F4 marches on?

[samier]

ok point taken, I was told by a few people who were racing in Mono 2000 that injection is not allowed which is why they changed to carbs...

Please define what you mean my original manufacturers injection system. As in what was designed for a type of engine ie a vauxhall xe, or what they used on formula vauxhall lotus, or formula 3 vauxhall engines.

Andy another point is sequential boxes are not allowed in any other class apart from bike engined cars, so that would rule out later F3 cars and FR2000.

[Nick Harrison]

The point you made was why put carbs on when it is an additional expense which must mean over and above what comes with the engine from the donor road car i.e. as per the manufacturer's (VX/Opel) standard.

If you want to put aftermarket injection on then that in itself is an extra expense and one which would probably be more than carbs.

[samier]

If I was to buy a Formula Vauxhall Lotus or a pre 2000 Dallara F3, that would come with fuel injection setup from when they were racing in the national series. To remove that setup and fit carbs would cost extra no?

I would imagine the engine would need a remap, as F3 uses higher octane fuel.

Why are sequential boxes allowed in the bike engine class and not the other classes?

I am asking these questions out of interest, I am not looking to cause fights or arguements!

[andrewcliffe]

Expense..

Most bikes come with sequential boxes, so they're kept for Mono 1200

F3 spec engines are mapped injection and ignition wise for a specific sized air restrictor, certain fuel and also a very high compression ratio compared to the basically road spec engines in the back of a Mono2000 car.

Finding people who can remap the original injection/ignition systems can be very difficult - so you either have to move over to carbs (expense) or buy a new ignition system (expense) and both will need to be setup (expense)

[Nick Harrison]

If I was to buy a Formula Vauxhall Lotus or a pre 2000 Dallara F3, that would come with fuel injection setup from when they were racing in the national series. To remove that setup and fit carbs would cost extra no?

I would imagine the engine would need a remap, as F3 uses higher octane fuel.

Why are sequential boxes allowed in the bike engine class and not the other classes?

I am asking these questions out of interest, I am not looking to cause fights or arguements!

If you look further in the regulations you will see that injection as fitted to a Formula Vauxhall Lotus when they ran in the FVL Championship is an exception and is allowed in Mono.

If you bought a pre 2000 F3 car with an F3 engine then yes you are correct you could not use the injection on any engine that you would build for Mono remembering that the F3 engine would not be allowed under the current regulations. However Mono Classic is another matter where you can use an F3 engine and its injection.

[captiv8ted]

Samier,

I wonder if you're getting some wires crossed here. There have been recent discussions here about the future of Mono 2000 / Classic being allowed to run throttle bodied injection. This of course if "having the cake" of endless tuning potential of injection and "eating" the outright power of carbs! A throttle body set up is circa £1500 though, so will be prohibitive to most I would imagine. (Plus mappping!)

The FVL for instance, came with its own purpose built injection system and non mapable ECU. Fitting carbs instead of this set up releases around 15 - 20 hp throughout the rev range, with a similar addition of torque. When I bought my FVL, the previous owner had put it back to injection for originality, but I managed to negotiate the carbs and ECU into the package. Having done one test day and a double header race on injection, I can say for definate that the subsequent fitting of the carbs has indeed added a fair amount of grunt!
But a set of throttle bodies are as I said, the best of both worlds.... but they cost - a lot!!!

[phuston]

Just on a point of interest, last time I used my trackday car it broke a spherical joint at Mallory. Obtaining a replacement took me to what used to be Hewitt Motorsport and into Everyman Racing's garage.

To my surprise the garage was mainly populated by FVLs which seem to have had their original fuel injection refitted. Some of these cars retained their Monoposto decals.

I think that this provides an answer to where old racing cars go, if they are not being wrecked in a race, they are being worn out by a race school.

From the club's point of view it is disappointing that the FVL population, once a mainstay of Mono2000, will be reduced by such use.

[AndyY]

Indeed, I believe that my old (ex Robin Dawe et al) car resides there.

[AndyY]

I hope that the club have noted the discussions going on about the future of FF1600 wrt Kent Vs Duratec engines (see Autosport 6 Nov 2008). It will surely have an affect on Mono 1600 (and maybe Mono 1800) in one way or another. Best to plan, somehow, for the inclusion of Duratec cars to the same regs as F Ford and/ or Club FF1600 in the near future? I don't see the point in doing something different.

[AndyY]

Please have a look at this thread on "Ten-Tenths", and in particular, Post No. 34:

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthr ... ost2352129

I don't think its for me to keep trying to defend/promote Mono against F4 anymore, its up to one of you guys to take up the cudgels!

[tristancliffe]

Looks like I'd already taken the bait!