Formula Ford Celebrates the 40th Anniversary in US in 2009

[Steve Maxwell]

Hey Mark,

How about you put the Van Dieman back together this month and come out for the 2008 season. It is shaping up to be the best FF grid in decades!

SEM

[gord leach]

hopefully on topic,curious as to pits/camping.
we would love to come (a long drive from canada) is it O.K for parking a 44foot enclosed/rig and camping in our own paddock spot?
when we travel we're self contained and like to camp at the track if possible.
hopefully i can drag along a Crossle 50F and a Lola 540 too

any input appreciated.

thanks gord
1973 Hawke DL11 F1600

[Michael Rand]

Yes, yes and yes.
Hello Gord, the answer is yes, to all the questions you posed.
The only issue you might have is deciding which paddock area you want, do you want to be with the Crossles, the Lolas or the Hawkes ?
Maybe we can arrange to park you in between the them somehow.
We intend to have marque paddocking, as much as possible, with a Van Diemen, Lola, Lotus, Crossle, Swift, Hawke, Piper, Zink, Merlyn, Reynard etc etc etc etc.
Looking forward to the event and a good size Canadian contingent.

[rick payne_75]

ope crossle and swift pits are close together. I will be bringing both.

[rick payne_75]

thats hope not ope. LOL

[EACIII]

Mike - don't forget to leave some paddock space for "Other".

Ed

[Garey Guzman]

I'm sure there will be people there with multiple cars - how are we going to decide where to pit? Will we have to pick a preference? I hope not, because then one of my kids will know I like the other one more!

[Michael Rand]

See guys, these are the kind of really significant issues that we have well over a year to sort out. Thankfully.
I guess no one will be required to park with like cars, we just thought it would be fun for all, though poor Eddie Callo [EAC] will feel lonely and unlved in a group of exactly one [1] Bowman.
Maybe an orphans paddock area, for cars like the Bowman, Erik Shepherds converted Tatuus 2 liter into 1600, and we all know there are lots more. Harvey Templetons torpedo, what is the designation ? Something to do with the legislation that created Social Security ? HR something, one of the historians on this site will come up with it. I know it is in Nickless's book, Steve WILL be there by the way, been emailing with him recently, but to lazy to find it right now.

[bryancohnracing]

I think HR7260 is the designation of Harvey's fine creation.

I saw it race many times over the years at MAR, the old St. Louis International and Memphis. His son was racing it in the mid 80's as I recall.

I, for one can't wait!

[Michael Rand]

Actually I ran against Harvey's son Handley Templeton in 1999 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, that thing was still a rocket in a straight line.......
See Bryan, you made me go look it up anyway !

[EACIII]

You know maybe an area for "One Offs" wouldn't be a bad idea. One place to check out all the unusual cars. Not that I need any stinking luvin, just a place to park with no damm trees around.

Ed

[Mike Milner]

Thanks for your efforts to promote this great idea .
I would like to make a suggestion ....To minimize confusion over car legalities and eligibility you may want to review the dates you stated in post # 1 of this thread regarding monoposto rules and car categories ..
Vintage is defined by monoposto as 1967 thru 1972 . ( pre 1973 ) Not 1974 .
Club would then be 1973 thru ??? . ( discuss chassis design )
Thanks again for your work in making this event happen .

[akilcoyne]

I hope Crossle and Swift pits are close together. I will be bringing both.

ditto, as in me too.

[Michael Rand]

No problem Andy, this is really not an issue, everyone can paddock where they prefer, as said previously we simply thought this might be a fun addition to the weekend.

Embarrassing admition: Mike Milner is correct, I have no idea how it happened but in the initial release the dates for Vintage say through 1974. That is incorrect, Monoposto is clearly through 1972 with continuation cars on application only. Our apologies for any confusion this may have caused. Our subsequent release regarding car eligibility does have the dates correct however.

[champ6077]

I'm excited about being a new member to your group and to be able to go and race at the 40th anniversary race, it'll be quite a trip but well worth it.

Mike Pinney
"former production car guy"

[Garey Guzman]

Mike,
I thought I saw something about tires but can't find it. What are the allowed tires for CF?

I think every Division has a hard tire rule for CF except MidDiv (open tires).

[Steve B]

Here's the language that will be written in to the FF40th supps re: Club Ford tires. If there other restricted performance CFF tires out there that Mike Rand and I don't know about, please let us know.

Steve Beeler, de facto EWC commissioner
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)416-8865 sbeeler@wowway.com
office: (313)441-4460 x1141 sbeeler@pmcorp.com


One of the following “hard” restricted performance tires must be used during all dry practice, qualifying, and race sessions: Hoosier R60 or R60CD compound slick, Goodyear 600 compound slick, American Racer 133 compound slick , Dunlop CR82 or CR84 9092 compound tread, and Sumitomo HTR-200 series tread. Any GCR legal tire may be used during wet practice, qualifying, and race sessions.

