TXE36

So, at the Chin even last weekend, I cracked the front brake rotors on the M3. A generous friend of mine let my drive his SRF. That thing is a ridiculously fun overgrown go-cart. Don't have any video, but running that car around COTA made me feel like this:


No power, but so nimble and so raw. Didn't have a face shield, so I wore safety glasses. One surprise, at high speed the air wants to lift your helmet off. No power anything, no abs, no traction control, dinkly little tires and brakes.

Best seat in the house up close and personal views of Lambos, Ferraris, and other high end hardware that showed up. Race tires let off *a lot* of rubber dust. At the end of a session I looked like a raccoon. If I dared smile, I'd have rubber bits in my teeth.

Straights, of course, a letdown, but in the esses between T2 and T10, almost nothing there was faster as it could be driven through there flat out. I'll never forget the look of a 911 wallowing through T4-T5-T6 in the rear view mirror in a desperate attempt to keep up. The esses were so fast it felt like a video game as the apexes went by at an astonishing rate. The F1 cars doing this has got to feel insane.

If you ever get a chance to drive one do it. It makes a Miata feel like a porker.

And Rich, thanks and . Saved my Sunday man!

-Mike

gbuff

There's one that runs regularly with us at WGI; biggest problem with them is that if you're in a "normal" car they can be really tough to pick up in your mirrors, and yes, with their pace they will be behind you ALOT until you point them by!

Gary

ajcjr

What generation 2 or 3?

Unfortunately due to some reasons mine is for sale but they are a ton of fun.

TXE36

It was just a lowly Gen 2. Gen 3 is what 30 more horsepower and 100lbs lighter? 30 horsepower may not sound like much, but is is like a 30% increase.

I also get a kick out of the trailer - it's less substantial than a small boat trailer and the guy pulled it with his Jeep and got 18 MPG towing .

-Mike

rlm328

Agreed they need to fly one of those dune buggy flags so you can see them.

ajcjr

yes the best part is the weight comes of the rear. Did you use the new hoosiers? Those tires are amazing.

ajcjr

yeah when we race here in the northeast they put us in w E F and some slower production cars, i come up to them waiving my hand so they see something. The gen 3 really catches them fast.

TXE36

Yep, it had the Ho-hos. One other thing I learned is visibility straight back is pretty poor. If one does catch one of these SRFs in a DE environment, it is best to offset yourself to one side or the other to give the SRF driver a better shot to see you.

And the waving, ha ha! I caught a P-Car multiple times before getting the point. Each time it was like, "yes, I'm still here". I've always enjoyed running down more expensive hardware with the M3 - the SRF is even better. The SRF also trail brakes as good or better than the M3.

-Mike

Coochas

Welcome to open cockpit! Caution: extremely addictive.

pdxjim

That WOULD be interesting without a full face shield. GEN3 you would really like!!

skl

Raced the Renault version MANY years ago and the first SRF for a few years. Rugged and fun, and always someone to race!
One year at Road America in the mid '90's at the June Sprints there were over a 100 of us in the group! I was midpack and just going thru 14 when the leaders got the green!

Main downside of the first gen Ford was the sound- they almost made the current F1 cars sound good. New one is a big improvement!

fishing

Gotta love the raw and lightweight cars. Agree about the visibility issue. It would be great to see more people in these cars to convince DE organizers to have a light weight/open wheel/open cockpit run group.

ajcjr

when we are all lined up with 3 or 4 cars you can not see anything in front or behind you, its fun!!!!

ace37

I'd buy one in Utah this spring or next if I could run about six events a year in a lightweight run group at the local track. I wouldn't want to buy it and just run test days though.

The Radical SR3 might be heavy and slow enough to get a pass to run with the big cars, but the safety issue is real.

Coochas

Actually the SR3 weighs about the same as a Formula Mazda. For comparison, an SR3 should blow away an SRF. SR3 can run 1:55 easily at WGI or VIR.

There are a number of groups out East that allow open wheel with closed cockpit and they will tell you that there are no increases in car-to-car. If you ask David Murry or Mark Taylor they will confirm this.

You do need to be more alert in a low profile open cockpit car with respect to traffic. I run 1:58s at WGI and VIR which is up there with most cup car DE participants. Never had a problem. In fact, the only problem I ever had was with a Radical (a comparable size car).

Honestly, ANYONE should be able to see a low car from periodic rear mirror checks. Cars do not suddenly materialize in back. And properly adjusted side mirrors can see lower profile stuff most of the time.

Yes, I feel strongly about this and this topic has been beaten to death.

The segregation of open and closed cars goes back to the 1960s after a bad SCCA incident and remained unchallenged for many years. Someone like Peter Krause would likely know what this incident was.

Now, all this said, I put a string of white lights over my roll hoop to help people see me as I approach in my FM. The roll hoop is the same height as a Miata or Elise.