Rants, Recipes and Ramblings

Old Video of my F500

Posted this old video from 2000 of my 1983 Red Devil.  It’s runs in the SCCA F5 (Formula 500) Open Wheel class.

Fun fast little cars.  They can be a real handful to drive quickly  Powered by a half-liter 2-Stroke snowmobile engine.  The clutches are set so that they do not even engage until 5,000 rpm.  Just to move the car is a hole shot.  Redline is about 8,600 rpm so they have a very narrow power-band.  Coming into a tight corner is a real dance with your left foot stabbing the brakes while your right foot keeps blipping the throttle to keep the RPM up in that power band to stay on the pipe.

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This chassis is no longer competitive in SCCA Competition (have to drive the wheels off it just to keep on the tail end of the modern cars.

Took first place in the Arizona Region Championship in 2001-2002 with the car and even took second place in the Southern Pacific Division National Championship with it.

Then I took a turn in a modern chassis car (KBS Mk5)  Wow what an eye opener.  Where I had to hustle my car through turns I was able to drift that KBS right at the edge of adhesion at will without breaking a sweat.  Time to move this basically unmolested car into one of the vintage organizations.  Can’t be too many of the cars of this vintage still running in the condition that this car is in.

Oh, in the video I am the only car on track. Yeah, it’s that loud.  I have a friend that lives about 100 yards away from me and if I fire the car up and run it down the street – away from his house) he can hear it.  I don’t do that to often.  Don’t need John Law dropping by for a visit.

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