General Questions

[trigun7469]

I haven't yet bought a F500 I am considering buying one as my goal is to run in the Runoffs, when it comes to Mid-Ohio. I am a bigger gentleman at 6'2" 230lbs, I am built like a football player with broad shoulders and big legs.

The past 14 years has been a combination of mainly running karts Kt100, Clone, Rotax/Tag, and Briggs. Mixed with HPDE through NASA and a driver school or two.

So fundamentally it seems as the F500 would make more mechanical sense to me rather then going car racing.

I have a few questions, is F500 still a national class? Thoughts on a Rotax engine? I ran one in karting and like that it was sealed very reliable when compared to other tag/125cc engines, easy to work on, does that hold true in F500?

I live in Erie, Pa so the closes tracks that I would be interested in would be Pitt (beaverun), Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Nelson Ledges (if still open) does anybody run at those tracks?

I read the Faq page in the forum and it suggests to look at F500.org, but it does not look like it has been updated since 2006, so are there any good resources?

[Numbskull XIV]

Hello,

http://formula500.org/ is where the F500 drivers hangout now on the forums. With your 2-stroke knowledge a F500 should be a breeze to work on and maintain. Nothing fancy there. Certain chassis are made "bigger" than others. The only one I can remember off the top of my head is the red devil chassis. F500 is still a national class but some F500 drivers have moved to the F600 class (F500 but with a 600cc bike motor w/ sequential shifters). I'm from Allentown, PA and close tracks would also include the track in NJ, Summit Point, WV, and maybe VIR in Virginia.

Hope this helps,

Jon Updegrove
me_jeu@hotmail.com
610-509-7321

86 Red Devil F440 F-mod
97 Van Diemen FC

[Scootin159]

You'll want to be picky in buying a car to fit you, since you will have issues getting comfortable in the shoulders. I'm 5'10" 180# and built like a computer nerd, and was still tight in the shoulders in my last 3 F500's. That said - there are definitely cars out there big enough for you, and you only need to find one.

F500 is absolutely still a national class, and there hasn't been any talks of changing that anytime in the future. F600 is, and always has intended to be, an addition to - not a replacement. In the future one of the two may fall off if there's a performance mismatch, but the hopes are to avoid that happening by adjusting weights/restrictors of the F600 cars as needed.

The Rotax in the F500 isn't a sealed motor like how they are in the TaG kart world... they're more like how "Stock Honda" works - you have to start with a stock production motor (the Rotax 494 and 493 that we use come out of production SkiDoo snowmobiles), and then do the very limited set of modifications (basically carbs & exhaust). This makes them cheaper to maintain, since you can do it all yourself (using only OE parts, or a very limited and defined subset of aftermarket parts). The performance variance motor to motor doesn't seem to be too spectacular - really where people gain performance on the straights is in tuning the clutches.

Even still, the Rotax motor is very reliable and easy to maintain IMHO. The maintenance schedule isn't too dissimilar to what you'll see in the karting world - top end refreshes every so often (frequency depends on your budget), and bottom end rebuilds few and far between (although I'm sure those with the cash do one annually anyways). Other than that, just give it adequate gas and oil and it should be largely trouble-free.

F500 is pretty big in the northeast - I would be surprised to see an SCCA race at any of the tracks you mention with no F500's in the field. I know every time I go to the national race at the Glen there's nearly a dozen of them in the field.

I think F500.org is basically dead - I don't know who has control over that domain, but I haven't seen any activity on there in a LONG time. Everyone now hangs out at formula500.org - it's by far the most popular forum for F500 & F600 related stuff. There's also F500.us which is an offshoot by one or two very vocal members who are very opposed to the F600 changes in the class - to the point they got banned by formula 500.org and decided to take their ball and play on their own. Even still - it's worth checking out their forum for technical stuff, since they're very helpful and knowledgeable on Rotax related questions.

[RSR427]

I agree with Scootin on F500.us, very knowledgeable tech-wise. There's a new thread in the lounge started there from a guy in Michigan who just got an F500 and he's asking a buttload of good newb questions. I would check it out. I got mine last year and its an invaluable thread.


I'm 5' 7", and I am SNUG in my car. The gent I bought it from was roughly 6'2 / 220, and he says he was comfy in there... (I did pour a custom seat with extra padding which filled it out pretty well).

[jim murphy]

Go and start crewing for your nearby F500 drivers so that you can learn everything BEFORE you spend any money - both between races and at races. While at the races go around to the other drivers and learn about different makes of cars. Find the make car (Red Devil or Novakar, etc) whose owner is close to your size. See how you fit in his car - the car make with the fewest number of changes will be a good choice. This is because you fit the car to you (I am 6'3" 270) - you can move the pedals, the steering wheel* (up/down & forward/back to get the elbows bent when holding the wheel), the seat and the down bars can be moved up and out to clear your shoulders and your hands on the steering wheel. The only bars that cannot be moved in the cockpit are the forward roll bars supporting the steering wheel/instrument panel and the four upper & lower horizontal frame rails (very difficult). The rear main hoop can be raised, if you can not move the pedals far enough forward and the seat is as low as it can get but this requires an entirely new roll hoop from the frame rails up per the GCR.

Eventually, you will have done due diligence and will become an educated consumer.

Enjoy the best bang for the buck in SCCA.

* - the smallest diameter available

Jim
Been messing with these cars since 1982

[cory mcleod]

Just to clarify, there are 2 active F500 forums.

Formula500.org

F500.us.

Formula500.org has a broad scope about everything in the class. F500.us focuses more on the Rotax engines and CVT transmissions.

F500 is thriving and growing, so join the fun! There are good cars for sale, from regional/starter cars all the way up to potential Runoffs winners.

There is always a good showing at the Watkins Glen National/Majors. It's July 4 weekend this year, so come on out. You will find everyone in the class helpful and willing to spend time educating a newbie.

Two chassis with larger cockpits are the Novakar (all years) and 1997-2002/3 Red Devil. Other chassis have been/can be modified to fit larger drivers for not much $$.

Cory

[clint]

If youre a larger driver the red devil and the Nova car are the two option you may want to consider. If youre looking to buy new or if you could find one used, the scorpian chassis can be made to fit a larger driver also. The two options in the class for power plants are the two stroke with a CVT and the 600cc motorcycle motor with a 6 speed gearbox. Ive raced both for quite a while and both are fast. I currently race the motorcycle motor simply because the cvt was a bit of a pain for me to tune properly and consistently. Some guys find it easier than others to tune. Either way this class is most certainly the best bang for the buck! Our cars turn the same times or faster than the top FFs in the country.