SundayDriver

Related questions, so I will try one answer...

No, you cannot modify the roll structure. It is very much a spec class. I feel the concern about open cockpit is very over-emphasized by many. I don't see any data to support that open cockpit has any higher danger level than closed cockpit - each has situations where they are advantaged and dis-advantaged.

SRF has upwards of 2 million competition miles - race, qual, official race practice. There have been (AFAIK) ZERO fatalities. Serious injuries have been very, very few. I doubt you can find another class that can match that safety record.

Back to open/closed debate - you can have an incident of a deer strike and the closed cockpit is better. OTOH, in a fire, exit is far easier in open cockpit. Both are fairly rare. A flying object (like the spring incident with Massa) would likely have penetrated the windshield of a closed cockpit car. As many tin-top drivers run with open face/shield up, the injury could well have been even worse in the closed car.

IMO, you can justify an opinion about open vs. closed any way you like, but I don't feel there is data to support one as being safer than the other for comparable speeds ad conditions.

Finally, I ran SRF for some years. They are a blast. They are true Spec - SCCA does a great job of ensuring the cars are very equal and the racing is tight. It is very rare that anyone damages their SRF to a level that the community at the track, cannot get them out for the race. They are purpose built race cars - if you have never experienced that, you are in for a treat. Also, you can run them in NASA, if you want, and most DE events welcome them on track (unless restricted to a certain marque).

Hope that info helps.

srf506

SRF, IMHO, is the best class in SCCA racing, at least here in the SE Div. The cars are safe, reasonably bullet-proof, and are a purpose-built race car. The fields are large, so no matter if you're a novice or a nationally-ranked driver there's some one around you to race with. Since it's a spec car and preparation, set-up, and driving skill trump budget, you actually have to learn race strategy and craftsmanship in order to be really fast and run up near the front. We've always said, if you can drive a SRF fast you can drive anything fast. They produced like 700+ of the things and the design is little changed from that first one back when it was "Sport Renault." The biggest of course was the switch to Ford power. There's never been another series with that kind of stability, ever. It doesn't have a lot of whiz-bang electronics and driver aids. The car is manual, and everything is under the driver's control. I really enjoyed my 10-years of racing them. I owned chassis 506 (hence my screen name of srf506) and Mick Robinson and the other CSRs were always there with help and parts. You will get very good at fiberglass repair if you go this route as we "rub" a lot in close quarter racing. I think in all my years of running them I missed like two races due to crash damage that I couldn't repair in time for the green flag. I learned a lot about car control and set-up in that class. I miss it still. As far a s safety goes, the car is built uber-strong. To-date, no one to my knowledge has been killed driving a SRF. We've had some really hard crashes one of which required a ride to Halifax Hospital in Daytona, but the car and the driver were just "shaken" really good. I've seen SRFs sitting on one another after accidents, roll-overs, and all kind of aerobatics in really bad ones. Most of the time though everyone crawled out and started figuring out what they needed to get back on track. That was the other good thing about the class, if I needed help, or another competitor needed help, we'd all turn-to to get them repaired and back in action. It's a competitive class, but there's a lot of respect, assistance, and mentoring given too.

Potomac-Greg

That's what I've found. It does look like you're really "out there" in case of a Phillipe Massa type incident, or if you were to drive into and under a guard rail. But there is a lot of steel framework, and you're just not going that fast (135 MPH top end).

The values on these are amazing. If you do not buy one new (or nearly new) you will not suffer depreciation. Other than new ones (in the high $20s) they all sell in the $15-19 range depending on how fresh they are.

pu911rsr

Damn I had forgotten about these, I haven't been to an SCCA event in years. Anyone have one for sale?
Phil

Circuit Motorsports

I know where a few for sale are. Anything from essentially brand new at 28ish with some spares down to 15K or so.

Robert Henriksen

Big crumple zones (side pods) on either side of the driver, mild steel frame which collapses nicely. Heavy & (relatively) slow.

Though I will say that when I was driving an SRF in an enduro at Thunderhill, the Flying Lizard GT3s were holding me up through T2-4 >:-(

Barfly

It's a great class with great competition.

I will likely be selling my car after the Runoffs. It is a newer chassis. I will be listing it for $20k without data, and $22k with. If interested, let me know.

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Jason

Gary R.

Jason - what data setup and sensors do you run?

Barfly

Gary,

I have CDS on the car which has GPS and predictive lap timing. It also has video-data overlay. It is one of the more common data setups among SRF drivers, so sharing data would be pretty easy. I also have plenty of saved data from quite a few tracks that you could use to compare.

______
Jason

Potomac-Greg

Great. I have hyped the market into a frenzy just before planning on buying one !

prg

On a hot day, a SRF has one big advantage over a SM. An open cockpit with all the really hot bits behind you is a much more pleasant place to spend a 25 lap national race.

Potomac-Greg

And then there are cold and/or rainy days.

Professor Helmüt Tester

I remember a couple of 24 hour races in January in FLA...I was the "overnight guy" in the Nissan SSC car, and giggled as my buds in the SRF's slid by, somewhere below my doorhandles, in the gloom of 3 a.m. in 35 deg. Florida freak weather. The C car had a heater...and an AM-FM-Cassette system...I remember listening to Bob Marley and being happy that my feet were warm.

SRF - many advantages, as have already been pointed out. Exceptionally good supply chain, etc. etc., make for many a "saved" race weekend after a crash or explosion.

How tough a car, and how easy to fix ? I stuffed one into a wall on a Saturday afternoon, ripping off all the metal bits on the nose, including the radiator thing. Also ripped off the entire right front suspension...as in "removed and detached from car", and dinged up a bunch of other stuff. While I missed qualifying the next morning as I was still putting stuff back together, I made the race...started in the back of a 30+ car / 20+ SRF field, and won the damn thing in a car that I had thrown back together and it's first hot lap since the crash the afternoon before was Lap 1 of the race. I think I passed 20 cars in the first 2 laps.

SRF is a little harder to drive fast than a Miata...not quite as balanced. Any idiot can go fast in a Miata (which is why there is so much carnage), but it takes a little while to get the hang of an SRF. Had some race time in the "first generation" Sports Renault (same chassis, lower HP Renault motor) and the Renault was actually a better balanced car (although slower).

prg

The beauty of racing in Oklahama is that I've still got the same rain tires I had when I bought my car 2 years ago.

pu911rsr

Don't worry I'm a long way from DC, I sure there are plenty of these for sale.
Phil