[Bill Bonow]

Steve,

The current manufactured CFF tire compound from Hoosier is the R60A. The rear tire construction changed very slightly (narrower and taller) much like the typical rear FF Hoosiers. We've been using them already this season and they are great tires, even better than the R60.

[Garey Guzman]

Thanks Steve. I knew I'd read it somewhere!

[Mike Jones]

The OCD Lola will be there!

[swiftdrivr]

I need info about the 40th bash at Road America.
1] What is the format? I've never seen the place, and don't want to tow twenty hours and get bumped in the first heat.
2]How do I get paddock space for the RV and trailer? Just show up, or will the paddock be assigned? Do I need or can I get reservations?
3] I have two small [5 lb] dogs. Is this a problem?
4]will there be a practice day Thur or Fri.?
5]Is there power for the RV AC? If the crew [ wife ] ain't cool, I can't stay. [It's in the prenuptual, I think.]
6]Do I need a national licence for the feature?

Suggestions:
1]Mix up the cars in the paddock. It will be more interesting than walking down a row of Swifts, or twenty Van Deimen 78s. Imagine a swift slotted between a Viking and a Tiga.
2]Have a supply of Steve Nickless's book 'Anatomy and Development of the FF race car' for sale.
3]Try to put together a DVD of vintage and modern FF race highlights for sale.

Thanks for the info.
Swift76

Karl's Rental works closely with Road America and they can have a full tent with what ever you need ready for you when you arrive.

http://www.karls.com/

MKE is one of the easiest airports to get in and out of.



Ian

[Michael Rand]

I just answered all of Swiftdrvr's questions on a private email but here they are again for all to see.

Question 1, with 4 miles of track Rd America can start 100 cars, it would be a nice problem to have if we have no-qualifiers but we don't expect that to be the case. There are sessions and races for Vintage Fords [the first generation cars accepted by Monoposto, often not GCR legal and with non-National SCCA licensed drivers], Club Fords, and then the feature race for any GCR legalk FF drivin by a Nationally licensed driver including the event organizers Steve Beeler and myself double dipping and running in CF and FF. So the potential for three 50-100 car races exists.

#2, At this point we are not intending to assign paddock parking, nor are we going to be paddock moseleys [nazi's] about where entrants park, but chaos and anarchy will be monitored and discouraged.

#3, To the best of our knowledge dogs are allowed as long as kept on a leash and cleaned up after.

#4, Milwaukee Region, the event administrators, are meeting with Rd America this coming weekend to establish the final format, likely to be a Thursday test day with pracice sessions on Friday, qualifying sessions on Saturday and races on Sunday for all FF classes.

#5, Don't count on being able to plug in, get the generator serviced beforehand.

#6, Yes, for the FF 40th Anniversary Feature race an SCCA National license is required as the feature event is in fact a CenDiv National points race. For the Club Ford race any license defined in the GCR is acceptable as long as the license holder is an SCCA member [insurance reg]. For the Vintage Ford race and VMC license is acceptable agaib with SCCA membership for the insurance.

Suggestion #1, since there is not assigned paddock the parking will be whatever it is, but several entrants had requested marque paddocking, strictly optional, if you want to park with all the other Tiga's, or Titan's, or Tuna's, feel free, otherwise park where you like.
Suggestion #2, Steve Nickless's fine book is long out of print and Steve has told me he does not own the reprint rights, so yeah, nice idea, but.....unless someone can get original publisher Motorbooks International to run a few hundred [unlikely I bet] then a non-starter.

Suggestion #3, GREAT idea, who has the time and resources to attack this project ? Any volunteers ? Swift76/Swiftdrvr maybe ?

Less than a year out......

[flat broke]

#6, Yes, for the FF 40th Anniversary Feature race an SCCA National license is required as the feature event is in fact a CenDiv National points race. For the Club Ford race any license defined in the GCR is acceptable as long as the license holder is an SCCA member [insurance reg]. For the Vintage Ford race and VMC license is acceptable agaib with SCCA membership for the insurance.



Less than a year out......

Hi Mike,
You know you can't keep us CASC licensed Canadians out that easily. How do we go about running CF or FF under the current requirements? Hoping to bring the Ferret and/or the Crossle down.

Tony

[Gary_T]

We're hoping to get a few cars from western Canada down (WCMA) - it's listed in the GCR as a recognized sanctioning body for Regionals.

I'm not 100% sure where my car ('83 Reynard) would fit, I'd assumed CF, but one post I noticed said '72-'81, which would put me in the FF national field.

