Formula 1000

Since graduating I've wanted to build a project car. With the '07 Car there were a lot of compromises that had to be made, and some just flat out bad decisions. It wasn't what it had potential to be. So on one hand I've wanted another crack at it. On another hand, going to town on my 2007 Nissan 350z isn't really an option. Don't have an alternate car to drive, I need something that's not a complete race machine for daily driving, and don't feel like buying another car to work on.

Enter F1000. Single seat open wheeler, 1000lb minimum weight, 1000cc sportbike motor. Some aero allowed. Basically a double scale FSAE car. I could just buy one, for example this excellent Stohr vehicle.

STOHR CARS HAVE WON SIX CONSECUTIVE DSR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.
IN 2007 WE HAVE FORTY TWO NATIONAL EVENT WINS AND
NINETEEN NEW TRACK RECORDS.

But what fun would that be? Plus, buying a full car is F expensive... and being the overconfident jerk that I am, I figure I can do better. I can do some design for now, which will at the very least keep me busy. From there I can get an estimate on what it will take to build, and make the call as to committing the time and resource to fabrication. Instead of taking the normal formula car approach, I'm taking it back old school for inspiration.

Allow me to introduce the 1970 Ferrari 312B, Formula 1 car. It's something different, and I think it looks tight. There may actually be some benefits to this general design (a tube!) Given the relatively low horsepower of these cars, getting rid of the sidepods will significantly cut down on frontal area and might up the drag-limited top speed. Again, with low engine output power I have no need to house enormous radiators in sidepods, and the oil cooling is taken care of on the stock engine configuration. The scoops you see poking up just under the rear wing on the original are for oil coolers... though on mine I will likely use this area for the coolant radiators (radiator on the original being up in the open nose). F1000 does allow an underbody, which I can probably get away with by using a rigid piece of carbon or s-glass.