GEN3 Inaugural year…WOW !
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:56 pm
Hi everyone, I wanted to give my overview, plus thanks for a highly successful first year.
Well, it all started in the summer of 2014 with a flurry of kits being purchased / shipped…people seemed to really embrace the GEN3 engine / car update. Showing faith in SCCA Enterprises to produce a reliable, stable product. Not to say we didn’t have a handful of nonbelievers…I think the proof is the pudding at this point.
The cover of Sportscar Magazine generated some healthy buzz in and around SCCA for GEN3, when Erik and I, along with engine #100 showed up on the cover with a nice overview of what GEN3 is inside.
In my opinion, we rushed a little and it caused a few issues, starters and idle problems mostly. We are a pretty determined little company, everyone put in the effort and it’s under control and a thing of the past.
I would also like to thank each and every R&D and first conversion cars that put in the track time. Without it, I simply could not generate the data needed for PE to improve the firmware. That alone took hundreds, if not a couple thousands of combined hours, so THANK YOU!
GEN3 also had a very successful first Major’s racing season and an awesome Run Offs event, went off pretty much without a hitch. All cars on the same tune file idled pretty well and started every time. YEA ! Erik awarded the inaugural SRF3 and first time National Champion to Kerry Jacobsen, well done!
We also had the highest Major’s participation numbers if you keep us together and we were #2 and #3 if you split us….which is not really fair during this transition period from GEN2 to GEN3 as we are not solely a new class.
We saw some positive growth over-all, selling 8 new cars, with potential to deliver 6 more by years end. This is our best new car sales in years, plus, used GEN2, and even a couple of original Renault’s are selling at good value, with early trading of GEN3’s shows SRF to be the safest financial investment of any purpose built racing car.
OK…I’m not trying to say the year was perfect…a few customers proved you can break one if you try hard enough, over heated engines, a couple of damaged and repaired head gaskets, lots of installation errors, one engine burned pistons (looked like poor fuel), badly mechanically over rev’ed engines (9000 plus rpm), resulting in a couple of spun rod bearings / broken rods. On the bright side, we feel like we have the root cause for each failure, with a couple we still want to look at closer.
We also had some minor on track issues between SRF / SRF3, nothing like what people predicted, I believe the level of driving talent in SRF / SRF3 to be one if not the best in the SCCA over-all...
However, just a reminder…. if you are new with a GEN3 and find yourself at the front of the GEN2 race please be courteous, don’t race the GEN2’s. That also goes for the new GEN2’s as well, if you see a GEN3 or the group of GEN3’s approaching let them have a clean race as well. We are serious racers on track and still one happy family in the paddock….let’s keep it that way, you never know who is watching.
We also put on one of the best class specific multi day /track / open tire test anyone has ever seen, 4 tire companies eagerly competing for our business. That says a lot about the future of SRF. When the dust settled / scores totaled…it was Hoosier. Several of our best, along with a handful of “average” drivers took part in the decision. I know we will not please 100% of our class, but everyone that tested agreed the Hoosier was the best overall tire for our class. Time will tell!
Now some thanks to everyone that helped and continues to do so.
Early on, I went to various new car dealers with a tape measure, checking the length of engines, laid out the conversion plan, made the first contact with Ford, Erik took the ball and ran with it !
Jerry some, Nikki mostly arranged and helped make the deals with venders, also to finalize all the custom parts. Have a look at a GEN3 engine, lots of custom parts that make it a really nice conversion.
Extra plug to “Ford Performance” (formally “Ford Racing”)….we wouldn’t have been able to finish the project without the custom tooling for the intake manifold and timing belt cover.
Jake, for his dedication to nearly identical assembly of each engine.
Shannon, for Dyno’ing and holding the HP window of about 260 plus engines within 1.8 HP.
Nikki also does double duty trying to keep all customers with deposits in line and on time.
Erik, the captain of our ship, for giving us the freedom to let each of us do our part, while navigating us through the pit falls and short comings of the project.
SCCA Enterprises BOD for some valuable input & being confident in me.
SCCA Inc. for believing in us to bring a reliable, economical update kit to market, and providing life for SRF/SRF3 for the foreseeable future.
Yep….the small group at SCCA Enterprises, went from an idea, to where we are today in about 3.5 / 4 years…That’s just awesome.
