SRF? Legends? Who's racing them? Why not us? Explain.

[BLINGMW]

I miss going to the track, but instructing or HPDE was getting a little boring. Bikes were fun, but I cannot see myself racing them, too scary. :oops: I'd like to try racing something like these, because they seem so affordable, easy to maintain, tow, blah blah. I remember these little spec cars used to run with NASA, but they don't any more. Why?

SCCA does SRF, so I guess I could get in with them. I don't even know who, if anyone, does Legends for road courses anymore, but I remember them actually being pretty cool.

Tell me what I'm missing here. These are purpose built racing cars. SRFs are ~12-15k used, Legends cars are that NEW.

SpecE30, Spec Miata is great and all, but it's a pretty big hunk of metal sitting around at my house 98% of the time, and I'd have to get a real truck and trailer too. Seems like a false economy. I just want a big go-kart. :thumbup:

[BLINGMW]

It does appear Legends is classed in PTC with NASA, in which case 3 whole people have run PTC at all this year. :?

WDCR-SCCA appears to have a handful of SRFs, so maybe there's something there. :dunno:

[D_Eclipse9916]

Either of those you still need a truck and trailer....... might as well have a spec miata.

[Sully]

Those PTC cars were like old Nissan 200sx's (sentras) and a Mazda thing wern't they? I remember a lengends car out there a little bit last year but not racing just HPDE 3 or instructor I tihnk. Maybe even 2?

[BLINGMW]

Either of those you still need a truck and trailer....... might as well have a spec miata.

well you need SOMETHING, but towing a 5000lb car/trailer is a lot more truck than a 2000lb car/trailer. I could probably tow a legends car on an open trailer with nearly anything. Heck, I could probably put a Legends car in a van.... hock: :lol:

[D_Eclipse9916]

Either of those you still need a truck and trailer....... might as well have a spec miata.

well you need SOMETHING, but towing a 5000lb car/trailer is a lot more truck than a 2000lb car/trailer. I could probably tow a legends car on an open trailer with nearly anything. Heck, I could probably put a Legends car in a van.... hock: :lol:

They are bigger than you think. And really, what truck cant tow 5000lbs but can tow 2000lbs? A minivan??

Seriously rent a spec miata for October to race. I am trying to find a Spec Miata to rent for October VIR as well.

[BLINGMW]

They are bigger than you think. And really, what truck cant tow 5000lbs but can tow 2000lbs? A minivan??

A car. Or an Element.
FWIW a Legends car is almost 3 ft shorter than a miata, 6-12" narrower, and weighs ~1100 lbs

[D_Eclipse9916]

Seriously a tahoe + already built spec miata + open trailer would cost you less than 18k altogether. Legends are 6.5-10k. Plus trailer.

The only thing your saving on is between a truck and a car. I assure you trying to tow a trailer + legends car + all the tools/equipment you need is going to fail with your average sedan. What car?

[D_Eclipse9916]

The whole point of having fun is to have fun right? Why buy a "cheap" car to race when you dont race anybody or have to race in a group other than NASA. NASA popular classes right now are spec miata, spec e30, sometimes CMC/AI, and GTS2. Spec miata is cheapest of those.

[BLINGMW]

I know I know, that's what's popular with NASA, I just wonder why, and am looking at my options. Such as running with SCCA or "other"? instead.

And not that a Spec Miata is a bear to work on, but Legends or SRF is probably more like a motorcycle. And if you damage one, it's hard to damage the chassis. You bolt on a new arm/suspension, tape the bodywork back and get back out the same day. Miata you go find another chassis because you've bent the mounting points. :dunno:

(this is just from what little I've read, I'm no expert obviously. I haven't crashed one.)

[.RJ]

Seriously a tahoe + already built spec miata + open trailer would cost you less than 18k altogether. Legends are 6.5-10k. Plus trailer.

Production cars are also a lot more expensive to run. And then you have to deal with driving a truck the rest of the time.

Chan already has an Element... adding in a Legends/Formula car and an open trailer (and rolling the dice on weather) is a hell of a lot easier to jump into than coming up with $18k plus $1000+/weekend to run a miata. I definitely see the appeal here.

[Steve85]

Yeah, if you haven't slowly built a car through your HPDE career that you're not willing to get rid of (take the loss, emotion, whatever) then these are a great idea. I mean, even if you have to take some loss, you're probably better off in the long run. Those SRFs look like a lot of fun.

The HPDE progression probably lends itself to folks ending up in production type cars. According to SCCA, you could show up at their racing school with a single seater and go from there.

Since you've BTDT (HPDE progression) and don't have anything you need to dump - go for the SRF!

[Scott]

Problem with those vehicles racing (with NASA at least) is that when you are racing with them in a production car, you can't see them (even my Spec Miata). I think it's dangerous to have them on track at the same time (at SPR a couple years ago a SE-R ended up on top of a Legends car.....) The lap times are close to the same (once again using a SM) but they make their speed in totally different places. SCCA has a SRF run group which solves that issue, and that being said I think they would be a blast to drive, just not in a mixed group

[.RJ]

chan doesnt care about danger, the more the better :lol:

[BLINGMW]

that being said I think they would be a blast to drive, just not in a mixed group

good point.
Ok, so everyone in this club stop what you're doing, buy a legends car, and MM owns PTC just to suit me. Is that asking too much? :dunno:

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[D_Eclipse9916]

that being said I think they would be a blast to drive, just not in a mixed group

good point.
Ok, so everyone in this club stop what you're doing, buy a legends car, and MM owns PTC just to suit me. Is that asking too much? :dunno:

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And then I will come in and destroy PTC with my m3 (guess what? it fits there).

If its in PTC it will get ransacked. sorry, if they are running Spec Miata times then no amount of driving is going to get them to where C class is currently.

Edit: Not trying to completely convince you out of it. But not having a good class to run in and be competitive is terrible. The cars are terribly classed in mix-class cars, and do not have enough people to be in their own class (in fact cant remember the last time a legends car ran in NASA, maybe 5-6 years back?)

[G.Irish]

If SRF is the goal then one should run with SCCA. In that case you've got a field of about 12 cars that run with WDCR-SCCA. They're about 2 seconds a lap faster than a SM around Summit Point. For the National SCCA rounds a lot more cars show up, maybe 3 dozen. But then you'd have to make longer tows to make those events.

[ScottyB]

it really bothers me that karting is so rampant out west but is all but non-existent here unless you want to drive on an oval. i see them as the purest bang for the buck there is, and you can practically carry it on your back.

Chan, i would go with whichever car has the biggest run groups. DJ has a good point about the classing though, which is a shame. then again, if you're out to just have fun and race against similar cars, then maybe overall standings don't matter as much. are you trying to be competitve (i.e., take home the trophy) at these events or just have people to run against?

[BLINGMW]

are you trying to be competitve (i.e., take home the trophy) at these events or just have people to run against?

Just healthy fields and close racing with small, inexpensive cars. It wouldn't bother me much if a DJ showed up in his M3 and "won" every race, just as long as there was a good battle going on somewhere.
I think I'll investigate the SRF further. And try to find out what killed the Legends cars around here.

[.RJ]

Or you could build a cheap ass E30 and just drive it to the track.