Is it too late?

[Mikeanic90]

Hi all, I'm new to the site.

I'm 25 years old and don't particularly have great amounts of cash. I've been pushed down a road that wasn't really one of my choosing and now i've come to realise it's now or never to do what I love (soppy, I know). My passion is car's and more than anything driving them. Although, I don't have great amounts of expirance driving them fast or around a track, other than the odd supercar experiance here and there. I want to know, from you great people with far more knowladge than me, is it to late to persue a career either as a racing driver (my dream) or in the motor racing industry all together?

Any feedback would be appreciated more than you know.

Thank you,

Mike

[Quhet]

Try go-karting. If you're any good, go from there

[300bhp/ton]

Mikeanic90 said:

Hi all, I'm new to the site.

I'm 25 years old and don't particularly have great amounts of cash. I've been pushed down a road that wasn't really one of my choosing and now i've come to realise it's now or never to do what I love (soppy, I know). My passion is car's and more than anything driving them. Although, I don't have great amounts of expirance driving them fast or around a track, other than the odd supercar experiance here and there. I want to know, from you great people with far more knowladge than me, is it to late to persue a career either as a racing driver (my dream) or in the motor racing industry all together?

Any feedback would be appreciated more than you know.

Thank you,

Mike

Being a successful racing driver normally means lots of money, i.e. you need to have lots to do it. Racing is expensive and if you want to compete, then you need to pay.

There are exceptions to the rule. But usually these come with sponsorship, aka someone else's money. And while this will require talent, it also requires some luck, being in the right place at the right time, or simply having to right connections.

I wish you luck however. But I suspect like most of us, all you can realistically do is pursue a hobby in grass roots motorsport for the shear pleasure of taking part.



As for working in motorsport, that's much more likely. It's quite a large varied market, so you could be in a sales, marketing, engineering or something entirely different sector.

Depends what sort of things you are interested in and capable of doing and how much effort you'd be prepared to try and get somewhere.

[Ghost91]

Never too late to work in Motorsport, although racing is perhaps a bit unrealistic.

I work in Motorsport and it's not bad, I had to move to the Midlands though to be near the work. You do need to work hard to stand out/do well, but as with most things I suppose you reap what you sow.

[adsvx220]

As said above. Money is key in Motorsport. I grew up within Motorsport due to my dad being a team manager. We competed in the group N saloon series aswel as doing the will hire 24hr at snetterton.

I went karting at the age of 8 and went through the classes to race in TKM. I was quick and was mixing with the big budget boys but didn't quite have the pace to win partly due to MONEY. We didn't have the budget to test every Saturday or have engine rebuilds 2 or 3 times a year.

After a couple of years and the budget being stretched we ventured into saloon car racing, again I proved to be quick but after 2 engine failures I bottled it and packed it up as it broke me lol. Aswel as my dad being ill I didn't have the backing or cash so sold everything and stopped it altogether.

Racing was and still is my dream and I hope to one day do it again. I now have a decent job that would pay for a bit of racing but now I have a son that needs looking after so for now my passion is on hold.

If you got a spare £5k get yourself a 2nd hand kart and go karting. It's one hell of an enjoyment.

It's never too late to do things I'm 28 and I still believe I could be the next btcc champ lol.

Adam

[Mikeanic90]

I can't thank you all enough for your help and advice.

I'd love to race and I'll just have to find a way to make that possible.

Again, thank you all very much as you have kept a dream of mine alive.

Mike

[37chevy]

Depends on what you want to do....if you don't mind studying then a hnc or degree in a Motorsport related subject is ok

In terms of racing then professional it may be a bit late....but having said that there are 45 year old WEC drivers out there...takes a fair bit of money to get to that stage though.

My advice would be to just do it as a hobby and enjoy yourself.

The 2 most accessible sports you will find are karting and drag racing ( the proper type not that on the road street ste)

To start out in karting, get yourself to a local karting centre and give it a go...if you like it then go to your local track and find out what classes run there...it will usually be rotax, Tkm or maybe x30, or a national championship like easy kart....you can buy a kart for around 1000-1500...just make sure it's legal for those classes before buying it...check out karting.co.uk for loads of advice and a marketplace. If you can't afford a kart but want to race then club100 have hire karts you can race.

