New FB Chassis coming soon

[ghickman]

Hi Everyone
Though I'd take a moment and introduce myself to all the FB community. I'm a long time SCCA member going back to the late 70's. Raced FV, FF, FSV, FA up until the late 80's. Earlier this year I decided to get back into open wheel racing. Called my long time friend Ray Germaine in Phx to get caught up on what has happened in the last 17 years that I've been out of the sport.

After finding out from Ray that FF wasn't what it used to be back in the 80's and how things have really changed I asked him if he knew much about this new FB class. He said he wasn't to familiar with the class so I did a bunch of research and decided to build my own chassis.

I own a fairly large machine shop in San Diego and have about 25 years of cnc machining and fabrication experience. I teamed up with my long time crew chief / chassis engineer Tony Moore. Tony and I started out doing all the Solidworks modeling back in early June with the hopes of making the ARRC this year. The car has about 60 days of work left before we can begin testing.

This week the chassis will come off the frame fixture for final welding in the places we can't get too on the fixture. I'll snap some pics. of it with all the suspension on it and post them hopefully before we fly out to Atlanta.

I'll make a point to go around and visit will all the FB builders who's posts I have been reading for the last 6 months.

Stay tuned for a bunch of pics and good luck to all at ARRC.

Gary Hickman

[Wright D]

Do you have any solid works screen shots of your car that you would be willing to share? We would all love to see....




Dustin Wright

[carnut169]

Welcome!

[RussMcB]

Welcome, Gary!

We plan to have name tags for F1000 folks at the ARRC, probably available at the Friday night party. Please grab one. We look forward to meeting you.

Racing's still as good as it was it the 80's. There are fewer big hair bands and no more disco.

[Matt Conrad]

Gary's actually already involved with FB.....he's machined a few of the parts for our F1K.07 production cars.

Look forward to seeing the new car and racing with you in the future...

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Tony Moore]

Hello to all. My name is Tony Moore. Gary Hickman and I flew in from San Diego for the ARRC weekend. A pleasure to meet and talk to most of you at the ARRC race.

Here are several pictures of our chassis and shop. It shall be on the track in 60 days. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Gary or myself. It is GSXR powered. We will have bolt in motor mounts to allow various years and makes to be used.

I also wish to say there was great wheel to wheel racing and fantastic BBQ! Thanks to everyone.

Tony Moore
Chassis Engineer

[ghickman]

Chassis Specs:
100" Wheelbase
62" Front Track
59" Rear Track
Elevated Keel front w/roll center at ground level @ static ride height

Solidworks says 725lbs.....

Special thanks to Doug at Fast Forward for his help getting all the internals plugged into our uprights. Also thanks to Lee Williams for lending the "DUMMY DIFF" for fab. mockup. Can't wait to see how well Lee's diff. works. Additional thanks to Billy Wight for taking on the task of the FEA and PE sign off on the "ALTERNATE" hoop bracing.

Gary Hickman

[iamuwere]

What about cockpit/driver size? Any hints to outside shape?

[Brandon Dixon]

I am excited to see more cars coming to this class! There is an amazing number of different cars and designs being constructed all over the country.

I have a question regarding your fron roll hoop. Maybe the steering wheel is not in final position or it's something about the angle of the photo, but it looks like the top of the steering wheel is above your front roll hoop. The GCR just says that the front hoop has to be no lower than the top of the steering wheel, and there has been some debate as to what the top of the steering wheel means if you have a non circular or cutout wheel. Seems to me like a good idea to have the front hoop above the steering wheel no matter which way the wheel is turned.

Nice shop btw.

Brandon Dixon

[Ian Lenhart]

I have a question regarding your fron roll hoop. Maybe the steering wheel is not in final position or it's something about the angle of the photo, but it looks like the top of the steering wheel is above your front roll hoop. The GCR just says that the front hoop has to be no lower than the top of the steering wheel, and there has been some debate as to what the top of the steering wheel means if you have a non circular or cutout wheel. Seems to me like a good idea to have the front hoop above the steering wheel no matter which way the wheel is turned.
Brandon Dixon

I had the same thought. Your rear hoop is also in question. Study the GCR. Nice work.

Ian

[Tony Moore]

What about cockpit/driver size? Any hints to outside shape?

Gary is 6'1" and there is room to spare. I expect 6'3" or so would sit comfortably. Like most formula cars, fit is comfortably snug.

Outside shape, stay tuned!

Tony Moore

[Tony Moore]

I am excited to see more cars coming to this class! There is an amazing number of different cars and designs being constructed all over the country.

I have a question regarding your fron roll hoop. Maybe the steering wheel is not in final position or it's something about the angle of the photo, but it looks like the top of the steering wheel is above your front roll hoop. The GCR just says that the front hoop has to be no lower than the top of the steering wheel, and there has been some debate as to what the top of the steering wheel means if you have a non circular or cutout wheel. Seems to me like a good idea to have the front hoop above the steering wheel no matter which way the wheel is turned.

Nice shop btw.

Brandon Dixon

Part of the illusion is the angle of the photo. I agree it is a good idea to have the wheel lower than the hoop in any case.

Thanks for the compliment on the shop. Did you spot the mini sprint in the back?

Tony Moore

[Tony Moore]

I had the same thought. Your rear hoop is also in question. Study the GCR. Nice work.

Ian

Thanks for the compliment Ian. The rear hoop is getting an FEA and we expect it will exceed the GCR minimum G loads by a significant margin. Good srutineering on your part.

Tony Moore