What's stopping you giving motorsport a go?
Discussion
Big Rod said:
I have a track day project and the only thing stoping me from getting it to the track is the fact that I'm restricted WRT working on it because the garaged is right next to my 3 year olds bedroom.
Just means I have to use my power tools quietly!!
cant you train him to help?Just means I have to use my power tools quietly!!
money... dont have any. That said i do want to enter one or 2 hillclimb events next year, since i only need to get a helmet and i'm pretty much good to go.
but I'm involved in motorsport anyway through marshaling - I'm on the bank at a hillclimb, sprint or track most weekends from March to October, plus plum pudding on Boxing Day.
but I'm involved in motorsport anyway through marshaling - I'm on the bank at a hillclimb, sprint or track most weekends from March to October, plus plum pudding on Boxing Day.
Talent!
I regard myself as a (really quite) good 'motorist' but i don't think i am a racer. and to be honest i am not a 'sporting' person...but once i have got a new house and room for the £500 primera eGT track car i would like to get i will probably to some trackdaying..(which isn't m-sport as has been stated).
i am a
and a spectator not a racer i think.
I regard myself as a (really quite) good 'motorist' but i don't think i am a racer. and to be honest i am not a 'sporting' person...but once i have got a new house and room for the £500 primera eGT track car i would like to get i will probably to some trackdaying..(which isn't m-sport as has been stated).
i am a
and a spectator not a racer i think.Money.
If you want to be competitive it can be pretty expensive. Spent a season in Senior Prokarts at club level and reckoned it cost £300 a race between servicing, broken bits and slicks at £100+ for a set of 4 which go off after 3hrs or so on track. This wasn't including the capital cost of the kart.
If we ran in a 6hr enduro there were teams that thought nothing of using £300 worth of tyres during that race in order to keep on the pace. We, on the other hand, made our £100 set last the entire race. The bottom line was that even at club-level you'd have to be Michael Schumacher on perception-enhancing drugs to be at the front on a limited budget. The team we bought the kart from had a budget of £10k to run a single kart in one season of Scottish club enduro!
Club-level sprinting is cost-effective and fun. More adrenalin-rush than a trackday, less fuel and wear on the car, and usually cheaper to enter. Might do a few next year. Might even go to the hillclimb school at Gurston Down as well and rag the Corrado up the hill.
If you want to be competitive it can be pretty expensive. Spent a season in Senior Prokarts at club level and reckoned it cost £300 a race between servicing, broken bits and slicks at £100+ for a set of 4 which go off after 3hrs or so on track. This wasn't including the capital cost of the kart.
If we ran in a 6hr enduro there were teams that thought nothing of using £300 worth of tyres during that race in order to keep on the pace. We, on the other hand, made our £100 set last the entire race. The bottom line was that even at club-level you'd have to be Michael Schumacher on perception-enhancing drugs to be at the front on a limited budget. The team we bought the kart from had a budget of £10k to run a single kart in one season of Scottish club enduro!
Club-level sprinting is cost-effective and fun. More adrenalin-rush than a trackday, less fuel and wear on the car, and usually cheaper to enter. Might do a few next year. Might even go to the hillclimb school at Gurston Down as well and rag the Corrado up the hill.
greenBo**ox said:
im only a student and dont want to trash my car, but my dad does hill climbing and i take part every so often with a bit of ££ bribing.
its a great sport, highly recommended, probably one of the cheapest forms of motorsports to get into(depending what you drive).
Sprints are basically the same as hillclimbs but typically with less scenery so they tend to be safer and cheaper.its a great sport, highly recommended, probably one of the cheapest forms of motorsports to get into(depending what you drive).
I can't wait til next year
Okay lets tackle a few things here regards the normal excuses rolled out why you can't get involved with motorsport
No Car
Yes you have use the one you have sat in the driverway if it is road legal then you can easily enter a navigation rally
No Money
Entry fee for a navigation rally or an autotest is about £15
No time
Ballocks you just don't have the motivation
The best starter motorsports are
Navigation rallys where you have to navigate between a load of checkpoints and you have to arrive within your control time with an average speed of 30mph which sounds slow but you might have ten minutes to cover 5 miles but you also have to work out where you are going from the clue you get. Any car can be used all you need is a decent navigator. http://www.admc.org.uk/navigation2.htm
Autotesting you have to get round a very tight course of cones using forwards and reverse against the clock. Loads of handbrake turns and reverse spins needed. Ideal car for this is a mini but any small hatchback is god with some old tyres on the back and some sellotape over the handbrake release button. Or for rearwheel drive many things are suitable old beamers, mx5s, kitcars basically anything. A decent autotesting car can easily bought for about £500 what we do is we get MOT failures and we thrash them till they die http://www.autotest-scotland.co.uk/
Autosolo similar to an autotest but more open course and something similar to an elise or hot hatch is perfect for this
Hillclimbing/sprinting a bit more costly as you need to buy a race suit and a helmet get a licence etc but the only mods to the car is a sticker on the ignition for off and a beambreaker on the front which can be made of cardboard.
