What's stopping you giving motorsport a go?
Discussion
Sorry, I come to this thread late and as it looks rather long, I don’t know whether this basic point has already been made.
What stops most people from giving motorsport a go, I guess is money, necessary commitment and mechanical appreciation (could you prepare or maintain your own car). I wonder if these notes will be any good to anyone?
As a not-so-bright youngster but bought up on Goodwood, I read Jenkinson’s book amongst others. In it, the point is made that if man is willing to sacrifice the irrelevant stuff, he can do almost anything. This struck a cord with me, because I was penniless just leaving school etc.
So I had to decide a few things very early on quite single mindedly, and the basic one was, first off, where did I want to get to with motor racing.
In the beginning, I guess most of us need to know whether we have a good basic feel for the sport and by watching intelligently (you can see the difference between the leader and what he’s doing with the car, and the ‘losers’ and what they are doing … ) and trying simple stuff, a trip out on renta-kart. This should give you a feel for whether you are turned on to what it takes, your basic skill and competitiveness levels.
So then having decided I want to race (I read more books), I needed a car. Now I must say at that point, I could see that owning a road car, a stock-hatch in today’s jargon, would be good but limited by my mechanical application (which was poor – I didn’t want to be a mechanic, I wanted to drive/race). I also saw the value in ‘winning’ or being as successful as I could on limited resource.
So basic decision – do I own a car to race, or do I find a way of racing others by raising the money to hire or contribute?
It was the latter I chose, not just for the reasons above, but also because I thought I would never be able to wait to earn enough money to buy a car to race at a high level; in any case I thought, for sure if I buy something good, within 3 months there will be something quicker so my investment will be killed.
So I went the ‘hire’ route. I just concentrated on earning the money to go racing, networking and ‘putting’ myself about’, but not on owning any of the necessary infrastructure or race cars.
That was 40 odd years ago; (I enjoyed a wide variety of great race cars in various formulae, 3 UK championships and sufficient international stuff to make BRDC and ended up with a satisfactory ‘worldliness’ quotient for myself to die happy!).
So those early decisions were entirely right for me. Quite how they fit other would-be competitors but it does seem you need to decide very early on
- do I own a car, or do I beg, borrow, steal or hire?
And ultimately, how important is winning to you as an individual?
Single seater or Stock Hatch?
Fun or Serious fun?
What stops most people from giving motorsport a go, I guess is money, necessary commitment and mechanical appreciation (could you prepare or maintain your own car). I wonder if these notes will be any good to anyone?
As a not-so-bright youngster but bought up on Goodwood, I read Jenkinson’s book amongst others. In it, the point is made that if man is willing to sacrifice the irrelevant stuff, he can do almost anything. This struck a cord with me, because I was penniless just leaving school etc.
So I had to decide a few things very early on quite single mindedly, and the basic one was, first off, where did I want to get to with motor racing.
In the beginning, I guess most of us need to know whether we have a good basic feel for the sport and by watching intelligently (you can see the difference between the leader and what he’s doing with the car, and the ‘losers’ and what they are doing … ) and trying simple stuff, a trip out on renta-kart. This should give you a feel for whether you are turned on to what it takes, your basic skill and competitiveness levels.
So then having decided I want to race (I read more books), I needed a car. Now I must say at that point, I could see that owning a road car, a stock-hatch in today’s jargon, would be good but limited by my mechanical application (which was poor – I didn’t want to be a mechanic, I wanted to drive/race). I also saw the value in ‘winning’ or being as successful as I could on limited resource.
So basic decision – do I own a car to race, or do I find a way of racing others by raising the money to hire or contribute?
It was the latter I chose, not just for the reasons above, but also because I thought I would never be able to wait to earn enough money to buy a car to race at a high level; in any case I thought, for sure if I buy something good, within 3 months there will be something quicker so my investment will be killed.
So I went the ‘hire’ route. I just concentrated on earning the money to go racing, networking and ‘putting’ myself about’, but not on owning any of the necessary infrastructure or race cars.
That was 40 odd years ago; (I enjoyed a wide variety of great race cars in various formulae, 3 UK championships and sufficient international stuff to make BRDC and ended up with a satisfactory ‘worldliness’ quotient for myself to die happy!).
