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Firstly it is great to see so many people passionate about FF1600. I am going to reply to this thread and comment on various issues that people have mentioned - please don't feel that I am attacking any individuals, merely stating my opinion as one with experience of FF1600 and a true enthusiast having grown up in the scene and followed it all my life!
Oh and by the way I am Ed Moore. It would be great if those participating in this thread let everybody know there names - I hate not knowing who people are in these forums! We all share the same interests after all!
Sorry to have to start with you JR EWING! I believe that FF1600 is still pretty strong, the Southern series was quite weak already last season and the King of Kent’s entry for Silverstone on Monday is strong, despite clashing with Combe. Any minor downturn is surely due to the economy - entries in many other classes have suffered much more than FF1600.
FORMULAFORDSTER - the newer cars do not cost £15K or even £13K (I know having spent a month converting one). Also you do not need anywhere near £20K to compete for a Championship. My Father and I run my car in our spare time and thus our running costs are very low compared to running with a team - for us this is much of the fun of racing.
I personally like racing against the old hands - in my opinion it gives the racing more kudos and respect in the motorsport environment. It is good for youngsters to be able to try and beat fairly well known quick drivers.
Also Formulafordster I would say that the majority of people are running legal engines - you don't need to cheat to be fast and I am sure someone like Neil Bold/Scholar/Auriga would never turn out illegal engines. To go quickly you need a good legal motor, well sorted car, good tyres and a talented driver.
In terms of competitiveness of older vs. newer cars then just look at the lap times achieved so far. Wills and myself have not moved the goalposts. Last year my fastest official time at Combe in a '92 Swift was 71.9 sec (pole for last August I think) and so far in my '00 VDiemen it is 62.6 sec (fastest lap last time out). The new car is very good and lovely to drive but the times tell the real story! Gavin would still be winning in his 92 Swift and in fact he was beaten twice last weekend by Peter Daly's '89 Reynard (as I had been after being on pole at Silverstone the other week!).
Also Formulafordster the cars are well within the legal requirements for track width as printed in the official regulations that haven't changed for years. Converted ex Zetec Vectors are wider still.
Don't forget that this whole ting about ex Zetec cars has been around since Zetec came into being in 1993. For example Swift SC93F's are ex Zetec chassis, as are 94's, 95's, 96's, 97's etc. At Combe even Roly Hamblin's 1996 Swift is an ex Zetec car and the works assisted Ray I drove in 1997 was based totally on the Zetec design.
Van Diemen spares for the newer cars are dear, but there is so much stuff around now that it's easy to get 2nd hand and pattern parts cheaply.
In reply to JR Ewing again (sorry!) regarding Mallory in the mid 90's compared to these days, I did the odd meeting back in '96 and '97 and generally was faster than the regular runners there, winning races, setting poles and fastest laps. I won there twice last year and have to say that the level of competition at the front was pretty similar. Although maybe I am slower than I was after my break from racing!
Once again sorry for singling out the odd persons postings, but I felt this was the only way to offer my opinion.
At the end of the day racing is about competition and fun. I didn't intend on buying a '00 chassis this winter, but after seeing them advertised cheaply felt that they offered great value and look fantastic. I was always of the opinion that it was good that Jon Adlam had bought new cars and that this was supporting FF1600, otherwise the category would eventually simply become another historic series.
Hope to see some of you on Monday – do come and say hello.
Ed Moore
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