Matt Romanowski

Sounds like you have a great opportunity to have some quality time with the kids. I hope to get to share motorsport with my kids when they are old enough to participate and help out. At 4.5 and 2.5, they love it now.

Another important thing is that not everyone drives every car well. The progression up the open wheel chain is not always linear. Not everyone can drive each car that Peter listed well. Some folks move from a Formula Ford to a Formula Continental and don't ever drive it very well, but move to Atlantics and do fine (and some are always bad!).

The suggestions to do a school or two in an open wheel car are very good. It will give you some exposure to see what you like. Also pick the school based on a car you might like. If you think FC (with Pinto or Zetec motor) is something you would like, look into Bertil Roos. If you like the idea of no downforce, look at Skippy School no wing cars.

ProCoach

Lucas Oil School or Dennis Macchio at Bertil Roos School are what I'd recommend first. Have fun. Coochas Dave has a LOT of fun in his Star Mazda. At track days, too.

Indy cars, of any recent era, had a half dozen to a dozen crew working full time on them. Millions of dollars to buy and run correctly and at the highest level. Could you buy a methanol or ethanol burning car off eBay and run it? Sure, maybe some low speed touring laps if you can get it up and running, but safely without fresh tires, some experience and assistance from specialized, veteran crew? These things can kill you. Not trying to be a downer, just stating a fact. I see these cars being run in historics and I know what it takes to make sure old, mothballed cars are even safe to be started and run. It's not like anything even remotely familiar to even the most experienced track rat. But you could hang it from the ceiling... <grin>

mj951

Autobahn too...http://autobahncc.com/

morsini

What Peter said. My own two cents affirms what he said about BR racing school. It's great exposure to this type of car and it's affordable. I had an absolute blast in them about ten years ago at VIR, and Dennis is a character.

Coochas

There is a lot of good advice here in this thread. As Peter mentions, I drive a Formula Mazda mainly at open track events. Typical 'lower end' formula cars like these are tremendous bang for the buck. My car tops out at around 130 mph but will max out at 2.5G cornering and of course can brake in much shorter distances. The result are times that are around 996 cups and most importantly you have to really earn the time!

Open wheel cars are of course more dangerous than a caged 996. Big time. The greatest danger is contact with another open wheeler (think horrible F1 accidents).

I would absolutely suggest that you drive an open wheeler for a day either at one of the schools mentioned or Spec Atom rental at VIR. Some people drive an open wheeler and don't find it exhilarating but rather find it uncomfortable. It's not for everyone. My wife and I both LOVE open cockpit.

As for venues, as others have said, groups like PCA will almost certainly not welcome an open wheeler and might even be selective about which open cockpit cars they'll allow. There are groups such as DMTD that allow open wheel/cockpit but you need to have a reasonable amount of experience before they'll throw you to the wolves! To be out there with larger traditional race cars, you need to be more situationally aware as it's easy to quickly sneak up on people. And vice versa of course. In a DE environment such as PCA, I would never expect them to allow low profile formula cars except at select advanced events.

I rarely race. I enjoy the thrill of driving these cars at the limit (or more like my limit). Feel free to PM.

And Peter, stop dangling videos like that Indy car with Ben in front of me. That has got to be a rush!

Matt Romanowski

You do have a barn to fill, Mr. Plow.

Coochas

Hmmmm, maybe Irene would like to take my FM,....

924RACR

Definitely do the schools. Best to figure out beforehand if it's right for you or not.

One added point to "why no DE?" - once you have a full-on racecar, why not race?!?

The sports racer (prototype) is my concession to safety. I actually don't want, nor would my wife stay with me, if I went open-wheel; tangling wheels is just deadly. This way I have fenders and side-impact protection - but still get slicks, full aero including ground effects, 12000rpm, sequential box, and open cockpit. Speed is on par (in Peter's list above) with the FE or FB cars, but that's PLENTY fast enough for me. Even a Formula Ford would've been fast enough, really...