Offroad trialing is also cheap you can buy a trailer for a few grand and it will be competitive or if you have a half decent 4X4 then you can enter an RTV road taxed vehicle trial which is round an offroad course. http://www.lrfaq.org/FAQ.5.clubs.uk.england.html
If you do trackdays then all of the above should work out no more then a few trackdays. Go look up you local car club and see what they have going on
No Car
Yes you have use the one you have sat in the driverway if it is road legal then you can easily enter a navigation rally
No Money
Entry fee for a navigation rally or an autotest is about £15
No time
Ballocks you just don't have the motivation
The best starter motorsports are
Navigation rallys where you have to navigate between a load of checkpoints and you have to arrive within your control time with an average speed of 30mph which sounds slow but you might have ten minutes to cover 5 miles but you also have to work out where you are going from the clue you get. Any car can be used all you need is a decent navigator. http://www.admc.org.uk/navigation2.htm
Autotesting you have to get round a very tight course of cones using forwards and reverse against the clock. Loads of handbrake turns and reverse spins needed. Ideal car for this is a mini but any small hatchback is god with some old tyres on the back and some sellotape over the handbrake release button. Or for rearwheel drive many things are suitable old beamers, mx5s, kitcars basically anything. A decent autotesting car can easily bought for about £500 what we do is we get MOT failures and we thrash them till they die http://www.autotest-scotland.co.uk/
Autosolo similar to an autotest but more open course and something similar to an elise or hot hatch is perfect for this
Hillclimbing/sprinting a bit more costly as you need to buy a race suit and a helmet get a licence etc but the only mods to the car is a sticker on the ignition for off and a beambreaker on the front which can be made of cardboard.
Offroad trialing is also cheap you can buy a trailer for a few grand and it will be competitive or if you have a half decent 4X4 then you can enter an RTV road taxed vehicle trial which is round an offroad course. http://www.lrfaq.org/FAQ.5.clubs.uk.england.html
If you do trackdays then all of the above should work out no more then a few trackdays. Go look up you local car club and see what they have going on
I've done a handful of sprints over the years.
As with all things, practise is key and driving ability is the best way to get quicker times.
The problem I have is that my car is very standard and bare in mind that everything on it is 12 years old, including springs and dampers. To compete against other similar cars, I do need to spend some money.
My times have been respectable, matching and even beating some 'higher specced' cars but falling short of the seriously modified ones. Which is frustrating, as I like to win or at least to challenge with front runners in any competition I enter.
As a result, my sprinting days are currently on hold as I'm raising a young family and those £1500 nitron shocks that I yearn for are unfotunatly not where my money is needed at present. Add better brakes and more tracktime and the cost for me appears to be the only barrier.
I'm hoping that I'll be in a position to get my car properly set up sometime in the next couple of years, so I can return to sprinting with the enthusiasm that I first had as a wet behind the ears lad, when I didn't know how much money others actually spent in speccing their cars for this entry level motorsport.
I will be back.
Back in the heyday..
As with all things, practise is key and driving ability is the best way to get quicker times.
The problem I have is that my car is very standard and bare in mind that everything on it is 12 years old, including springs and dampers. To compete against other similar cars, I do need to spend some money.
My times have been respectable, matching and even beating some 'higher specced' cars but falling short of the seriously modified ones. Which is frustrating, as I like to win or at least to challenge with front runners in any competition I enter.
As a result, my sprinting days are currently on hold as I'm raising a young family and those £1500 nitron shocks that I yearn for are unfotunatly not where my money is needed at present. Add better brakes and more tracktime and the cost for me appears to be the only barrier.
I'm hoping that I'll be in a position to get my car properly set up sometime in the next couple of years, so I can return to sprinting with the enthusiasm that I first had as a wet behind the ears lad, when I didn't know how much money others actually spent in speccing their cars for this entry level motorsport.
I will be back.
Back in the heyday..
Edited by lazyitus on Saturday 10th November 09:58
I had every intention of doing some track days as a "starter" in motorsport.
problem is every time I set aside the money or time to put my car together, something happens.... New baby/ marriage / new company venture.
My situation is a little different from most here, and my missus might get a bit peeved if I spent any more time at race circuits......
problem is every time I set aside the money or time to put my car together, something happens.... New baby/ marriage / new company venture.
My situation is a little different from most here, and my missus might get a bit peeved if I spent any more time at race circuits......
Spent 13 years either drag racing myself (bikes) or as crew on drag racing teams , all at ACU National level.
To compete in a years racing you need a half decent van and a caravan , tools , generator , compressor , decent awning , etc etc even before you get to the race vehicle itself
The "support" side of my racing cost me at least £3k per year before i had entered a race
Then each race meet was around £100 entry plus fuel there and back and fuel for the gennie, food and beer for you and at least one crew member so a budget of £500 per meeting inc race fuel and nitrous
Note we still havent got to the race vehicle itself yet .......
I built a cheap entry level bike for the slowest class in "heads up" racing , capable of mid eights without breaking every run, that cost around £12k plus another £5k for the spares back up needed, add another £700 or so for clothing each year.
