Thinking of Formula Mazda
 

Hey guys have been thinking a bit lately about selling my FD , as it hasnt been driven more then 10 miles in 2 years. Brief reason behind that... Was at a local Auto-x runnin in ASP class we had a rain delay and my class came up 1st after the rain had stoped got too walk the course quickly too note in standing water and what not and guess I skiped over the 1st 300 ft of track (including a switch back turn) the track seemed very dry but all was not as it appeared.. 2nd gear in turn #2 2nd turbo came online mid turn with damp track on BFG R1's car got sideways and slid at a 90deg angle for about 200ft was like slo mo turned the wheel too lock in both directions tryed braking throttleling clutching too no avail ended up taking out a small tree (minor cosmetic dmg driver side front 1/4 panel. Since that day I really havent had the car on the road or a track , But I still have the rotary itch and a need for some racing...
I was pondering an open wheeled rotary for a little solo 2 at 1st with the intention of advancing too Solo 1 or the Club scene those car's looked like a blast at the events I attended way back when.
Anyone have any exp. with these little gem's. Price too field a car? Place too begin my search for a Car? Driveablity? Maintence?And cost too maintain the car ie tires, engines etc.

TIA
Mike

Well look at this link that gives you an idea on car price.
http://www.racer-net.com/scafm001.htm
I'm sure you could find an older one for less. BUT I'm not familar with the updates in the cars over the years. So I'm not sure how competive the older cars are you know? Racing is expensive no matter what. The fees to run an SCCA National are between $200 and $400 thats just for registration ect. There are many other little things that add up along the way. And there are many big things that add up even faster. I'm crewing on a GT-1 team and for an example we blew the shit out of a $4grand+ trans. In a 30min race thats a big expense that adds up very fast. What I am going to do when I start club racing next year. Is I'm going to get my FB or another FB race ready. Then drive the car to the track so I don't need a trailer tow vechical ect. Formula cars are more expensive in general because of the cost of parts and what not. And are more expensive to buy over all. So I would start in an IT car unless you have alot of money. But good luck to you.

There always seems to be some in the classifieds in Sports Car magazine.

about $25-30K for a complete car ready to race. I have not seen to many project formula mazdas. the chassis are all the same so all should be competitive. the car is very durable and very fast but the maintenance and up keep will be very high. formula cars have alot of high wear items and they are easily damaged in any off track incidents. I would say a typical race weekend with travel and fuel would be close to a $1000 a race if nothing was damaged. engines and trans can last several years in they are no abused. try Star Mazda they started this series, I believe they are in Valencia, California.

It all depends on your budget. Like Finky says, I see them used in the back of the Sports Car mag. all of the time. If you are going to start out autocrossing and Solo 1 events, the cost per race wont be much....just the initial cost will hurt. I do know if you are going to try to run the Formula Mazda Series it will run several thousand per race.......fuel, crew,transportation,hotels,tires,parts, etc.....

If you are just going to go play, you will again have the big initial cost but your racing should hurt too bad just running locally on a budget.

Oh yah go to www.starmazda.com

FM is one of my goals eventually, but I need to lose some weight first.

PaulC

Heh silkworm there is a guy around here that has a FA and he hangs out the top of the car a bit lol.

ewwww :) That's an image that's going to burn in my mind for a while..

excuse me, off to the gym

LOL

PaulC

HAHA it's funny because he is a great driver just got old and fat lol. He does fit in his indy car though lol.

Here is some fuel for your fire.

1) Star has announced a new chassis for the FM in 2004(with Rx8 engine). It is a carbon constructed tub. This may mean used car prices start to decline. Also, I know a gentleman here in Atlanta that has been working on getting SCCA homologation for a exact duplicate FM to the star cars (Rule book states car must be a star mazda or exact duplicate). This has been a 3 year adventure for his company and I heard the other day that it is ready. The neat thing is he will be selling kits. Here is the press release on the 2004 car. (The company I work for EMT, has been named as the chassis builder :)
http://www.starmazda.com/mazda04/071902PR.htm

2) You could look into "C" sports racer. Open cockpit, closed wheeled cars that you are allowed to run a Bridge port 12A in. Here is a website you can check out on them. http://dsr.racer.net/

CSR's
 

CSR's are very attractive, to me at least, as I prefer the sports racers to the formula cars. Remember when you're on that sight though that most of it deals with the D sports racers (DSR's), which is a class lower.

AFAIK the only chassis for CSR that's competitive AND built to house a 12A is the Cheetah, which is not a cheap chassis (though it is arguably the best out there). You could easily be looking at a $50k car, which may be an issue. Also, just in case you get side-tracked like I did, beware the motorcycle-engined DSR's...some of them have engine life spans of about 9 hours.

Of course, on the rotary front, don't forget that the Star manufacturer has just unveiled sports-racer body for the FM chassis.

Anyway, I'm going to test-drive a Diasio 962 (not a rotary) at the end of September; if you're interested in hearing about it, just drop me an email or PM and I'll let you know how it was.

I did forget to mention that that was a "d" sports web site. I have not found one like that for "c" yet. It does have allot of info though.

fluxen,

Don't forget about the Beasley. If he keep a look out he could find a used c car with a rotary for way less than 50K. My prediction is that the star sports racer will never take off.

You're right, I did forget about the Beasley...in fact there's a Yamaha-powered Beasley for sale right now asking $26k w/2 motors & a bunch of spares. Don't know what the rotary conversion would cost.

I haven't found a good site for CSR info either, it looks like the DSR site is it :( I prefer the two-seaters (CSR), as I'd like to be able to take people out for rides too.

I agree on the Star SR; it's probably going nowhere, unfortunately. The DSR crowd is very suspicious of Star...

man Only if formual SAE allowed rotary engines, I guess after I build an SAE it will helpme built a Solo 1

I had a project in mind for a c car with a rotary. I was hoping for it to retail at 22K. I have yet to get anything past cad drawings yet though. It would probably take close to 100K to get everything ready for production. Not the kind of money I have right now. Still in the back of my mind.

my problem with the whole thing is I would like to build a rotary powered race car for next year. With the whole "Sport Racer Re-Classification" that the SCCA seems to be heading toward I would hate to have a car or product that is not at the absolute maximum of the rules. Who knows what they are thinking or where they are heading. You know what I mean.