A New Racing Class For SCCA

[Moderator]

Here's my suggestion for adding an exciting new racing class to SCCA. It would bring in new blood, including especially YOUNG people and people racing on very limited budgets. It would also welcome an exceptionally diverse field of cars... because frankly "spec racing" is boring for spectators.

In a nutshell: if a Formula SAE spec car can meet the safety tech inspection, let it race!

Earlier this month, ninety-eight college student built 600cc motorcycle engined racecars competed at the annual Formula SAE competition in Michigan. (Seven other cars arrived to compete, but forfeited for one reason or another.) I believe there are now similar Formula SAE competitions on the east coast, the west coast, and on other continents... which means there's all sorts of parts and technical support. The problem with Formula SAE is that the cars are only raced a couple times at most and then discarded - which is really a rotten lesson to teach college kids - only SOME of the cars end up competing in autocross events which is what the cars are really optimized for... but I know from personal experience that SOME of the cars really are robust enough to survive on a real racetrack. Moreover, all those students on all those teams... all of them should be welcomed with open arms to wheel-to-wheel racing.

In theory, ANYONE could build a Formula SAE car. After college, I inherited a very nice spaceframe and most of the suspension bits from a Formula SAE car, but I didn't have anywhere to race it. That frame could still be racing today, if there were a place to race it. Local autocrosses just weren't enough to meet my interest.

Here's the one new rule that would make my proposal much more successful than SCCA's current F500 class:  car's are only allowed to compete if their chassis is non-professionally built and one-of-a-kind by design.

Why not?

Discuss...

[Phillip G]

Curtis,

Wonderful idea about Formula SAE & a new SCCA class.

You probably already know that Clancy Schmidt works closely with the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS)  Engineering Dept  with their SAE program.  In fact, this past week he is in Michigan with the KU SAE team at their big meet with many other University Engineering Departments.

Clancy probably knows more about the Formula SAE than anybody.  And he works for the SCCA out of Topeka with their Pro Solo Division.

The SCCA could certainly use a new class like you describe.

phillip g

[Moderator]

What I like best about it... it would be a racing class for fabricators and wrench turners to really show their stuff.


We've got to get Clancy on here to post some snapshots of the KU SAE car.  The student competition is divided into sub-events. Clancy's team won the autocross event outright!  They finished ninth overall, which is fantastic. Five of the teams in the top ten flew in from Europe to compete.