FM For Sale… Nope… SOLD!

1996 FM For Sale… Nope… not anymore… SOLD

After racing my 1996 Formula Mazda for 4 years I’m reluctantly selling it. The car is a blast and I”m still racing it, but other interests mean that it’s time to go.

The car was raced from 1996 to 2002 and was then put in storage until I purchased it in the fall of 2009. The car has seen about 6 race weekends per year since 2010. The car was the FM NYSRRC winner 2 years in a row. The engine was rebuilt earlier this year using standard FM 13B parts, is not Drummond-sealed, and is problem-free. To give some performance perspective on the car, national level drivers turn 1:57’s in these cars on the long course at Watkins Glen.

The car has been meticulously maintained with periodic replacement of rod-ends, wheel bearings, etc. Very clean car. At a recent race at Pocono the car weighed 1361 with 2 gallons of fuel and a 205 lb driver (me). I’m 6′ 2” tall and I easily fit in this car. Support from Moses Smith Racing (www.formulamazda.com) is second to none and you won’t find formula racing class that is less expensive to maintain than an FM.

One of the most fun things about this car for me was getting seat time in a car with a gearbox design that has straight-cut gears and dog rings. I’ve had a lot of fun with heel/toe rev-matching on downshifts and also with left foot braking and clutchless downshifting in this car. It should be illegal to get in a car with paddle shifters without having the opportunity to learn down-shift rev-matching with a dog box 🙂 Obviously, the spec-racing nature of these cars makes for some great competitive racing too. These cars are a lot of fun.

A little maintenance history:

– Gearbox was blueprinted by Taylor Race Engineering (TRE) in 2010. When TRE disassembled the gearbox they called to ask some questions about it because the bearing races and other components were in such good shape.

– There are enough parts to build one complete front upright and one complete rear upright; the only thing you’ll need is one more wheel/bearing spacer.

– New fuel cell 2010

– New fire bottle 2010

– New pressure plate, flywheel and clutch disc in 2011.

– Koni shocks rebuilt 2012

– Upgraded to alloy calipers in 2012

– New paint 2012. Easy to touch up. I’ll give you the paint numbers.

– New integrated nut/cone wheel nuts on all 4 corners in 2012

– Replaced header and muffler in 2013

– New clutch disc and new safety harness (Schroth Formula) in 2013; good to 2018.

Stuff that comes with the car:

– Alignment bars

– FM car cover