In 2005 there were (7) national events. I missed one due to holiday and one was a total loss due to weather still paid to enter though, another one the bike broke and i didnt qualify which left 4 meets where i raced
Of those 4 meets i probably averaged 7 x 1/4 mile runs over the space of the weekend so a grand total of 28 runs in competition. I also did two testing weekends where i did perhaps another 15 runs so a seasons total of 45 runs or so that comes to less than 7 minutes on the bike!!!! For 2006 the powers that be reduced the number of national events down to 6.
At the end of 2005 the bike needed another 3 or 4 thousand spent on it plus the other costs assosiated with racing so i worked out that every minute on my bike cost me around £2000 and then there is the time , weekends and evenings spent in the garage fixing the bike and prepping it for another meeting and if you have a family that time matters.
So in 2006 , i sold up and bought a Skyline as a track car, on my first track day (Goodwood) I spent 75 miles on the circuit it cost me about £350 for the day including fuel and i had a ball. I've since done some other track days and run the car down the drag strip a few times, on nice sunny days i can go and take the family out in it and enjoy the car with them. When i feel like it i can go for a blast in the car wheras i couldnt even fire my bike up at home.
So yeah motorsport is great but it does take over your life and truth be told the bang for the buck is lousy.
To compete in a years racing you need a half decent van and a caravan , tools , generator , compressor , decent awning , etc etc even before you get to the race vehicle itself
The "support" side of my racing cost me at least £3k per year before i had entered a race
Then each race meet was around £100 entry plus fuel there and back and fuel for the gennie, food and beer for you and at least one crew member so a budget of £500 per meeting inc race fuel and nitrous
Note we still havent got to the race vehicle itself yet .......
I built a cheap entry level bike for the slowest class in "heads up" racing , capable of mid eights without breaking every run, that cost around £12k plus another £5k for the spares back up needed, add another £700 or so for clothing each year.
In 2005 there were (7) national events. I missed one due to holiday and one was a total loss due to weather still paid to enter though, another one the bike broke and i didnt qualify which left 4 meets where i raced
Of those 4 meets i probably averaged 7 x 1/4 mile runs over the space of the weekend so a grand total of 28 runs in competition. I also did two testing weekends where i did perhaps another 15 runs so a seasons total of 45 runs or so that comes to less than 7 minutes on the bike!!!! For 2006 the powers that be reduced the number of national events down to 6.
At the end of 2005 the bike needed another 3 or 4 thousand spent on it plus the other costs assosiated with racing so i worked out that every minute on my bike cost me around £2000 and then there is the time , weekends and evenings spent in the garage fixing the bike and prepping it for another meeting and if you have a family that time matters.
So in 2006 , i sold up and bought a Skyline as a track car, on my first track day (Goodwood) I spent 75 miles on the circuit it cost me about £350 for the day including fuel and i had a ball. I've since done some other track days and run the car down the drag strip a few times, on nice sunny days i can go and take the family out in it and enjoy the car with them. When i feel like it i can go for a blast in the car wheras i couldnt even fire my bike up at home.
So yeah motorsport is great but it does take over your life and truth be told the bang for the buck is lousy.
If budget racing were more accessible here in France, I'd have been taking part for years. As it is, it seems to be an elitist thing run by the FFSA, making it impossible without very deep pockets.
There is a 206 GTi championship with some small tuning houses offering a kind of off the shelf racing product where you can take part in championship race and are provided with a support team, car, tyres, advice etc but I think it's about £800 per weekend IIRC...
I think that the enthusiasts (and there are a lot out here!) are crying out for a series like the MX5 or E30 competions as in the UK...furthermore the extreme difficulty in registering a kit car over here (and any engine tuning being completely illegal for road use) renders a fair size of a potential racing market impossible. You can buy LHD Caterhams and Westfields factory built and registered in France, but the prices are silly, regrettably!
There is a 206 GTi championship with some small tuning houses offering a kind of off the shelf racing product where you can take part in championship race and are provided with a support team, car, tyres, advice etc but I think it's about £800 per weekend IIRC...
I think that the enthusiasts (and there are a lot out here!) are crying out for a series like the MX5 or E30 competions as in the UK...furthermore the extreme difficulty in registering a kit car over here (and any engine tuning being completely illegal for road use) renders a fair size of a potential racing market impossible. You can buy LHD Caterhams and Westfields factory built and registered in France, but the prices are silly, regrettably!
V8S - don't bother with Drag racing - you can nail it from the lights on the road - pointless.
Sprinting is Ok but you are not actually racing and alot of cost per mile driven and alot of standing about.
If you can (but maybe not practical in a road car your don't really want to scrathc or possible have smashed to bits), but track racing is the only real racing out of the above lot (all on the same track at once and fighting for the same peice of track).
I await to get flamed!!
Sprinting is Ok but you are not actually racing and alot of cost per mile driven and alot of standing about.
If you can (but maybe not practical in a road car your don't really want to scrathc or possible have smashed to bits), but track racing is the only real racing out of the above lot (all on the same track at once and fighting for the same peice of track).
I await to get flamed!!
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