F1000 wheel size poll

[Mike B]

In an effort to begin nailing down a possible rule package for Formula 1000, I'll be posting a series of polls to gauge public opinion.

Should wheel size in F1000 be the same as FC (6" and 8") or should larger wheels be allowed (8" and 10")?
Pro:
Allowing larger wheels would allow a car such as the Speads to compete (assuming everything else meets the regulations) and also allow conversions to upgrade to Zetec wheels. This might be needed if the engine rule is left open. HP could approach that of the Zetec, requiring the larger wheels. Smaller wheels could be sold to FC owners.
Con:
Larger wheels might become the standard, requiring everyone to trade up and buy new wheels. Might be a problem with suspension geometry on older cars.

[Purple Frog]

Why does a wheel size rule even need to be included? Leave it open.

[Jim Garry]

Why does a wheel size rule even need to be included? Leave it open.

Wasn't one of the goals of this class to keep costs reasonable?

[RobLav]

I ended up voting for the 8 and 10 combo, but I would have rather voted for none of the above. (Remember that Richard Pryor movie?) My general preference is to keep things open and let it evolve.

[Purple Frog]

What if a guy has 4 nice sets of small minilite wheels off his '60s Mini Cooper and wants to use them. To him it's cheaper to have open rules. Or what about the guy who wants to scare us all and put an R1 in an F500....

[Jim Nash]

When I ran a Super Vee you had to run 8s and 10s for the Pro series. The Pros guys at the time told me it would be better, when at a club event, to run the 6s and 8s at long tracks like BIR and Road America, and the wider tires at Blackhawk and the shorter tracks. Thinking I was real bright, I would rebuild 3 part wheels inbetween events (Considering the trouble it was, this was stupid.) and I have no idea if it did any good, but they were sure it was a no brainer.

If you leave it open, somebody is going to run different size tires for different tracks, and you are going to have the guys that get beat complaining about needing more sets of wheels.

Just my 2 cents, I’m not building a car.

Jim Nash.

[Mike B]

Yes, Jim G., one of the goals was reasonable cost. MY vision for F1000 is a restricted class, essentially FC with a 1000cc motorcycle engine. It's my belief that if everything is left open, it will become DSR with open wheels. That's what FS is for, knock yourselves out.
If that's the case, there will never be coherence and there will never be two cars similar enough to race against each other, let alone enough to be awarded a regional class. If the response is similar to polls asking about tunnels, engines, chassis construction, etc., I'm afraid F1000 will have been stillborn already.

Rob,
Right now, FS IS wide open, and F1000 IS an evolution of that wide-openness. If the choice is to leave things wide open, there's no reason to create another class. Personally, I don't want to be blown off the track by an Atlantic with a V-12, nor do I want to continually lap a FV with FF tires, but that's just me.

[RobLav]

Mike,

Your response is bit on the extreme side - the Atlantic with the V12... lol. I agree with having no tunnels, but I'd still like to see: the underbody free aft of the firewall, FC wings, allow aluminum monococque chassis, etc. But the primary issue will be engine configuration control. Since the goal is to minimize conversion cost / time, then basically, from the firewall forward should be FC rules. Since we need to alter aft of the firewall anyway, then I'd at least like to see free underbody / diffusor from that point aft. These cars are going to be faster going into corners. They should have a slight increase in downforce potential. And sure, I can live with the 6 and 8 wheel combo. At a minimum, allow free underbody aft of approx one foot aft of the firewall. (Did that make sense?) There is a structural issue here. Structurally, it makes sense to bend the rear floor / chassis up to meet the lower motorcycle engine mount, as I did on my Hayabusa.

So what's the next poll?

[Brad Ellingson]

RobLav,


His response about the Atlantic with a V-12 is not so extreme....check this link out...

http://www.race-cars.com/carsales/ra...02961018pp.htm

[RobLav]

Wow - cool... I don't think we want that in F1000.

Rob

[Mike B]

I'll wait until this poll finishes before I start another. We're still waiting for some of the blue states to vote...

Given that the discussion seems to always come back to underbody aero, it will probably center around tunnels, no tunnels, or a variation thereof.
This could possibly tie into the wheel discussion. If more agressive underbody designs are permitted (say, from the firewall back,) it's conceivable that cornering speeds could increase. Would this then warrant the larger wheels? So far, the voters have leaned toward current FC size. What are some of the reason for why people are voting the way they are?

[carnut169]

I voted for the larger wheels, but I'm not exactly sure why. They would be neat to use, but would require me to buy 3 sets (I have 3 1/2 sets of OZs) and the rubber would not only be harder to get (Hoosier stock that size on the truck if one delaminates?) but more expensive, I'd imagine.
I really like the option of running larger wheels... but don't really want to pay for them. Can the rule allow any combination from 6 to 10"? Run 6 & 8" in the rain or on the faster tracks, 8 & 10's on the tighter tracks? Is that just not specific enough?

[Mike B]

Sean,

Even though the voting is in favor of smaller wheels, I could see the rule reading something like:
Minimum 6" front, 8" rear; Maximum 8" front, 10" rear.

This gives the flexibility of keeping the sets you have while still allowing larger wheels if needed. On the surface, that seems agreeable enough, but am I missing something that would come back to haunt us later?

[RobLav]

Mike, Sean,

I'll buy that rule.

[Dave Belz]

Mike,
If there were such a conversion in my future (my wife has pointed out that I apparently cannot control my compulsive 'upgrades'), it would be for economic and reliability purposes. Therefore, I would like to keep my costs to a minimum. I already need at least a second set of wheels for the FC, I wouldn't want to spring for several more sets of larger wheels after converting to F1000. Besides, I doubt that the larger wheels would fit inside my trailer, which would lead to yet another upgrade (cool!).
Dave