I want to thank everyone for the comments. I did NOT expect to generate that level of discussion.

I'm really torn, but I guess I still have a couple months to get organized for next year. One of the reasons I'm looking at SRF was that Bertil Roos experience -- I'll bet a bunch of you reading this have had the same eureka moment I had that day: "OMG, I really AM good at this, just like I've always known I would be!!!"

I've considered vintage racing, but I view guys in that admirable crowd as being more 'curators' than 'competitors.' I have spectated several of those events and understand completely that there is some very spirited driving going on in most of the historic/vintage sanctioning bodies, but let's face it, most of the cars are significant pieces of history and need to be respected and protected from damage to an even greater degree than an SRF.

I've considered building a Cobra replica specification racer for a different sanctioning body (you probably know what I'm talking about but I'm unsure of the etiquette 'round these parts in naming competing series... ), but the fact is I've already built a Cobra replica ground up and although it is the coolest project I've ever done in my life, I don't have the appetite for building another one. Or even buying one used. Time for something new.

This is difficult. I just had a birthday this week that and while I won't say my age I will say that if I started dating a 30 year-old I would see some eyebrows go up. (Uh, my wife's especially, right as she unloaded with the frying pan into my left temple.) So I have to take a view that if I keep the average toy for 8 or maybe 10 years, and if I recognize that I'll never have more than one toy at a time, then there is not a long list of toys in my future.

So the decision regarding this next toy is important. To me anyway. Which is why I appreciate all your thoughts.

AJ

Now that you brought it up AJ, none of us mentioned safety. Probably best to avoid both Factory Five replicas and morally casual thirty year olds.

tony

Been in SRF/SR since 1989. I am my 4th motor rebuild. (pretty much my fault on this last one). But, if any body can race hard for 23 years and have on avg one new motor every five years, it would be SRF. As far as the new motor deal, if it were available today, I'd have already paid the price and it sounds like it will be even more durable.

So, AJ if you want to race, come in to SRF, we'd love to have you with us, the SRF will be around for 2013, 2014 at least and likely longer. You can get a turn key competitive car for mid teens and your skill as a driver will place you on the grid, not the car.

AJ, you sound like someone who wants to compete and earn his place based on skill. I have friends who jumped into racing in other organizations and classes, and they are taking home trophies and glory photos with their arms around questionable women, while I struggle (happily) to find my first podium finish in (two seasons) in my SRF.

But I know (as they know) that finishing 3rd in a class of 3 cars is not really an accomplishment. And beating ten people who have vastly inferior cars (lagging 3-4 seconds per lap) is not racing. To win in SRF, you have to beat a large field of very seasoned drivers, meaning that you have to be GOOD. And if you win in SRF you are GOOD, not lucky, not wealthy. And racing is not to be confused with fast lapping. Racing means having someone within inches of your car trying to take/keep position. In a 20 minute SRF race, you can experience more racing than some race groups see in a whole season.

If you really want to find out what kind of a racer you are, you can do it in an SRF.

AJ,

SRF is a great community. The support you can receive at the track is incredible. To get started on the right foot:

1. You should rent from your local CSR for your school weekend (even if you've done other schools, do the SCCA one too).
2. Keep renting until you get your national license and shop around.
3. When you purchase a car, let them take care of it while you develop your driver skills

Eventually you will know what you are doing behind the wheel and when the car feels right on various tracks. If you start doing your own wrenching, you will have a frame of reference to fall back one.

If I had followed this path I know I would be faster and more competitive. Unfortunately prior racing experience and already owning much of the gear (truck, trailer tools etc) led me to go it alone. Bad move.

You did mention "equity" and race cars in the same post..... No matter what class you are in, you really do need to be prepared to write it off at any time. SRFs hold their value well, but if you are really competing sooner or later it will happen. I have some repairs to make from the Glen but the core car is still original and straight. I have chasis 095 that was build around 1986 and just filled my SRF log book from a 2001 conversion, so I am a "light usage" driver. When I raced with Nascar there were parts we had to replace sometimes more than once a year because of new development or rule changes. SRF is VERY stable, there is no "new part of the week" to buy.