Drag racing takes place at Santa pod and Shakespeare county raceway....you can turn up to one of their RWYB events with literally anything as long as it's safe...most people start out using their road cars and work their way up through the classes so it's a really accessible sport and really cheep to start out in...you can even race your road car in sportsman et at an MSA national event infront of 20000 people...so really cheep to get into a decent level of events....then progress up the classes depending on your budget and desire to go faster. The racing is handicapped so slower cars get a head start meaning that any car can win...to put in perspective a mid 90s civic won the sportsman et championship this year, and it cost £3000

Adam

[ginettajoe]

Ghost91 said:

Never too late to work in Motorsport, although racing is perhaps a bit unrealistic.

I work in Motorsport and it's not bad, I had to move to the Midlands though to be near the work. You do need to work hard to stand out/do well, but as with most things I suppose you reap what you sow.

Er, I hope it isn't too late to start racing!! I didn't start until I was 37, and 32 years on, I'm still racing (at the front!! )

[RobM77]

The problem is that to succeed as a driver, motor racing normally takes money: money to get on the grid, money to be competitive and even more money to do that in a series where you'll make a name for yourself. If you want to practise regularly to get good, then you'll need even more money! Even after that, you need luck and opportunity. There are some people who make it to be a pro without those things, but it's very very rare. The other thing you really need is to start quite young, and 25 is already quite old in terms of the usual pro ladder.

I've been racing on and off since 2001 (when I was 24, so similar to you; and like most I had to wait until I had a job that would fund it) and in that time I've met some very quick drivers, many of whom have shown up established and often famous pros they've shared cars with, but to no avail. This all means nothing unless you can do this regularly and then find some way to get sponsorship, get an opportunity etc.

Right, that's the bad news out of the way! The good news is that motorsport is very prevalent in the UK and there are countless teams out there looking for mechanics to help out. At first you may survive just being bought lunch, but if you apply yourself and do well, then you could quite conceivably end up working as a professional mechanic for a team in a big championship. As you get further up the ladder in a team you are expected to work very hard indeed, but if you love racing then it beats fixing Fiestas in a leaky workshop somewhere! As an example, the best race engineer I know started working on road cars at the local Ford dealership, got a weekend job at a race team and within a few years was working in F3000. He now works restoring classic racing cars and spends his life surrounded by interesting old single seaters.

The funny thing about motorsport is that it's very quiet on the internet, but there are actually a huge number of motorsport businesses in the UK, whether it's restoring cars for people or working in a specialist area such as carbonfibre repair or engine building. Within an hour's drive of my house there's enough expertise to restore and run an F1 car - Googling will turn up nothing, but everyone's out there tucked away on industrial estates and workshops beavering away!

Back to the driving briefly: whilst it's unlikely that you'll get to become a pro (or at least a pro that pays his way), there are loads of great championships out there where you can do well on a low budget. My first foray into racing was in a Metro, and I spent about £4-5k a year all in and that was enough to run at the front, set lap records etc. Most of the people I raced against were on similarly small budgets. Club level Formula Ford 1600 is probably doable for similar money and is probably a better route if you want to progress in faster cars. With some driving experience under your belt, if you have the right aptitude then there's a fair demand for racing instructors out there, and you don't need to be an expert to supervise on corporate days. I know a few racing instructors who earn a modest but livable wage and who started racing on a low budget in club level Formula Ford or similar.

Finally, there are scholarships and competitions out there for novices and if you believe in yourself and have the money, you could try entering a few of those?

[Ghost91]

ginettajoe said:

Er, I hope it isn't too late to start racing!! I didn't start until I was 37, and 32 years on, I'm still racing (at the front!! )

I didn't say it was too late, but perhaps unrealistic! It's either an expensive hobby or you have to be very good/have good contacts for sponsorship. Not saying it isn't doable it's just not the easiest thing to get in to.

[HustleRussell]

Mikeanic90 said:

I can't thank you all enough for your help and advice.

I'd love to race and I'll just have to find a way to make that possible.

Again, thank you all very much as you have kept a dream of mine alive.

Mike

You make it sound like a distant unobtainable dream?

'All you need' to go racing is a racing vehicle and a running budget.