Will I require a National SCCA licence (not very likely to get), or will my WCMA licence be good enough?

Thanks,
Gary

[Michael Rand]

Tony, and all the OFFC and Quebec FF1600 Tour gang, a CASC license is accepted, you just need to join SCCA, on a weekend temporary hopefully, but your license will work just fine. Bring the Ferret AND the Crossle, there will be numerous guys looking to rent a ride. And then you'd have a spare if needed, just tell the renter his race is dependant on your primary car being runable ! I am planning on bringing both the Crossle and the Van Diemen, insurance you might say.
So for the CF race no problem, for the FF race I think all drivers will need to be full SCCA members with a National ticket, but getting one with a CASC license is not hard. I hope.
We want all the Canadian FF1600 folks to join in, talked with Brian Graham and David Clubine about the event several times this year, all looks good.

[thewarehouse]

Michael,

What about my 1982 Z16 tweener? Are we going to be allowed to run in the CF group?

How about the "regional" drivers that are in even newer cars, say 88-92. What group are you going to put this car in if the driver is regional only!

I suspect a lot of people who are going to be getting cars ready at the last minute, and probably won't have time to run enough events for National status.

Jp

[Garey Guzman]

I would "assume" that if the 80 or 81 Zink Z-16 is legal, the '82 would be legal, assuming it still meets the basic rule for CF that at least one axle must have the spring/shock mechanism outboard.

Of course, the best thing would be to publish the CFF chassis and tire regulations so that everyone can be prepared for this spectacular event!

I think it's only 45 weeks away!

[Steve B]

The FF40th driver and car eligibility regulations have been out for awhile. Many thanks to Doug Carter and ApexSpeed for starting a new topic so that they can be easily found.

Steve Beeler, de facto EWC commissioner & FF40th co-chairman
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)416-8864 sbeeler@wowway.com
office: (313)441-4460 x1141 sbeeler@pmcorp.com

[Gary_T]

Sorta answering my own question here, but anyway...

Apparently I could be considered for an SCCA National Licence (required to run in the FF group) if I hold an ASN Canada 'A' Level licence. This is what ASN says about those:

Required for Formula 1, International Formula 3000

Championship, ChampCar Championship and the IRL
Indianapolis 500 race.
To qualify for an International A, the applicant must provide proof
that, within the 24 months prior to the application, he or she has
finished in the first five places in the general classification of 5
races for which the grade B licence is required or, in the current or
previous year, has finished in the first 5 of the final classification of
a championship for which the grade B licence is required.

Ah yes, so if I had an 'A' level ASN licence, I could either:

Race in Formula 1/IRL

AND/OR

Race in an SCCA national.

Yep, I'd say those two are pretty similar, wouldn't you agree?

Sorry for the bit of a thread hi-jack, just a little disappointed, I was REALLY looking forward to this.

Gary

[crossle27]

We have a group of 9+ drivers from the Seattle area that are interested in running this event, but one of our people recently contacted the track about this week-end and the news was not encouraging.
We were told it was indeed to be run in conjunction with a national/regional, and there may not be much track time for the special anniversary paticipants. We of course need to find suitable transport for all of these cars, but we are reluctant to spend the money required to do that if track time will indeed be limited.
We're a bit suprised that this special occasion does not warrant a week-end of it's own considering the huge number of cars that would turn out to such an event. Can the schedule be clarified anytime soon so we can either move ahead with our plans or scratch it off our schedules?

Wes

[Michael Rand]

The race track has no knowledge of the schedule for this event, who ever you spoke to was not speaking from a position of knowledge. In one respect they were correct, it is in conjunction with a National/RESTRICTED Regional, and all but the FF National IS the Restricted Regional, so any time scheduled for the Restricted Regionsl portion is in fact CF/VF/FF track time.
The schedule is being worked out by the organizing committee and the Milwaukee Region. It is a three [3] day event with a track operated Thursday test day.
Over the 4 days any entrant should expect at least 3.5 hours of track time between testing, practice, qualifying, warmups and races.
The expense of renting any significant track for a stand alone event makes it a non-starter, to say nothing of getting an available weekend, every decent road course is booked now for 2010, maybe even 2011, much less 2009.

[crossle27]

Thank you for the reply Michael, that helps us quite a bit in making our decisions. If that schedule comes to be, then over 3 hours of track time is great news, and should help attract a ton of cars.
We pay 11 grand a day presently at Pacific Raceways here in Seattle, so anything over 200 cars at maybe $300.00 entry fee would make a stand alone event like this very doable. We regularly have between 200 and 260 entries at our 3 annual ICSCC championship races, but of course hosting the FF festival out here would not work well because naturally those types of events need to be more centrally located.
In any event, I have never had the pleasure of running RA, and I am really looking forward to the experience.

Wes