I'll probably get the motor rebuilt for the first time soon and hopefully change to the new ECU at the same time, then in 2016/2017 go for the new motor. It's not a very big cost for the long term stability and competition.

mhart073 wrote:

ctkellett wrote:As a newbie to SRF, but not the SCCA or spec racing, what seems to be this classes big problem is that it is not really attracting a younger crowd in there current state. The motors sound silly and the body work could be referred to as " vintage" in style. We can talk about the close racing but unless the class is growing, it will be shrinking. Talking about runoff numbers only tells a small side of the story, you can't claim a class is popular everywhere based on a single event, heck, Formula Vee has 37 current entries and we are lucky to see 2 on a weekend here.

SRF National car counts:
2012: 1208 (+12%)
2011: 1078 (+2.9%)
2010: 1047 (-15%)
2009: 1238 (-7.3%)
2008: 1335 (+2.9%)
2007: 1298

SM National car counts:
2012: 1240 (-3.4%)
2011: 1283 (+7.8%)
2010: 1190 (+8.7%)
2009: 1095 ( -18% )
2008: 1335 ( -7.4%)
2007: 1441

Car counts clearly came down, in both classes, as a result of the economic weakness seen in 2008-2009. SM/SRF are, by a wide margin, the top classes across nearly every division. The only exception is the Rocky Mountain division, where SRF participation as been anemic.
You'd be hard pressed to quantify your statement that SRF isn't a popular class or that its participation rates have varied much more than the general SCCA rates.

I agree with you, but if you look beyond National racing and include the much larger levels of participation @ the Regional level as well, SM/SSM doubles that of SRF in car counts. I agree with the aim of the SRF class and the quality of racing is hard to argue against, I just think that if there is going to be a few changes in the cars in the next few years that these changes should help attract and interest those people outside the class as well.

ctkellett wrote:... if you look beyond National racing and include the much larger levels of participation @ the Regional level as well, SM/SSM doubles that of SRF in car counts. I agree with the aim of the SRF class and the quality of racing is hard to argue against, I just think that if there is going to be a few changes in the cars in the next few years that these changes should help attract and interest those people outside the class as well.

Maybe it's just me, but in a class that's eligible for National competition, most people try to get eligible as soon as possible, if for no other reason than to have more races you're eligible to run in, but also to have the best competition you can get. That's speaking as a pure driver.
If you love to tinker with cars and just want to race to see how good of a tinkerer you are, SRF is absolutely not for you. You will die of boredom or end up like Dalrymple walking around looking for other cars to work on when the 4 or 5 in your stable are ready to go

If you are short on money and have the time and skills to put in doing all the work yourself, then other classes are cheaper, but for guys like me, I'm lucky to get in 3 weekends a year just arrive-and-drive... I'd never make it to the track if I had to do all my own prep right now. If I hadn't bought an SRF years ago for under 15K with spares it would make alot more sense for me to be renting right now. I haven't done the math but you need to be running quite a few weekends a year or doing your own prep to make owning come out ahead financially. (And that's true for any race car.)

Ditto to what the the other guys have said from the a perspective identical that is to yours, Al. I bought into Spec Racer in 1995 as a Renault, all while knowing I was facing a conversion to Ford by 1997.

All I can say is that it was totally worth it -- every penny of it.

Al, sounds like you're in New Jersey. Why don't you come up to Lime Rock Park this Saturday for the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship Runoffs and we'll answer any and all questions you have about Spec Racer. You'll also get to experience something special -- the incredible group of people you'll be racing with.

Send me an e-mail via this site and I'll work it out to get you into the race for free. We'd love to see you!

Bob, email sent. Thanks!

I'm new here, but I just wanted to add a little "for what it's worth" regarding getting younger drivers involved in the class. I am looking very seriously at getting involved in SRF, coming over from Legend car racing. Part of the reason is due in large part to the youth movement with the Legend cars. I am regularly racing with and against kids as young as 14. Some very capable, most not. Granted that this is oval short track racing where contact is common, but the recklessness and outright disregard for others equipment is crazy. Some of the kids parents are the larger part of the problem (Little League syndrome), but some are a problem on their own. Don't misunderstand, this is not just sour grapes from some old guy getting his butt kicked. I have good equipment and run very competitivley with the kids. I am, however, tired of repairing the car from wrecks that should never happen due to some ego inflated, over zealous younger person. Just some food for thought. Would hate to see SRF head in that same direction.
Tom Sherman (45 year "old" guy)