FORMULAVEE.ORG

Yeah, they come up fast, but look down course, and try not to look at the front tires, a killer for time. While walking the course, squat down and get a look at the course as it will be in the car, it makes a HUGE difference. Walk until you can run it from memory with your eyes closed, you won't see it clearly from the drivers seat, you have to trust your walk and memory.

If you ran it well, no DNF, and a good time (close to the fastest prepared cars to start with), your knees should be weak and your hands shaking ... adrenaline rush for sure. I won't go back to a full fendered car until my old bones won't bend into the vee. Get some 100LL Avgas, and have fun.

After watching that video it is going to be really hard not watching the front tires.

jaymzz wrote:After watching that video it is going to be really hard not watching the front tires.

That is what made me slow for the first dozen or more runs. Just have fun, but it is really different from a door slammer.

What?!!! We can see the front wheels?!!!! Maybe I'll try opening my eyes during a run.

jaymzz wrote:After watching that video it is going to be really hard not watching the front tires.

I never had that problem when making the transition to my Vee, except for on one of my early runs with the car when I felt a funky vibe in the steering wheel. I lifted off the throttle to throw away the run, and then noticed that the RF wheel was flopping around pretty badly. Long story short, I now check the king pin bolts after every event, because seeing a wheel looking like it's about to fall off is not something that I ever want to experience again.....

A bit too much front brake bias made for some interesting front wheel movements under hard braking too! That one was an easy fix. Sitting so low can really make it look like a 'sea of cones' coming at you. Just go for it and have a blast! Nothing will speed you up like seat time in your new Vee.

I have the trailer hooked up to the wife's WRX and taking it down tomorrow to do an alignment on it. I took the front wing off of it to be compliant with the rules, and so it would go on the trailer easier. Sure looks better without it. I will try to get some pictures sometime soon. And thanks to the pm's I received on my leaky sideplate on a fix it now is holding fluid again, so thank you for the supporting pm's. Trying to figure out how to do an alignment and sit in it at the same time. I think I might have to have the mechanic align it while I sit in it.

For alignment I bought play sand. It comes in 50 lb. bags, buy enough to exceed your weight. Use your bathroom scale to measure each bag until you total up enough, dumping the excess from one until you match your actual weight. Place the bags in the seat area. Then you can do your own alignment.

The sand is pretty cheap. And conveniently sits in a corner until the next time it is needed.
Dave

Well I have some good and bad news. The good news is I got some 13 inch wheels to fit today with 10 inch wide tires.

The bad news is I was out driving it trying to get the shifter to shift a little better and the bottom of the gas tank cracked out. I lost about one gallon of 110 octane fuel on the driveway. At least it happened at home and not at the autocross this weekend. A friend gave me a new fuel cell he had laying around last week and I was going to put it in in the next couple of months. But now it is a priority to get it in in the next month. I am relocating the fuel cell to the front and the battery to the back behind the seat I am going to make for it. Again it is going to be another major overhaul against the clock for next months race. But the gas tank and fuel lines are the only thing I haven't touched on the car. So after an entire new fuel system is put in it should be reliable.

I am pretty much a Nubee in this stuff, so I am sure I will be corrected if wrong. I would leave the battery up front. At least then the weight up front would be a constant. Understeer is one of the things I have had to learn to 'drive around.' Having a variable weight up front might make that more difficult.

My fuel cell is behind my seat, in front of the engine. A couple gallons either way does not impact handling characteristics at all. I may think these cars are too sensitive.... What say the folks with a few years experience?

Scott

The fuel cell should be as close to the car's center of gravity as possible. If the cell won't fit behind the seat, consider having an aluminum tank made that will fit. You don't need a cell for autocross. Or put the cell up front and fill it after every run. This will probably not please those nearby in grid or the Solo Safety Steward. There should be a designated refueling area equipped with at least a 10 lb fire extinguisher.

Please correct me if I am wrong in my thoughts on this. The reason I am thinking about putting it up front first off is I have room for the cell there. After getting the car to run right and the tires sticky enough to get good traction it pulls the front wheels off the ground every time I floor it or launch it. So I was thinking that if I added a little weight to the front it might help this and also make it handle a little better. I am new to this kind of car and not entirely sure what to do. I have run out of money with the slow economy to keep throwing money at the car and would like to try to use what I have. But I was also thinking that if I put the cell in front it would give me more room in the cockpit. I am 6'3" and the vee is a very tight fit for me. Without the original tank in it I can add a cushion of some kind and be a lot more comfortable and have more leg room. If you all think this is a horrible idea please let me know.

After thinking about it all night I took the tank out this morning. It has about an inch and a half crack in the seam. I am going to take it down to work and see if I can weld it up and put some of the white gas tank coater stuff I used to use on the inside of Harley tanks and see if I can seal it up that way. If I put the fuel cell up front I won't be able to use the nose cone anymore and will end up building a new body for it and I don't want to get that involved with it right now. I have another project that I would really like to get back on.

