Did anyone mention the Mini Cooper S as an alternative?

 

Found this. Had lols.

 

http://www.scion.com/cars/FR-S/
You must be only looking at the first 2 numbers. It actually starts out at $24,955 and if you feel like rounding, $25k. You're off by about $1000 there and $1000 can get you a lot of things like RPF1s to replace those fugly factory wheels (that is, if it really is $24k starting).

So far, whoever owns one are enjoying it and that's really all that matters. Not going to make me love one and I still think it's a hyped up car.

 

It was unfortunate that TTD driver wasn't more skilled because then it would have been much more interesting to watch. I think that FRS could have gotten 1st place with a different driver.

 

Yeah. I am not a fan on how Nationals went. I didn't see the top talent from our regions there. All you have to do is start the required amount of races. Not actually be the best in the class for your region. Some there were a bit slow. Most though where the top level of drivers.

 

 

That one.

 

Attendance would have been even worse if the rules were different. Keep in mind the race groups also only require you complete 5 races (or 3 races and 2 TT days) and regional finishing position is not a factor. Also, some regions have no real competition or participation in some groups so it wouldn't be fair to exclude those people either IMHO. Just look at Greatlakes having only 1 PTF driver all year so far and I'm sure other regions suffer the same fate. I'd hate to see lack of local participation prevent people from having a chance at Nationals.

Also keep in mind NASA is for profit so of course they want to encourage everyone who wants to participate to join in and spend money at Nats.

Then some group sponsorships make it more attractive. Honda, for example, makes it very attractive to sign up at Nats because every participant received a cash prize just for completing their race! I think each Honda Challenge driver received $200 regardless of finishing position as long as they finished the race (not a bad way to get some expenses paid if you like Honda cars!)

 

Yeah. Its open for all to race. I was in F prior to CMC. Its a lonely class on the lines of extinction.

Money always speaks.

Yeah, Honda paying drivers to race is awesome. HC was a good race to watch. Kohler stole the show in his S2k.

CMC almost paid my entry for my into bringing my Mustang up to get 10 cars in the class. Anders supersized in the end to get them their numbers. (And took 2nd after starting at the back of the pack).

 

I don't feel F class is dead at all. Talk to Ken Brewer about how popular it is in Houston region! It is indeed very unpopular in some regions unfortunately. Even Midwest/Greatlakes had better participation last year vs. this year but if you look at the Houston region, they have 10 to 11 entries sometimes for just regional events thanks to the popularity of the RX7 in warmer climates. (as evidenced by the RX7 turn out at Nationals for example) Walter came out all the way from California and did rather well in PTF finishing 2nd place and I believe out there has a much nicer PTF/TTF following. It seems many just don't have the desire to attend Nationals at all while others are too HP hungry and don't give a class like PTF/TTF a second glance.

Money does indeed always speak volumes and those with deeper pockets tend to get bigger hp cars like heavily modded EVOs and Z06 Vette's.

 

Yeah, but that's just one region. More regions need to keep it going for it to live nationally. They should have driven up! I know costs were the main factor for a lot of the F drivers. But zero from Houston came up for F.

This year in MW/GL F it was dueling Foci with me v. Lowell. Fun to a point (he was 4s off my times). Missy was alone in PTF. Her times and mine at the start of the season were within 0.1s. Her car has some major mechanicals to sort out. Engine sounds dead after 6 years of racing and brake system is very wrong somewhere (as indicated by her brake lights being on for the whole champ race). After the race we found the rear rotors blue and heavy rear dusting. Rear pads dragging = not fast.

F has too many handicaps for most modern cars to race in. My SVTF for example had to run street tires (195mm bicycle RA1 tires and I might have saved enough points to stay F -- if they existed). Missy and I raced in Comp School against each other. My tires fell apart (literally) after 25 minutes.

If going F you have to start with something like the Webers G20 or Sentra. A low based car built for the class. If going though all of that, most run a class with more racers in our region. Like E or D.

Regional differences in weather/cars out there explain a lot of car choice. West and TX you see more older cars that survived w/o winter. Up here you just don't see many old cars (or at least in a shape they could be raced).

Those with money jumped to a spec class or high $ car.

Killing Spec Neon and Focus killed a handful of cars. Especially Spec Neon. There were a lot of those buggers at one time. Waterford still races them as a class.

 

Actually, There was a PTF car from Houston region and it was an RX7. Tony Lee was the 5th entry in PTF (late entry but still representing Texas!)

 

Oh, not that all red one that ran people off the start in Thursday or jumped the start (and hit an Evo) Friday? I thought he was CA as well.

 

^ that was indeed Texas and not California. Walter was the only PTF California entry.

 

That guy was iffy at best. His race craft of running people off track left a lot to be desired.