$5k Formula Continentals NMNA

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/hm5eqdYpzXSPo1SZ/

So, apparently they are selling off the old Bertil Roos cars like hotcakes. 

At this price I am seriously considering picking one up. (Even though my wife would kill me and it won't fit in my trailer)

Psst, hey GRM, pick one up and do a series of articles on the trials and tribulations of running formula cars!

Oh man, this is tempting.  Only two hours and fifteen minutes away. 

So, apart from the obvious cool factor, where might one run these?  BMod and some track day orgs?

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

FC is a roadracing class with SCCA.

There are other race orgs, FRCCA is one. 

Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association is another place to play.

And yes, BMod is the autocross place for these. 

Ah reading comprehension fail on my part, I was thinking they were a spec school car that didn't fit a road racing class.  Definitely a lot of options!

I'll show myself out...

That is an amazing deal.

I live in a figure 8 shaped .8 mile culdesac. I'm sure my neighbors wouldn't mind some hot laps. 

They wouldn't be competitive FC in SCCA...but... a Heyland MK9 is almost worth $5K itself.   No shortage of 2L pinto engine parts, and starting with a dry-sump engine is a big positive.   You can get about 180 HP and still have a long lasting engine with Eslinger parts.  About the most the gearbox can handle if you avoid drag race starts.

I'm still picturing putting a hallowed out Europa body over the top of one.  Wheelbase on those school cars looks short enough, and track looks narrow enough.

I wish I had not seen this thread.

Man, if these were within a few hours of me in Arizona I'd have one as a track toy for sure. 

I know the seller and the cars. They are copied of the SCANDIA chassis that Bertil used to race, built in their school maintenance shop. The cars don't have logbooks or homologation papers, so W2W racing is out. They are quite "stout" for school use. Likely only good for hillclimbs or auto-x and certainly wouldn't be even remotely competitive in either in their assigned classes, but a good way to get into an open wheel car cheap. If there were still sanctioning bodies that allowed open-wheel cars at trackdays, that might be an option too, but for a couple thousand more, you can find an older formula ford and have something that would be resaleable down the road.

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

Surely this would be fun as a general HPDE car, no? 

Don't get me wrong, I'm on the other side of the country, but it seems like this would be a great way to just enjoy general non-competitive track-rattery. 

In reply to brandonsmash :

The thing I think I've heard consistently is that virtually no HPDE organizations allow open wheel cars.

Well that would be a bag of sour apples. I generally run with a private group when I do track days but it would really stink to have a track-only vehicle that's limited to only that group.

It's a mixed bag, but many track organizations do not allow open wheelers as mentioned. Having shared track with formula cars in a (very small) tin-top, it makes sense. Visibility is problematic, and I'm in a pretty slow, small car. I think with some organization most groups would be ok with the idea of a formula/prototype run group, but the demand just isn't there for them to offer that by default.

I don't think the process of getting a logbook to run one of these in FX or FC with the SCCA would be too much trouble, but they would likely be pretty uncompetitive. There are likely places to run them in vintage too. 

I wonder if WRL, would allow it, they seem to be pretty flexible, and have seen some open wheel cars on track. Other then the concern of getting it on track, which no local tracks around me would allow it, I just wonder how hard it would be to get parts for it. I am guessing they will be Solo cars. My other thought is maybe changing the bodywork to style some of the other open wheel series in SCCA would make it legal.

Every piece on the car is proprietary and built by the school mechanics. Should be easy enough to duplicate and build lighter pieces/parts and the other items are easily sourced mostly VW stuff. The engines are obviously Ford 2.0 and the transaxles are in fact Hewland MK9's. These have been used as school cars and treated like your average rental car while you're on vacation. They would need a total once-over before even considering driving them at speed. Most are running cars, some just the way they came off track, a some need mechanical attention and others are incomplete. I would suggest that if anyone is interested, reach out to Steve and go take a look at them in person. If you go so far as to look at them and are consider making an offer, think about spare parts. There are many engine pieces(cranks, heads, etc.) and I would make sure I had at least some spares for down the road.