Putting the tank/cell ahead of the beam is very unsafe. While rare, it is not impossibe to hit something with the front of the car at an autocross. A local competitior shattered his ankle when he hit a post in his Lola T-252 based A Mod.

jaymzz wrote:If I put the fuel cell up front I won't be able to use the nose cone anymore and will end up building a new body for it and I don't want to get that involved with it right now.

My Vee came with a simple Briggs & Stratton gas tank attached to the inside of the frame rails next to the cockpit. If you're in a rush to fix it for an event tomorrow, I'd almost suggest taking a trip to Home Depot and buying a metal gallon can of paint stripper or something (for the can) and adding hose barbs for the fuel outlet and a vent.

In terms of weight and capacity, a Vee being driven purely in Solo events shouldn't need more than a 1-gallon tank. Full of fuel, that's around 10 pounds. Don't agonize over the perfect mounting location at the expense of running the car for the first time at an event, as it's not like you're talking about a hundred pounds of weight that you're trying to balance out.

I installed a JAZ junior dragster 1-gallon plastic fuel cell on my car, and you can stash one in several places on a Vee. They also make a smaller one that would strap to a rollbar with a big hose clamp, but I would suspect that you'd be filling it after every run on a longer course.....

Thank you for the ideas on different gas tanks. I will have to look at some different options. I didn't even think about looking into Jr dragster tanks.

After slowing down at work even more I decided to weld the tank back up. I did find a lot of different gas tanks that would work very well, but I can't afford them now. I pressure tested the tank up to 15psi. It started blowing up like a balloon so I stopped there. So far it didn't leak, so my thinking's are that if it can hold a positive 15lbs then I have no worries. It is vented so it doesn't crate much vacuum if any at all.

Update...I took it out and up and down the road a few times today hoping all is well for it for next weekend. It has 4 gallons of fuel in it without a drop on the floor, and seems to be running great. I traded some work for some tires for it that should last me a few events.
I have to say after doing the pre set up for the next autocross this morning I am really excited and a little worried about next weekend. It is a technical coarse, and I got on my knees to see the coarse as I would sitting in my vee....wow! A little embarrassed of getting lost on the coarse. That is a lot more cones than I am used to in the Evo. But it should go well. My friend is going to hopefully video it for me so I will post them up when I get some video of it. One week more to go before I can finally race the vee!!!

jaymzz wrote:...I traded some work for some tires for it that should last me a few events.

Solo Vee tires never wear out, they just get old and hard.

Has anybody ever corded a tire on a solo vee? I've never heard of it.

That would be very cool! I am used to my Evo which goes through a grip of tires.

Hoosiers will definitely heat cycle out and do so fairly quickly since we can't get them up to their operating temperature and keep them there. Yes, I know that sounds backwards, but it is true.

My first autocross was today. I really need to re learn how to race an autocross with the vee versus my Evo. I had a lot of fun and the car made it most of the day problem free. I believe that I had vapor lock and was not able to run my last three runs of the day. But I did get 7 runs in today and all of them were a blast. I had some minor tuning issues in the morning runs. But I worked them out in the afternoon until it got vapor lock or the fuel pump started going out. I learned about a bunch of stuff I need to change on the car to make it much better. One is I really need to figure out some kind of padding for the seat. I am very sore. I need to raise the steering wheel up and try to get a bigger wheel in there or get a gear reduction for the steering. I have bruises on both my legs from trying to turn and hitting my legs in the process. I didn't think the shifter was going to be as big of a problem as it was. I lost a lot of time by either not being able to shift or trying to find the right gear, so I didn't shift and stayed in second gear all day. In the video you will see that. So the shifter is going to be a top priority now instead of a deal with it. But all in all I had a blast!!! I can't wait for the next race and get even better. One thing though, once I got it running better I was having a hard time not spinning the rear wheels. Well enough of my chatter here is the videos. After watching them I have a lot of improvement to go.


This is me teaching the cones who's boss. lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UBwxMU3vSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SM_N-Gd-2E

Do you have the stock VW steering box? It's usually a simple job to adjust the steering ratio. Take a look at the steering rods, and find out how they attach to the steering box. Most formula vees have a pivot arm (attached to the steering box) that has multiple sets of holes where the two steering arms can attach. The farther from the steering box, the "faster" the steering.

Was the wheel too hard to turn, or do you want to steer without taking your hands off the wheel?

The ergonomics of a formula car are difficult to get right. You have to get it custom fit like a suit (except the tailor charges a lot more).

Is this little $17.95 gizmo legal in a Solo Vee?

http://www.chircoestore.com/catalog/pro ... ts_id=2684

FWIW, it took me three events to shift out of 2nd gear when I first made the transition from stock class into a Vee. Dialing in the shift linkage was definitely worth the effort.....

It's actually legal for road racing as well, since the pittman arm is free. However, you really don't want it. It may speed up your steering effort, but it corrects the ackerman angle for an off'centered mounting of the steering box. You do want to go ahead and cough up the $250 for the rack and pinion unit. It is much faster, easy to mount, and weighs about 25 pounds less than the stock unit with tie rods.