F3 Staride 500

[rolesyboy]

A mate recently bought one of these. Trying to trace/build some history on it
Anybody know anything about them?
Any clubs ? Thanks. Mark

[Pandora]

The 500 Association is still going strong. I think Starides are fairly well documented, or is it the specific chassis you are looking to track? I don't have my copy of Iota to hand, but I'm sure it's the best place to start.

Does it not come with any history? it's so much easier if you know which blanks you need to fill.

What engine has it got? and has it been changed.

(Mark will be having cold sweats over his foray into 500s! )

Al

[mk1]

Al is correct, I am breaking out in a cold sweat as I write this.

Most of Al's points are well made & accurate. The first best place to start is the 500 club. https://500race.org/

There is a section on there about Starides. https://500race.org/marques/staride/

I am sure you will find lots of helpful info on there and people happy to give advice.

But be warned! These little racing cars are VERY fragile & are not CHEAP to run. My 500 nearly bankrupted me & owning it was an almost completely miserable experience. But don't let my bad experience colour your judgement.

[maxidave]

Is it not inevitable that an engine designed to run in races of about sixty seconds is going to have issues running in longer races.Even so,the majority
of cars do seem to finish.Running on methanol they run on a far higher compression ratio than petrol engines.The speedway engine today will rev to
13,500 rpm,more if they did not have rev limiters imposed.That would be interesting in a fifteen minute race,

[mk1]

All F3 500's are limited to period correct engines & none of them rev to anything like that. A big thumpy single cylinder 500 is not a particularly revvy engine. I don't know what mine ran to as I never managed to get the tacho working

[maxidave]

I'm aware that only engines of the period can be used in 500 racing.I used 4b Japs in my grass track bikes in the seventies and early eighties,mainly
because i couldn't afford a decent Jawa or Weslake.Mike Erskine the Staride builder could be very helpful to us hard up riders.He worked out of a
Nissen type hut in West Wellow with some overhead belt driven machinery.The finished product was incredible. The 4b was a tough old engine which
would do a season without a rebuild in my hands but probably less with a quicker rider.Every meeting for the likes of Peter Collins Or Egon Muller.The
modern speedway quote was purely hypothetical but it would be interesting to try one in an historic.On a final note,I've been going to speedway since
1969 and at £17 (last Wednesday at Poole) i consider it slightly better value than several hundred pounds for the yawn fest of Formula One.

[mk1]

Too Right!

[Pandora]

I don't know what mine ran to

Distraction, as I seem to recall?

Al

[rolesyboy]

Thanks folks. He’s made good headway. We went to Zandvoort earlier this week and between that and sons of the links mentioned it turns out to be a very early car with an interest history apparently
Been hanging by the rafters in a garage for years until last year
Cheers

[maxidave]

Is it possible to see some pictures of this exciting new find.I presume it will have no engine or gearbox if it has been laid up for a long time.
I fully understand if the owner would prefer not to.