Formula Vee Preperation

[Doc Hollywood]

Hey Guys,

I recently went and bought a 1994 Formula Vee to compete in the Irish Championship next year (funds allowing!). The car was lying idle for two years and I got it at a reasonable price and for that I got a car that was running (engine/gearbox working), reasonably clean (light surface rust from lying up), 2 sets of tyres and very clean bodywork. It needs a new extingusher and a harness.

I've been in touch with the guy who built it back in 1994 and Im getting him to convert the brakes from drums to discs including replacing master cylinders, lines etc. , freshen up the engine and gearbox, strip and spray the chassis and a new set of rims.

Would you guys have any suggestions on what else it would be worth taking a look at? Or getting him to look at?

Cheers

J

[ss_collins]

good choice but I think there is some post missing - I too am in the process of buying a similar sheane for the UK championship

[Doc Hollywood]

Wow SS you dont waste time replying! Edited post above!

[MagnetON]

Ah, but the REAL question for Doc is..... Are you going to be allowed to drive it now that the missus has her race license too?

[ss_collins]

dangerous ground Suze want to play in a vee (in fact suze wants a vee)

I'm not that up on the Irish cars, but I'd check that the chassis is really straight, how old are the tyres they may have gone hard and nasty.

Sheanes (I assume this is a flat topped nose Mk1) have a nasty area of flow separation at the end of the top of the nose cone, there is a Racecar Engineering article floating around (think might be on Veecentre forum) that has images of it on.

[Jennifer_ni]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Ah, but the REAL question for Doc is..... Are you going to be allowed to drive it now that the missus has her race license too?

Lol!! He's fixing it for me to race!! I wish!!

[Doc Hollywood]

Yea, just took a look at the wind tunnel pictures and stats, thats pretty much the bodywork I have.

Im not going to worry about it at the moment, Mondello is far to slow to worry about straight-line speed and I'd be well off the pace for a while. But its certainly one to look at in the future (not to mention a good excuse-"Im only 22nd on the grid because of aerodynamic drag in the nose!")

I amnt too sure how old the tyres are but my guessing is 4-5 years. I intend to try them in testing before blowing EUR600 on a new set. Is there any tell tale signs of age I should look out for? Any chance the tyres could become dangerous over time? (blow outs etc)

[ss_collins]

tyres that old are likely to be scrap = not really worth trying I don't think. Also they maigh have started cracking with age look at the side walls for a patina of small cracks in the rubber

[Suze]

I want a Challenger / Sheane and if it goes to plan will be out for a bit next year - ARDs over the winter and currently have a helmet so still got a bit too go! Vees are great fun! Suggest you run it yourself though - great fun (can be hard work!) and you learn a lot quickly too.

Helpful part is Sam has promised to buy me a racing car, so he can buy that and I might get another for sprinting or something

[ss_collins]

Micra. You get a vee when I get a second.

[Doc Hollywood]

Thanks SS, I didnt see any signs of deformation or cracks in the sidewalls but I might just have them checked by another racer to be sure.

Suze, I raced Formula Vee in 2003, the car was an absolute dog but it was still great fun. Only problem was that I rented it! Big mistake! Thats why I waited to buy my own one for next year and at least any money I spend goes into the car instead of the guys pocket!

[MagnetON]

Hmmm... So we should rename this thread "Doc Preparation H"

[Suze]

Did you race here or in Ireland? Looking forward to it! Will be at Silvertone this weekend, should be fun.

[Doc Hollywood]

It was in the Irish Championship, went to tin tops in 2004 and just didnt like it as much. Its taken me this long to get the funding back up!

[Suze]

Hms guess the tin tops took a much bigger wedge out of your pocket?!

Are you planning to completely run your own car?

[Doc Hollywood]

The plan is at the moment that I will run with a team for 3 or 4 races and learn all I can, after that Im on my own!

All I'll say about tin tops is that by the time I got to the third corner in my first race I had more contact than in an entire season in vee's. Cost me an absolute fortune for three races until eventually the car was written off after a disgusting piece of driving standards, I appealed but the guy got off with it despite two damning reports from the marshals, after that I washed my hands of it and decided single seaters was the way to go.

[Suze]

Hehe well you'll lose lots of noses in Vees!

The plan sounds a good one.

[Nuvolari78]

Hi. I wouldn't worry too much about the tyres - when i bough my Sheane it had sat in an open shed at a seaside location for 5 years, the tyres even older...! Though the rubber was rock hard, it actually scrubbed in on the first test day ok, and i got several test days from them. At the start, there's just no point in new rubber anyway, as you'll be seconds off the pace, and tyres won't matter so much. In addition, you'll have a few spins as you push harder, and there's nothing as bad as flat spotting new tyres....!!
Regarding the rebuilding of the car, i just couldn't believe how helpful David Sheane was, and Garry Newsome still offers outstanding set up & preparation services. He threw together an old chassis this year for the Phoenix Park, and set the fastest lap of the weekend, which was almost a full second quicker than elliott's pole time!
Best of luck!

[Kershaw]

Hope all goes well for you. We ran 2 rookies to 1st and 3rd in the C championnship this year , and while Vees are relatively easy to run, there are a few tricks to learn with running them reliably and quickly (we had no mechanical problems/failures at all).

[Draven]

Feel like sharing those tips and tricks!!!