Advice on FF1600

[Nistelrooy73]

Hi,

I have one question regarding the FF1600 cars. I have good 125cc karting experience but but never been in a single seater before. How many days of testing would you recommend before signing up to race weekends?

I am not aiming for winning the race but want to be competitive at the bottom half (1 or 1.5 sec off fastest cars). I am trying to balancing my budget for test days and race weekends, so please do not spare the tips and advice.

[BertBert]

Of course it's very hard to say. Is the car being run by people who know what they are doing so you are just concentrating on getting it round?

One of the things you need to get used to is the gearchange with the hewland box. Also do you know the circuit(s)?

I'd say if you can aim at the circuit you will be racing at first and you din't need to learn how to run the car, then at least one test day not attached to the race plus the friday test. Possibly two test days plus the friday test. It's ideal if you can get wet testing as well as dry but that is hard to plan! Being a karter though, the wet probably won't be an issue.

One thing is that I wouldn't rely on the friday test. It is very variable. Cadwell last weekend was pretty good. A couple of stoppages but good amount of track time. Silverstone a few weeks ago was a disaster. 2 quick laps in 4 sessions. The rest of the time was in and out with red flags.

Bert

[Nistelrooy73]

Thanks for the answer, the car is run by experienced team so they hopefully can teach me a thing or two. However, I am not familiar with the gearbox or the track. I am aiming for Brands Hatch, its short and therefor fewer turns to learn.

[BertBert]

So if you can, plan for two test days plus the friday before the race test.

And all you need to do for the first race is get round in a reasonable time, not miss too many gears and not buzz the engine!

Watching the HSCC ff1600s last weekend there was a big range of skills. The front boys were really on it and the guys at the back could have walked round quicker! Also there were missed gears throughout the field.

Maybe just enter, do the friday test and wing it! As they say these days YOLO

Bert

[RobM77]

I agree: two or three tests followed by the full race weekend including the Friday test. That's what I did when moving from Caterhams to 750MC Formula 4. The four speed box in the FF1600 is much easier than the 5 speed I was trying to grapple with, so I think you'll be fine. I would expect it to take a few races and perhaps a total of 7 or 8 outings to start to feel at one with the car like you probably do your go kart though. Don't be too downhearted if you need two seat fittings either; depending on the chassis you're racing, FFs are pretty small inside and it's really tricky trying to get comfy enough to drive them to the best of your ability.

[andrewcliffe]

You could also enter car into Monoposto races for a bit of extra track time.

I would say a test in advance at a shortish circuit (silverstone national, mallory, brands), where you get a lot of laps per session. Learn the car and you've got time to fix any little problems.

Then a test the day before your first race to get into the rhythm and then take it from there.