Be honest...how good are you?

[hifihigh]

zip929 said:

I recall many years ago a top racer said most joe bloggs would keep up with a racer on the slower corners, it is the fast 100mph corners that sort out the proper racesrs from the wanabees. Not many people have the balls to go round a corner at 150 mph + pulling several G.
It's like a fairground ride that could go terribly wrong!

I'd agree with this. I suppose the first time i realised I wasn't going to be the next Nigel Mansell was at a kart test at the tilbury circuit. The other driver there was taking the first corner flat out, the guy who's kart it was was telling me it was a flat out corner, but no matter how much I tryed to psyche myself up I would chicken out and lift off.

[andy97]

Money and opportunity are a large part of it, but talent is still necessary no matter how well off you are.

I'm a 16 handicap golfer and escribe myself as a 24 handicap racing driver. No amount of money will really change that significantly. OK, if I was better off I'd be able to afford to test and get coaching, and buy new tyres but I doubt I'd improve enough to be at the front of the grid. I just enjoy what i do, at the level I do it at.

A few years ago (pre Snett 200 & 300 changes) I think a good time in Brit F3 around Snett was about 1 min 01 from memory. The back of the grid was 1 min 02. In contrast the lap record in Monoposto 2000 (largely similar F3 based cars (alveit at 40mm ride height) was about 1 min 07 (again from memory). That shows the difference between "professional racers" and very good club racers.

[P I Staker]

I dont know yet, I've been Karting three or four times and beat all my mates (Doesnt mean much though). I did a rally experience at Knockhill and was told by the instructor I have the 'basics to become a very good driver' and that was the first time I had ever pushed on in a car that wasn't a Land Rover.

My mates say I'm a good driver, on a back road driving the Defender I can lose my mate (He drives a classic Mini) and another mate with a 1.8 Audi A3 said he was pushing to keep up. Although you probably wont take me seriously when I say that.

I have done an Autotest, the guy that sat in with me said I was good for my first time and had potential with more practice. After one particular run I stopped at the finish look over and he was holding his hand to his chest saying he thought he was going to have a hart attack.

I have a strong desire to get in to rallying, driving fast on the road is fun but I enjoy competition and really want to see what I am capable of doing driving a properly prepped car without having to worry about traffic coming in the opposite direction.

I am looking to start auto cross soon and will be sharing a car with my mate. If I could afford rallying I would do it but this should be the next best thing and will hopefully set me up with some of the skills I will need if I ever get the money to go rallying.

Also I am 17 and have had my license for a bit over 4 months, been driving offroad since I was about 7.

[acf8181]

brierleys said:

Get yourself booked into a Club 100 race. They have every ability from beginners through to British champs, ex-super 1 drivers and even the odd appearance from current professional drivers. You'll soon find out where you fit in that range.

Yep....i'm in the A final 'teen' places! However, i turn up cold to the sprint races, rather than doing testing and/or enduro the day before! So i'd say i'm respectable.

[Tet]

Honestly? I'm a competent amateur. Take any random selection of people, and I'll almost certainly beat them. But I've been on enough kart tracks with people that really know what they're doing to know that I'm nowhere near the top. I can keep up for a few laps, but it's not long before I'm left in the dust.

[intrepid44]

Well, I can beat people that have done Super 1 and Formula 3 in the BUKC, as demonstarted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZGH9kZWwsA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5_vjF7OGvA

Make of that what you will .

[thunderbelmont]

I'm with Graham - faster than my budget!! If I had the money for someone else to prep and run my cars, and the time to go testing, I'm sure I could apply myself better!

It's all about bum in seat time, and mine hasn't been in the seat enough for a long time.

The last time I raced at Cadwell, I was in an unfamiliar car, on unfamiliar tyres, no testing, and only three laps of qually!! I hadn't raced there in five years. First race was one of discovery, second race I knew where I was and what I was doing, and in the second race, my first lap off the start was almost as quick as my fastest lap in the first race, then my second lap was quicker by four seconds, and I was settling in. Then the panhard rod lost a bolt and my day was done. I would have been into the 1.36's, I'm sure of that. Not bad for a 1200Kg car that doesn't handle or turn right (according to Autosport).

How good am I? as good as I can afford to be.

[456lbft]

"The older I get the faster I was..", sort of sums it up for me. Still occasionally watch clubbie races and wonder how I'd go now, but then count myself lucky that I don't have the money to find out.

[Scuffers]

456lbft said:

"The older I get the faster I was..", sort of sums it up for me.

thinks that sums up most of us!

not quite too old/fat to compete yet though!

[Adam205]

I can peddle a fast car pretty quickly, but there's a lot of people that can make more of it than me. I pride myself more on being able to set my car to be quick at each event, therefore not having to rely on my confidence or talent too much! It's got me a few awards and trophies so I can't be going too far wrong!

[Jerry Can]

when i was younger i was going to be a world champ no question. I even dreamed about racing in f3 and ff because i knew that everyone else only dreamed about f1.

I'm 38 and have been on track since i was 17 and competing in cars since i was 22. As I approach 40 my racing is a little less instinctive even if the lap times are probably quicker.