Go experience it first-hand, then check out a race - June Sprints are Road America are well worth it, I may or may not be there myself - and then start asking around and find out how expensive they are to maintain, see where you end up on that scale...

Purchase price is never it. I know a prototype for sale near me, faster than all but the top Atlantics, for probably half the price... even though it may also be cheaper to maintain, you wouldn't want to go there... everything's custom...

ProCoach

Good post, as always, from Vaughan. The bolded sentence above is my story, although I've done testing in a 3-liter Alfa Romeo V-12 F1 car many years ago (after my prep shop took it down and built it back up again).

I love prototypes. After decades of prod cars and GT cars, all based on production platforms (even the 991 GT3 Cup is), there is NOTHING like a purpose-built race car. You might think about cars like a Radical, SCCA P2 car (converted, motorcycle powered formula cars with bodywork, like Vaughan's) or automotive based sports racers like the Norma or an older Sports 2000 (they're going to have fifty of those for the Fortieth Anniversary of the class at Road America at the WIC in July).

I race a thirty-five year old fully aluminum monocoque (Can-Am, Indy and F1 car construction, before composites), no-aero allowed Sports 2000, with a simple, tightly regulated 2-liter SOHC German Ford motor that runs for years, yet is in between 996 Cup and 997.1 Cup at many tracks. No muss, no fuss, can run in pretty much ALL track days and doesn't require a crew to attend to it.

Lovely... Like using a scalpel after a meat cleaver...

ProCoach

Speak to the Club head coaches, Tom Bagley and/or Tony Kester. These guys have forgotten more than most will ever know.

Also another resource at that track is the excellent Francesco D'Avola at Team Stradale, on the campus of Autobahn. They are Radical dealers and offer support and rentals onsite.

jlanka

I took my then 18 year old who just graduated HS to a 3 day Skip Barber at Lime Rock. I'll never forget the look on his face when he got out of the car after the first lead/follow (Formula Mazda's). "This is AWESOME!!!". Worth the price of the course.

We ended up getting a Spec Boxster which we currently share at DEs (might look into a 2nd one - slipper slope for sure). He's now 19 and is better than me. College gets in the way of making all the events but he's got the bug as bad as I do. The hook is in deep with both of us.


Jeff

David993S

It's not just speed, although that can certainly be a factor depending on the type of formula car. But even in slower formula cars like FV and FF there is still a much greater risk than in an enclosed car. You're simply much more exposed in an open wheel car. Again depending on what kind of formula car, one's feet/ankles often stick out in front of the front wheels without much frontal protection. You're noggin is sticking up and is relatively exposed. Older (i.e. budget affordable) FV's, FF's, FC's etc. are constructed of relatively small box frame tubing. Take it from me, it doesn't hold up well in a heavy impact. And lastly, as someone mentioned, wheel to wheel contact can happen and when it does the back car can be launched into the air. You definitely don't want to land upside down.

I don't mean to scare you off from driving a formula car, but you need to understand and accept the risks of driving a formula car. And while driving a formula car at track days or DE's is less risky than actual wheel to wheel racing, things can still happen. My original advice still stands - go to a prof. school that has formula cars and get a taste (and some experience) of what it's like.

Just be advised......it's very addictive.

ProCoach

No, it's the speed that you can go from being IN control, to being OUT of control, basically how fast $#!t can happen. The thing that makes these so fun to drive, makes them SUPER responsive and easy to change direction. A 996 Cup feels like an ocean liner compared to these cars...

bpu699

Interesting conversation guys...

Perhaps a different question....

If you want. To eventually run in the faster groups SUCH AS GT3s, yet want a car that is reasonable to maintain and run, possibly cheap, what's a good way to go?

Assume you don't want a vette and a gt3 gt2 is too expensive to repair... For slow groups, Miata is the answer. What about faster groups? 996 perhaps?

Experimental cars? Radicals?

DTMiller

K24 swapped Miata.