selected Hoosiers on cost grounds. If they are relatively much less costly, say less than half, than our Dunlops, then you may still be ahead by running slicks and wets.

Ray,

Yes, we selected Hoosier for cost and much more. Bruce Foss/Hoosier has been a supporter of our Formula First cause from day one. They also have been an integral part of our series, even becoming our series title sponsor. The Hoosier contingency award program is second to none. On top of that, we are paying $578.00 for a set of Hoosier R60A slicks that get 25 heat cycles (in many cases, one racing season).

Yes, we are all very happy with our Hoosiers (I think you'd call them tyres)

P.S. Always good to see the Evo LM-1, Thanks for all the photos!

[Rayzor]

G'day Billy.
We are fortunate in also having the support of our tyre distributor, Gary Harrison of Gary's Motorsport Tyres. A long time Formula Vee supporter, our association is much better off thanks to Gary.
That's Gary in the charming photo below looking down the Wakefield Park main straight (yes, he is bald as).
Ray

[Rayzor]

I was just looking back at this thread, and noticed that the very first picture of the Checkmate doesn't do it justice at all, seeing it has won two National Titles and two (or is it three) National Series. So I have attached another picture I took of it a couple of years ago.