I still think i can make it , but i am having the most success of my career at the moment and enjoying it more too. Although that might be down to the fact that i am spending the least i ever have.

as an aside, i'd love there to be a 'find a talent' competition based on entrants submitting their best race on youtube. So you might get someone who finished 12th, but the camera shows they are a legend, and you might get someone winning but the camera show they couldn't drive sheep. Let the vid's be judged independently select 6 for a final, and see who comes out best. Any takers?

Edited by Jerry Can on Sunday 20th May 15:57

[BMR]

I've won a couple of races, set poles and set fastest laps during races but I still feel I'm really lacking. I'm not sure if I'm just talking myself down but I always feel I could add a lot more finesse to my driving style, it's just that I know I would be to slow if I did calm it down a bit. And with lack of budget for testing I don't have time to try it out in races.

[Life Saab Itch]

BMR said:

I've won a couple of races, set poles and set fastest laps during races but I still feel I'm really lacking. I'm not sure if I'm just talking myself down but I always feel I could add a lot more finesse to my driving style, it's just that I know I would be to slow if I did calm it down a bit. And with lack of budget for testing I don't have time to try it out in races.

Sounds like some decent tuition would be a better investment than testing.

[BMR]

Thats like testing, plus paying for an instructor. I think though in all seriousness I have the fundamentals correct it's just refining a technique that makes the car handle better.

(In my first full year of racing I did get some instruction and took 1 sec off my lap times)

[mat777]

It depends what I'm racing in as to how good I am. I am quite an agressive driver - I brake at the last millisecond, throw the vehicle into corners, and stomp on the power often going a tad sideways. I'm not averse to the odd bit of paint swapping either if the gap down the inside is a bit tight. But I do have guts to take some corners speedier than more fearful folk.
As such, when I go to my local indoor kart track with the Uni motorsport soc, which has a shiny polished floor that wont bed in the tyres on the karts, I am a middling average joe and sometimes I get slower the harder I try to keep up with someone overtaking me. However, put me on a grippy tarmac outdoor kart track inh a twin-engined jobby and I can easily harrass the guys who race in club100 most weekends.
By my reckoning, this would make me a crap F! driver in delicate cars on shreddable tyres, but probably a fairly good BTCC driver

[intrepid44]

mat777 said:

It depends what I'm racing in as to how good I am. I am quite an agressive driver - I brake at the last millisecond, throw the vehicle into corners, and stomp on the power often going a tad sideways. I'm not averse to the odd bit of paint swapping either if the gap down the inside is a bit tight. But I do have guts to take some corners speedier than more fearful folk.
As such, when I go to my local indoor kart track with the Uni motorsport soc, which has a shiny polished floor that wont bed in the tyres on the karts, I am a middling average joe and sometimes I get slower the harder I try to keep up with someone overtaking me. However, put me on a grippy tarmac outdoor kart track inh a twin-engined jobby and I can easily harrass the guys who race in club100 most weekends.
By my reckoning, this would make me a crap F! driver in delicate cars on shreddable tyres, but probably a fairly good BTCC driver

Looking on the BUKC website, it appears that Bristol didn't make it through the qualifying for the BUKC/Club100 though? Unless they're doing the Rookie Champs?

Why not join them next year in the qualifiers and see how you compare to the other teams?

I do find it amazing that you're able to get an indoor hire kart power steering though (unless there's oil on the track)!

[intrepid44]

Jerry Can said:

when i was younger i was going to be a world champ no question. I even dreamed about racing in f3 and ff because i knew that everyone else only dreamed about f1.

I'm 38 and have been on track since i was 17 and competing in cars since i was 22. As I approach 40 my racing is a little less instinctive even if the lap times are probably quicker.

I still think i can make it , but i am having the most success of my career at the moment and enjoying it more too. Although that might be down to the fact that i am spending the least i ever have.

as an aside, i'd love there to be a 'find a talent' competition based on entrants submitting their best race on youtube. So you might get someone who finished 12th, but the camera shows they are a legend, and you might get someone winning but the camera show they couldn't drive sheep. Let the vid's be judged independently select 6 for a final, and see who comes out best. Any takers?

Edited by Jerry Can on Sunday 20th May 15:57

Video competition sounds interesting!

Although I'm stuck with only Club100 stuff, untill I get my race kart out with the helmet camera, which seems unlikely to be anytime soon

[pw32]

If you think you've got it, go for it. Otherwise you will always look back. That said, plenty of people take up racing later in life when the budget and time is available. I started at 32 (4 1/2 years ago) and don't do bad at National Level.

[mat777]

intrepid44 said:

Looking on the BUKC website, it appears that Bristol didn't make it through the qualifying for the BUKC/Club100 though? Unless they're doing the Rookie Champs?

Why not join them next year in the qualifiers and see how you compare to the other teams?

I do find it amazing that you're able to get an indoor hire kart power steering though (unless there's oil on the track)!

I'm not too heavily involved in the BUKC side of things but I gather that we only had enough drivers for a rookie team this year as most of our best drivers graduated last summer. I've wanted to join since year 1 but my course is too heavy for me to feel comfortable spending the amounnt of time away from work that it would require.

As for powersliding... you havent seen the state Teamsport keep their floors in!
http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5/rockin_all_...

[iva cosworth]

I got a racing licence when i was 21 to enter the then new "Road saloons" category

in my RS2000 escort.

I never raced as i sold the car when it just wouldn't work properly.

Probably saved me a fortune.

I would have been hopeless.