So those early decisions were entirely right for me. Quite how they fit other would-be competitors but it does seem you need to decide very early on
- do I own a car, or do I beg, borrow, steal or hire?
And ultimately, how important is winning to you as an individual?
Single seater or Stock Hatch?
Fun or Serious fun?
Simon Mason said:
This says more about you, your insecurities and your choice of competition than in does about getting started in racing.
I think if you knew me, you would know I have very few insecurities
And as for my coice of competition, I got into racing old sports cars because I like them(simple really), always will (and things with Huge V8's). I have no aspirations beyond a certain level of club racing - i.e. Plan to do one of the Big SPA Classic at some point sometime in one of my cars (that I have built - but money talks even at SPA 6 hours levels). I have not moved about from one type of car to another because I happen to love driving my TR's and the competition is bloody good (not many championships get 45 car grids at Silverstone).
I enjoy building the cars, developing the cars AND racing the cars. I will be doing the same with my next (and frankly my last competition car - I don't want to race anything else! - fia Griff200).
As for wins, lap records and fastest laps in class and overall god knows how many of these I have / had (but a stack load), not one for keeping huge track though - I do it for FUN, but I am damned competitive (not a team player as that all just seem a total waste of time).
You just don't seen to have WON much for someone dishing out advise on driving!
jellison said:
Simon Mason said:
This says more about you, your insecurities and your choice of competition than in does about getting started in racing.
You just don't seen to have WON much for someone dishing out advise on driving!jellison said:
Simon Mason said:
This says more about you, your insecurities and your choice of competition than in does about getting started in racing.
I think if you knew me, you would know I have very few insecuritiesAnd as for my coice of competition, I got into racing old sports cars because I like them(simple really), always will (and things with Huge V8's). I have no aspirations beyond a certain level of club racing - i.e. Plan to do one of the Big SPA Classic at some point sometime in one of my cars (that I have built - but money talks even at SPA 6 hours levels). I have not moved about from one type of car to another because I happen to love driving my TR's and the competition is bloody good (not many championships get 45 car grids at Silverstone).
I enjoy building the cars, developing the cars AND racing the cars. I will be doing the same with my next (and frankly my last competition car - I don't want to race anything else! - fia Griff200).
As for wins, lap records and fastest laps in class and overall god knows how many of these I have / had (but a stack load), not one for keeping huge track though - I do it for FUN, but I am damned competitive (not a team player as that all just seem a total waste of time).
You just don't seen to have WON much for someone dishing out advise on driving!
In a vague attempt to wrestle this back on topic, I've a few reasons why I've not given motorsport a go.
Firstly, I don't have the greatest joints in the world. I've done a bit of arrive and drive karting and my hands really can't take it. I struggle to hold something/pick it up after 30 minutes in a kart. That takes out one of the more budget motorsports out for me. I don't know what it will be like in a car, so I'm willing to give that a go. In my normal car, I have to have something that gives off no vibration whatsoever, otherwise I can't drive for long.
Secondly, Money. I'm just about to get married and then after that we plan to buy a house. I can't see me having much spare cash. I do hope to buy a car that I can trackday however and then take that to sprints etc. I reckon a BMW E30 would be the best, they are cheap and there are several series and rallys you can take them in.
Thirdly, space, I live in a flat, so I've got nowhere to store another car. I want to get a house with a drive asap, so that shouldn't be an excuse for long.
Firstly, I don't have the greatest joints in the world. I've done a bit of arrive and drive karting and my hands really can't take it. I struggle to hold something/pick it up after 30 minutes in a kart. That takes out one of the more budget motorsports out for me. I don't know what it will be like in a car, so I'm willing to give that a go. In my normal car, I have to have something that gives off no vibration whatsoever, otherwise I can't drive for long.
Secondly, Money. I'm just about to get married and then after that we plan to buy a house. I can't see me having much spare cash. I do hope to buy a car that I can trackday however and then take that to sprints etc. I reckon a BMW E30 would be the best, they are cheap and there are several series and rallys you can take them in.
Thirdly, space, I live in a flat, so I've got nowhere to store another car. I want to get a house with a drive asap, so that shouldn't be an excuse for long.
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