Formula cars are a lot of fun. And way easier to work on then a car with fenders. I was sold the first 50' I drove one, it so obviously worked compared to everything with fenders I drove before. When I got it up on a pair of sawhorses and realized I could work on the left and right sides of the car without walking around it, I got religion. Stripped it to bare metal and the nuts and bolts filled the bottom 3 inches of a small coffee can...
I bought my first FF, a Crossle 16f, for $3500. A few years later I upgraded to a Van Dieman 78, for $5500 and sold the old car for what I bought it.
It might make sense to learn on an FF for a year or two, it will cost less to fix if it becomes subject to a little abrupt wear and tear. Faster cars don't necessarily have better competition. An FF would generally be one of the faster cars at a COM event.
Your height it probably not a problem. You tailor a formula car to the driver, so new seat brackets, move the pedals around etc. It's another nice thing about formula cars.
I love shifting the Hewland in a 1600 FF. I didn't know when I started you weren't supposed to use the clutch, but one day the clutch fork broke and there I was. You really feel like your getting with the program when you learn to do your downshifts with no clutch on the way in to a turn. And when you can short shift two gears down on the way in...
I used to lend my car to other drivers ( and even corner workers... ) One day the guy's feet were a little big, but he wanted that drive - so he gave a quick look around, ditched his shoes and went in his socks! Three laps later and he was just 2 seconds off the lap record. He hadn't driven an event in may years, but the smile on his face when he got out I still remember. It was Monty Wells, our chief instructor for many years. Not many people in our club ever saw it - but I will testify he could drive the wheels off a car!
Soon to start barraging them with questions. 
