what open wheel car should I buy?

24,000 RPM

If you want a Mygale or Tatuus F4 car and are having trouble buying one-let me know. I have connections with all of this companies and can get you one no issues.

 

So that F4 car is similar to a FF1600 with wings? LOVE IT!!

Having driven Formula Continental / FF2000, I can vouch that a 160HP F4 car would be plenty fast. The FF2000 was a 2.0 liter car, probably making slightly more power, but man did it fly. Not sure I'd have the cojones at my age to do that again!!

 

I just emailed them.

About the hassle you mentioned for track side support (something like a computer man to start the car), I kinda love it, call me a hypocrite but I thought it is pretty cool to have a team to even start the car for me! ALso, I think sooner or later i'll have a fun project of putting a judd/cosworth engine into a former f1 car. So the "hassle" will be a learning process.

 

By strange coincidence, I know of an ex-Indy car engineer that has lived in Beijing for the past 20 years. He's putting German engines in Chinese motorcycles these days.

 

I have never heard of any one in china even talking about Indys, nor have I heard anyone talking bout nascar

all I heard is wec, le mans, f1....

 

A good FF2000 car with a 2 liter motor actually produces less HP than the new F4 cars. Figure on 140-150 HP for the 2 liter FF2000 car.

 

Aren't oval raced Indy cars set up with offset suspensions, unsuitable for road courses??

 

CART has always run the same cars on ovals, and road courses. The setup differences for ovals are stiffer springs, smaller wings, different camber, toe, tire pressure, gear ratios, etc. But it's still the same chassis.

 

F1 and Indycars were very similar for many years. Compare this 87 March F1 to the 86 March Indycar.

F1-Sales.com - Leyton House March 1987 871


The 98 and up narrow track F1 cars don't look right to me. JMO.

 

I wouldn't buy an ex Indy or F1 car just to stoke your ego by tooling around "fast".
If you want to race then race.

You're in a different league than I was but tube frame Formula Mazda turned my crank.
Yes I looked down on them at first preferring the MUCH sexier F2000s but when the paycheck hit the pavement FM was leaps and bounds better. Glad I did. Idiots (I resemble that remark ) can set them up and they were bulletproof. No engine rebuilds needed to gain that last HP.
Remember you will be RACING against people who have honed their skills and know the tricks and the tracks. There are some that practice on new slicks every time the car goes out there (mind blowing to me). You can spend hours chasing your tail with a complex car's setup.
Prepare to be humiliated.
If you go complex be part of a "team" that rents out crew to you and others and is proficient in set up of THAT car.

If I had your coin the new Carbon fibre Formula Mazda at least cuts down on engine builds.

Have fun.

Oh and congratulations for going Formula car.

 

I envy you and if given the same option I would look for a Formula 5000 car. They are very simple, very repairable and very fast.

 

A 5 liter (5000) small block Chevy, mated to a chassis from another series. Primarily F1, and Indycars. Which later became the center-seat Can-Am series, by covering the fenders with bodywork.

It's interesting that the new Indycars (with all their new bodywork), are starting to resemble the old center-seat Can-Am cars.


This was an interesting race: F1 vs. F5000

http://counter-x.net/f1/questor/

 

About the current GP2 car, do I just buy from Dallara?

 

That 2006 Lola driven by Justin Wilson looks awesome. Throw in an 800hp Cosworth XFE and you're good to go!

 

I wonder if Cosworth still has those motors laying around the shop ?


http://www.cosworth.com/products/racing-engines/xf-series/

 

i have driven the following cars in china:
F4 china
Both Formula renaults (new and old)

i would mostly advise against getting a F4 in china because:
1. they cost double the price of f4 in other countries
(but you do get a season of racing for free)
2. they are built to a lower grade
(no paddle shift)

if you're just start off for the first time, i would recommend an old formula renault
(the ones without the paddle shift)
those cars are easier to drive and are much easier to maintain

from there, the new formula renault is better car in everyway:
but it will require more maintenence
will require a different driving technique (kind of)

but aside from all of that, if you're mainly tracking,
get a Radical!

racecar maintenance is annoying. even if you have a team working on your car, its still annoying when your car breaks in a high speed corner

those cars in SIC should be for sale. (quite cheap at that)

 

I didn't see a formula for sale in SIC , which team sells it?
I saw a few Formula Masters in track days organized by Unique Motorsports.
But they aren't for sale, those people would hardly talk to me

 

As you do not plan on racing the car then you can ignore the China F4 regs and costs. Buy a car direct from Mygale with paddle shift at proper cost. You cannot race it in F4 but as you have stated and what people seem to miss is you don't plan on racing the car.