The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades….or something like that….Here’s looking to 2016 ! Let us all join hands and put on a show for the rest of the SCCA….Amen!
Well, it all started in the summer of 2014 with a flurry of kits being purchased / shipped…people seemed to really embrace the GEN3 engine / car update. Showing faith in SCCA Enterprises to produce a reliable, stable product. Not to say we didn’t have a handful of nonbelievers…I think the proof is the pudding at this point.
The cover of Sportscar Magazine generated some healthy buzz in and around SCCA for GEN3, when Erik and I, along with engine #100 showed up on the cover with a nice overview of what GEN3 is inside.
In my opinion, we rushed a little and it caused a few issues, starters and idle problems mostly. We are a pretty determined little company, everyone put in the effort and it’s under control and a thing of the past.
I would also like to thank each and every R&D and first conversion cars that put in the track time. Without it, I simply could not generate the data needed for PE to improve the firmware. That alone took hundreds, if not a couple thousands of combined hours, so THANK YOU!
GEN3 also had a very successful first Major’s racing season and an awesome Run Offs event, went off pretty much without a hitch. All cars on the same tune file idled pretty well and started every time. YEA ! Erik awarded the inaugural SRF3 and first time National Champion to Kerry Jacobsen, well done!
We also had the highest Major’s participation numbers if you keep us together and we were #2 and #3 if you split us….which is not really fair during this transition period from GEN2 to GEN3 as we are not solely a new class.
We saw some positive growth over-all, selling 8 new cars, with potential to deliver 6 more by years end. This is our best new car sales in years, plus, used GEN2, and even a couple of original Renault’s are selling at good value, with early trading of GEN3’s shows SRF to be the safest financial investment of any purpose built racing car.
OK…I’m not trying to say the year was perfect…a few customers proved you can break one if you try hard enough, over heated engines, a couple of damaged and repaired head gaskets, lots of installation errors, one engine burned pistons (looked like poor fuel), badly mechanically over rev’ed engines (9000 plus rpm), resulting in a couple of spun rod bearings / broken rods. On the bright side, we feel like we have the root cause for each failure, with a couple we still want to look at closer.
We also had some minor on track issues between SRF / SRF3, nothing like what people predicted, I believe the level of driving talent in SRF / SRF3 to be one if not the best in the SCCA over-all...
However, just a reminder…. if you are new with a GEN3 and find yourself at the front of the GEN2 race please be courteous, don’t race the GEN2’s. That also goes for the new GEN2’s as well, if you see a GEN3 or the group of GEN3’s approaching let them have a clean race as well. We are serious racers on track and still one happy family in the paddock….let’s keep it that way, you never know who is watching.
We also put on one of the best class specific multi day /track / open tire test anyone has ever seen, 4 tire companies eagerly competing for our business. That says a lot about the future of SRF. When the dust settled / scores totaled…it was Hoosier. Several of our best, along with a handful of “average” drivers took part in the decision. I know we will not please 100% of our class, but everyone that tested agreed the Hoosier was the best overall tire for our class. Time will tell!
Now some thanks to everyone that helped and continues to do so.
Early on, I went to various new car dealers with a tape measure, checking the length of engines, laid out the conversion plan, made the first contact with Ford, Erik took the ball and ran with it !
Jerry some, Nikki mostly arranged and helped make the deals with venders, also to finalize all the custom parts. Have a look at a GEN3 engine, lots of custom parts that make it a really nice conversion.
Extra plug to “Ford Performance” (formally “Ford Racing”)….we wouldn’t have been able to finish the project without the custom tooling for the intake manifold and timing belt cover.
Jake, for his dedication to nearly identical assembly of each engine.
Shannon, for Dyno’ing and holding the HP window of about 260 plus engines within 1.8 HP.
Nikki also does double duty trying to keep all customers with deposits in line and on time.
Erik, the captain of our ship, for giving us the freedom to let each of us do our part, while navigating us through the pit falls and short comings of the project.
SCCA Enterprises BOD for some valuable input & being confident in me.
SCCA Inc. for believing in us to bring a reliable, economical update kit to market, and providing life for SRF/SRF3 for the foreseeable future.
Yep….the small group at SCCA Enterprises, went from an idea, to where we are today in about 3.5 / 4 years…That’s just awesome.
The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades….or something like that….Here’s looking to 2016 ! Let us all join hands and put on a show for the rest of the SCCA….Amen!