My advice? "Work to live, don't live to work". Find a career that pays reasonably well for the skills you have and effort you're willing to put in. Use the money to go racing.

There are a vanishingly small number of people on this earth who support themselves financially by race driving only. You'll have heard of a lot of them. I imagine even these people have a plan 'b' which'll keep them in big houses and fast cars should their racing career go tits up (wealthy family, family business, sponsorship / advertising revenues, existing investments etc). A vanishingly small proportion of those will have come from humble beginnings with little or no startup money. Those who have managed this generally got talent spotted at a young age.

Earning a good wage as a motorsport engineer or similar isn't impossible, but that's a select and heavily over subscribed patch. Being a weekend spanner monkey is not going to fund even the humblest foray into club level motorsport.

Focus on finding a career which'll enable you to live the lifestyle you want.

[shoestring7]

I'd suggest working on your personal presentation skills, do some advanced driving & track driving qualifications, then aim for a job with BMW, Porsche, Mercedes etc. as an instructor at one of their experience centres.

SS7

[RobM77]

HustleRussell said:

Mikeanic90 said:

I can't thank you all enough for your help and advice.

I'd love to race and I'll just have to find a way to make that possible.

Again, thank you all very much as you have kept a dream of mine alive.

Mike

You make it sound like a distant unobtainable dream?

'All you need' to go racing is a racing vehicle and a running budget.

My advice? "Work to live, don't live to work". Find a career that pays reasonably well for the skills you have and effort you're willing to put in. Use the money to go racing.

There are a vanishingly small number of people on this earth who support themselves financially by race driving only. You'll have heard of a lot of them. I imagine even these people have a plan 'b' which'll keep them in big houses and fast cars should their racing career go tits up (wealthy family, family business, sponsorship / advertising revenues, existing investments etc). A vanishingly small proportion of those will have come from humble beginnings with little or no startup money. Those who have managed this generally got talent spotted at a young age.

Earning a good wage as a motorsport engineer or similar isn't impossible, but that's a select and heavily over subscribed patch. Being a weekend spanner monkey is not going to fund even the humblest foray into club level motorsport.

Focus on finding a career which'll enable you to live the lifestyle you want.

This is excellent advice. Life is often down to a choice of working in an area that interests you and being paid poorly, or doing an ok but well paid job which gives you the money and time to pursue your interests outside work. The disadvantage to the former plan is that it satiates one of your interests, but if you have other interests then you may not have the money or time to pursue them as well. The other disadvantage to the former of those two plans is that if you work in an area that interests you, often it's in a mundane branch of that field, rather than one that particularly interests you. Competition is also fierce to work in cool jobs!

It's a personal decision and depends how you view the pros and cons. Personally, I experimented with both routes throughout my 20s and finally ended up with the latter option, so I now have a dull and unchallenging job from 9-5 that pays well enough for me to pursue all my interests outside work.

[Henry Fiddleton]

Hi,

My advice - this is what works for me. Might not for you, or anyone else.

Mon-Fri (or what ever work is), do whatever earns you the most. Despite how boring it is, it is a means to end.

With the money you have, go club racing - its fair to stay you are never going to get paid to race (sorry!).

Don't earn enough? That is only true is everything else is forgone to get you on track - holidays, sky TV, fancy mobiles all add up.

If you do get on track - take a step back to enjoy and then realise you are living - family, a job, kids, some racing with mates and perhaps something to with your kids as you get older.

I plan to get back into a local club racing at 32 - I still kart once a month, and have not had a race car since I was 25.

Good luck and don't mix business with pleasure!

[andrewcliffe]

You don't need a fancy car or lots of dosh to go sprinting or to compete in auto tests.

[thunderbelmont]

You said "Career".... hmmmm

How to get a £1,000,000 from motorsport...... Start with £10,000,000!!

You're never too old to go to college/uni to get a degree in the necessary technologies and work in that way.

There are very very few people that make a living from racing. Most will have some other form of income to either pay for their sport, or pay for their day to day living if they have enough sponsorship to cover their competition (which is very rare).

Good luck

[zeb]

when I was younger I was quick enough to compete at a reasonable level but had no money

Now I have money I am simply not quick enough.

There are 1000's like me I have no doubt.

But follow your dream all the same, a career in the industry should be well within your grasp with the right application.