 

as for spare parts, mygale would supply both body and engine parts as well, I assume, yes?
by the same token, does dallara sell gp2 cars directly?

 

I emailed him. He said engines are available at $40k. Not bad!

 

Not an open wheel, but worth serious consideration.

2004 Radical SR3 | Bring a Trailer

 

Mygale will sell any spares necessary that you need.

I am sure Dallara would also sell you a GP2 car.

One point I feel I must make. You have not mentioned what experience you have in driving a race car in a track scenario. I would be cautious about getting too powerful a car right off the bat. If you have no experience with a really powerful race car you may find the whole experience to be very difficult. Cars like a 700 hp Indycar are not a lot of fun to drive at slower speeds. The are not designed for that and do not behave well. I know-I use to design these cars. They need to be driven hard and fast to really work correctly.

Now most people can go fast in a straight line-but cannot really do justice to these cars under braking, cornering, etc.

If you want a "toy" that you can use as a fancy drag car-a car that has a lot of HP then go for an Indycar or GP2 car. But you will be incapable (very incapable) of driving one of those cars at speed. And as such you will ultimately be dissapointed-and probably injured in the process. (You will crash it a lot-you just do not have the experience to handle that much power going thru very peaky and difficult to manage tires.)

I now there is an allure to these cars. But do yourself a favor. Get a lower HP car to start with. I absolutely guarantee you that a 160 HP F4 car will be way beyond your driving skills for a long time-and maybe forever. But if you do master that car then buy a faster car-as you will appreciate it more and be able to drive it properly.

Remember where Senna started-110 Hp Formula Fords. And he stayed with those until he was better than the car-and only then did he race a more powerful car.

I know from what I speak. I have a FF2000 car with 145 Hp and 140 mph top end. And I go faster in that car around tracks like Road Atlanta than any Ferrari or Lambo. And I also have a Norma Sports Racer, 250 Hp, 2-3 g's cornering, etc. 165 MPH top end. And that car is still way faster than I am. But I go around Road Atlanta in the low 20's-whichis faster than most all Can AM cars do that track.

 

What he said.

This is anecdotal, but I was at a Ferrari meet held at Mt. Tremblant in 2005 and part of the event were the client F1 cars. (The FXXs were there too, but I have never understood the logic behind those cars.) One guy came around the hairpin and then lightly goosed it on the exit as the car crested a really small, maybe 6" rise, he ended up in the weeds, with the whole front nose scattered in pieces. Frankly, I doubt he was doing much over 50 at the time.

Plus, not to be a killjoy, but are you sure you want to do open wheel? May I suggest you spend some time on You Tube. It shouldn't take long to find cars being launched into space. Even the Formula Vee cars start acting like superman.

 

THank you for the advice. I was aware of the car-too-powerful-to-handle issue.

I am not quite sure how to describe my skills. But here's a hard data. On the same car, same weather, same tire, same day, same everything, a pro driver had a lap time of 2:20 and I was 2:38. The pro driver placed #4 on a chinese national stock car racing last year. The track is 5.5km. the track has 14 turns as I remember, so that is about 1.3 seconds per turn slower than the pro.

both of us didn't push it very hard.

I am more and more leaning toward a Formula renault 2.0 now.

 

appreciate the input, that happened to me as well a few months ago, although at a greater speed at a faster corner. Quick frankly, about 1 year ago, when I started tracking, I made a lot of mistakes on the track. Braking too late, snap oversteering, and had 2 collisions, 1 with another car, 1 onto the wall. I believe I am now much better.

Do you mean I should spend time on youtube to learn how people make mistakes?