Howdy,
I was checking out the F500 stuff as a comprimise between a shifter kart
and more expensive formula cars and had some questions that I hoped
someone here could either answer or point me in the right direction.
How much power do the F500 cars have? How much weight?
How critical is driver weight to competitiveness in autox and roadracing?
What're the differences between newer and older cars? I've seen a lot of
stuff saying you can get a car for regionals for $5k or less. Apparently
those cars aren't competitive at a national level, but what are the
differences and how much will they matter to someone new to F500 driving?
If I plan on using the car for roadracing and solo, is there anything I
need to know about? Particularly I'm interested if a 'regioanl'
roadracing car would be competitive in F-Mod nationally since I could
afford to be serious about autox but probably not roadracing.. :-) Also
I'd like to have to make minimal changes to teh car when transitioning
between autox and roadracing.
Are the 440 Kawasaki, 500 Rotax, and 500 AWM(?) pretty much all
competitive with each other? I've seen stuff that implies that the SCCA
fairly heavily regulates the motors, but... ?
In terms of safety, are there better cars / periods to buy from?
I saw something that indicated that tires cost around $500/set and last 6
race weekends roadracing. True? How about autox tire consumption?
How much does it cost to completely rebuild an engine? How often does
that need to happen? How much for top ends and how often does that need
to happen? I'd be doing the work myself, assuming I don't have to have
some $1k tool. Any other necessary maintainence?
Anything else I should know? I'm gonna be running my neon this season
while I pay off old mc racing debt and then I'm looking for something that
will let me keep autoxing competitively, as well as some roadracing,
without causing me to go broke. I want some type of race only vehicle
thats fairly easy to work on. I want something with a suspension and
bigger than a kart. Is F500 the answer?
Thanks!
Mark
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