Wheel cover ban

[satterley_sr]

Stephen,

How can you assure me? Did you design them? Spec them, make them?

[Speedsport]

Stephen,

How can you assure me? Did you design them? Spec them, make them?

Dave,

I can assure you they do not extend past the centerline of the front beam. That is the reason for the flat on the front.

I have made a few comments regarding these on the thread at Apexspeed.com

Thanks,

Michael Varacins

[satterley_sr]

Michael,

Let me add my congrats on a great race, your prep and your driving are fantastic. Re the spats: to me it's a stretch to call them bodywork when they are not attached to the body and even if they are deemed to meet the letter of the rules and don't think they meet the intent of the rule.

Dave

[qposner]

Stevan,

Looking at the pictures, it looks like the front of the covers is beyond the front of the axle beam. But it hard to say.

Dave

Pics? What pics? Im still looking for them.

[FV80]

...Pics? What pics? Im still looking for them.

Quin - you apparently missed it back on page TWO .

See them here
http://wedgeracing.com/2012/wheel_pants.html

Steve, FV80

[SR Racing]

Michael,
Re the spats: to me it's a stretch to call them bodywork when they are not attached to the body and even if they are deemed to meet the letter of the rules and don't think they meet the intent of the rule.

Dave,
I agree with the "spirit" thing in this case. But spirit means nothing without interpretation by the rules makers/enforcers. From what we can gather, Mike in good conscious, had tech give him an opinion. In the past 15 years at least twice, they were protested and deemed legal. What else could Mike do? If he had been told by tech they were illegal or not clarified, I am sure he wouldn't have run them. Also, as pointed out here the "spirit" has been pushed many times and we are now where we are. If the body feels these pants are illegal, a clarification of the rules will have to be written and submitted.

If we look at dozens of Vee items, we would have hundreds of differing opinions on if they meet the "spirit". I bet a $7000 engine doesn't meet the spirit or even $85 offset bushings or $80 mil spec Apex joints, but here we are.

[qposner]

...Pics? What pics? Im still looking for them.

Quin - you apparently missed it back on page TWO .

See them here
http://wedgeracing.com/2012/wheel_pants.html

Steve, FV80

THanks, Steve. You're right, I did miss the link. I even looked before posting!

Also, the pics are broken in Chrome on my Mac.

[satterley_sr]

Jim,

Sure but is this what we want for the future direction of F Vee? There seems to be a very elite of front runners who have something the rest of us only aspire to. I think even if I bought a $7000 engine I would still not have the horsepower of the top few. True I don't have the driving skill of them but when someone can spin at the bottom of turn 5 and catch the "rest of us" at at turn 8 there is something different. I'm sure the spats won't make any difference to a driver like me but it's just more added expense we don't need. Afterall the purpose of the class is to emphasize driver skills at low (lower) cost.

Dave

[SR Racing]

Jim,
Sure but is this what we want for the future direction of F Vee?

No arguement with you, Dave. I am only defending MV for doing what was completely legal. Just like Brian, he found a legal method of improving his ride. Now it is up to the body to decide if it should be made illegal in the future. If it were up to me, I would say it is NOT in the best interest of the class and make them against the rules. But that is up to you guys and the board. Do it soon, or we will be impacting the plans and pocketbooks for a bunch of drivers. Lets see how many letters they get.

In regards to the future of FV, I think there are far more things that are impacting its future than the pants.

[hardingfv32-1]

As I posted on Apex in response to non-FV competitor's perplexition over the response to this subject:

"It would seem that the 'principles' or 'philosophies' of FV are a little vague. Someone observing from outside the very 'friendly' FV community might view the subject as a political method of manipulating the competitive landscape. There current approach of dealing with the competition at the FV National level is to change the rules. This is the 'politically correct' method of the current FV majority."

Brian

[problemchild]

It really should not be necassary to have FA racers discussing this on Apexspeed. Another positive contribution to the FV class

[halifax]

Great post, John P.

Gents, As someone who just finished his 4th year in the class, let me say that economics has to be the main consideration in any rules change. In 2011, we ran the full season and it cost us about $15k. That's a lot of money to us and we're not living in a double wide. To think that I will spend $150k in ten years of racing ...wow, that's bigger than our mortgage. In 2012, we got tangled in a crash, upgraded the shocks to what most of the other drivers are using, and had the short box rebuilt. Ended up driving only a few races because all of it - especially the crash - just stung the pocketbook too much. At a time when I finally feel comfortable racing full out. The cost of racing has got to stabilize or come down or else we're out and I'll go back to racing my little 420 sailboat to TRY to satisfy my competition addiction (and I will cry every FV race weekend). I'm scheming ... learning more about how to maintain my car ... fewer new tires ... skipping test and tune days ... but I'm not sure it will be enough if I have to constantly upgrade. I have a car that's 45 pounds overweight (I've already lost 8 pounds this year to try to attenuate that problem a bit ... am working on sawing off a limb for next year) and it has a dyno graph that Dave said is evidence that my car could tow the space shuttle but has the top end of a Yugo (I get creamed in the straights, it's fugly). Not sure how much of my retirement I can spend to fix the issues I already own, let alone having to buy new brake systems and fairings. Simple is beautiful. Let's keep it that way.

Just my $0.02.
Harry

[butchdeer]

I have been involved in FV racing for 49 years and club racing a few years longer. I too would like to cut the costs. However FV is one of the lowest cost places to race. the biggest costs are uncontroable. Entry fees,travel,and a host of other things not associated with your race car are going to be 50% or more of your budget. I'm sure you could buy some wheel covers for $1,200.00 but I don,t think that gets you to the front. Al Varicins is a self procliamed scrounger and I can,t see him spending that much money on wheel covers. What I see is two smart and dedicated guys( Mike and Al) putting in time no one in vee can afford to pay for because they are dedicated to be the best. I also helps alot that Mike is a very talented driver. Puttingf all the pieces together is not just a funtion of money, it takes a big commitment. I don,t see any way to write lack of commitment into the rules so those with less commitment can compete.
Butch

[Matt King]

I don,t see any way to write lack of commitment into the rules so those with less commitment can compete.

Good post, Butch. And congrats on keeping your participcation streak going. Six decades and counting, that is just epic!