Favorite Vee?

[fvkartguy]

Just looking over the runoff entry list... lots of Vortechs and Protoforms, no Adams...
With all the various makes out there and all the different styles, what is your favorite type of FV and why?
Advantages/Disadvantages

[remmers]

well, the reasoning for the vortech is simple. they're the ones that keep winning... Protoforms fill up the grid because they handle well and are safe, not to mention they're very common. they're the modern day D13 with regards to how many of them are out there.

[fvkartguy]

But what is it that makes Vortechs the best?
I haven't seen any in person in Texas and they don't have a website or anything.

[smsazzy]

What makes the Vortech the best?

Simple....3 things:
1- They are light
2- They cool the heads better than pretty much anything else
3- (most important) They are driven by some of the best drivers in the country. Put Brad Stout, Steve Oseth, or Nuby in a Caracal and they'd still be at the front. Put them in a Protoform...they'd still be there....put them in a D13 and.....well, that might depend on the track.

[remmers]

they're also relatively narrow for how large a person you can fit in them, which i imagine helps out too. But yeah, the big one is the fast guys all have them.

[fvkartguy]

After just the first qualifying session, it looks like the first 10 cars are all different types with only the Vortech repeating (but still spread out by a few positions) ... And Womers in 10&11...
I'm not going to go through and make a spreadsheet of what type of car finishes where (is one of those available somewhere?) but it seems like our class really does do a nice job of putting the driver's fate in his/her own hands.
So is there any real advantage that one vee can have over another? They're all so different that it seems like one of them would have some kind of strength/weakness over the others.

[remmers]

We all have the same hefty disadvantage though. Try as we might, every last car still has those front beams punching a sizable hole in the air for someone to catch a draft from. I would imagine the only real difference between any cars is their handling characteristics and how well they can cope with not causing an even larger draft off their main body as well. (The latter being more a tactical disadvantage than necessarily a performance disadvantage)

[Doug Carter]

I don't care what car he's in, Varacins will be really tough to beat at Road America.

[fvkartguy]

YEAH!
He's consistently 1.5s faster than the next guy!

[fvkartguy]

After just the first qualifying session, it looks like the first 10 cars are all different types with only the Vortech repeating (but still spread out by a few positions) ... And Womers in 10&11...

I take that back... Charles Hearn is now in third in a Vortech. GO CHARLEY!

[fvkartguy]

I take that back... Charles Hearn is now in third in a Vortech. GO CHARLEY!

...Maybe that was early in the session.

So where does one buy a Vortech and how much do they cost?

[smsazzy]

You can buy a kit from the Jennerjahn's.

$12,500 gets you basically the frame, body work, and the fabricated parts.

All VW parts, shocks, fire bottle, seat belts, steering wheel, brake components, instrumentation, exhaust fuel cell, etc. not included.

You'll be in for around $20-25k if you do the work yourself. More if you don't already have a good motor.

[fvkartguy]

Well I tried to record the race, but screwed it up somehow.
I was a good race (for second) if you missed it.

[fvkartguy]

I've heard Varacins has some weird rear setup.
Is this true? and does anyone have pictures? What's the advantage if any?

[remmers]

He has an underside longitudinal shock setup, this lets him close off the bodywork so that he has better aerodynamics. the downside is from what i understand is it's complex and the parts required are vulnerable and expensive compared to a standard setup. Alternatively, John Caffery's old Protoform was converted to a pull-rod setup keeping the spring in the regular location. This also did the same job, but he cut the back of his bodywork off and therefore kinda negated the usefulness of the setup. Effectively it eliminates having the slots in the bodywork for the push-rods to go through and that nice big triangle in the flow of the air.

[butchdeer]

Well I guess my favorite has to be a Speedsport . There was a bit of a mix in the fight for 2nd place before the big crash. To bad the field was locke and finished under a full ciurse yellow not allowing the tipical road america last lap stratagies to take place as I suspect there may have been somthing other than a vortec filling the last 2 podium spaces.
Butch