A dubious self-build racing plan

[Grant.C]

I'd like to get into club racing but have significant constraints, the biggest being lack of money, a place indoors to store a car, and anywhere to keep a trailer.

You may have seen my other thread where I asked about arrive & drive options. Now I'm exploring the build route. I've never done anything more than change a wheel, but I'd like to and I think the main bits are within my grasp. I'd do it over a longish period, learning as I go and buying things as money allows. If I never make it as far as racing, hopefully I'll have enjoyed the process and I'll be able to recoup some of my money. I've already got my licence and fireproofs so it's the car next.

Plan looks like this:

1. Buy a donor car. Keep it road legal for the duration.
2. Do what I can in the driveway over the next year or so - stripping, brakes, suspension, etc.
3. During this time, do track days, maybe try a hill climb or two, driving the car to the track.
4. If I bit in/break down, get it towed home.
5. Get the difficult bits such as roll cage done professionally.
6. Don't bother with anything difficult and non-essential like engine rebuilds, bushings, wiring loom (at least initially).
7. Rinse & repeat until car is race ready.
8. Go racing!

In terms of car/series my current choice is 116 Trophy, although I'm not married to it. Endurance seems cheapest, there's also a sprint option, and who doesn't want to race a bimmer?!

I'm sure there are many flaws in my plan - some of my main concerns are:

• How difficult is it to keep a race car road legal?
• Will I need to spend an excessive amount on tools?
• Am I kidding myself that it can be done without changing bushings/engine rebuild/etc?
• What if the regs have changed, series has folded/filled up, etc. by the time I'm ready?
• Will my middle-aged body be able to cope with driving a race car all over the country?

Obviously it's not ideal, but it is doable?

Thanks

[Grant.C]

df76 said:

I’ve done something similar with my Civic EP3 build. Everything I’ve done is working towards it being a race car. A front cage, extinguisher and cut off and it would be there.

Cool. Do you still intend to race it? Do you know what series you could go in?

df76 said:

However, it will be massively more expensive than buying a prepped car.. and it really depends on where you live. A race car on the road is horrible and you don’t always want to be worried about breaking down and not making it home.

Yeah getting home is a concern, but I figure I'll work out the options of getting it towed before I head out, and if it happens once or twice it shouldn't break the bank.

What makes you say building is more expensive? I've only been looking at 116s, but people reckon the build costs £8k or so whereas all the prepared cars I've seen are £12k+. I'll need to get the spreadsheet out before I make any rash decisions.

[Grant.C]

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

Personally, if you really do want to go down the self build route, I'd probably buy a road car which could lend itself to track use, e.g Clio, Suzuki Swift, mini cooper s, and get a professional to fit the cage and the minimum required safety equipment.

Yeah I'm planning to get the important/difficult bits done professionally, roll cage etc.

I can certainly see the benefit of getting something that would be more suited to the 'intermediate' phase, but the goal is still to race so it would need to be something with a series I want to race in. I've got an M140i road car that I've done some track days in, could keep doing that but it's limited fun after a while.

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

There is a cheap 206gti series as part of the track attack race club
https://racecollective.com/championships/206-gti-c...

3k gets you a car.

Interesting - can you really get one for £3k though? Most of the donor cars are that much on AutoTrader. Seems like the cost of donor car + standard safety equipment is pretty similar for most I looked at (admittedly not many). Main differences are the mandatory series equipment - shocks etc. Maybe there are people selling cheap ones somewhere, but I've not come across them.

I assume any prebuilt race cars wouldn't be road legal either, although maybe that could be sorted out.

[Grant.C]

drmotorsport said:

My 2p: While keeping a basic race car road legal is quite straightforward, it is a miserable experience driving a car on rock hard springs on the road. also seat harnesses can be a minefield with E ratings and MOT/construction and use legalities. You absolutely need a trailer because at some point the car will definitely be broken/crashed and you will need a decent selection of tools, spare wheels, fuel and race clobber with you. AA/RAC etc take a dim view of recovering cars from even outside race circuits these days.

Thanks, yes I'm also in IT. So would you need to keep a seatbelt for it to be road legal, or can you just use a harness assuming you can find one to please all the authorities?

The trouble is it's not so much a choice between getting a trailer and driving to the track, but between driving to the track and not going. I've got nowhere to put a trailer (or any way to tow one, at present). Maybe down the line that will change. I doubt I'd be doing a whole season so I'd go for the tracks nearer me to make things a little easier (Croft/Cadewll/Oulton/etc.)

I wasn't thinking to get the AA to tow me home, just paying a recovery service if & when needed.

Fitting all the gear in the car could be a challenge for sure. Maybe I need to find a series racing estates..

[Grant.C]

alisdairm said:

Sparrow Hawk did exactly what you plan to do.

Bought an MOT failed Fiesta ST and built a race car on his driveway, kept it road legal, all for nearly under £5k

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I did thanks, yes - great thread, in fact that's what made me think it might be possible without a trailer and garage. That guy seems to know a lot more about building cars than me though!

I've seen a few build videos/threads. Sometimes they fill me with hope, sometimes with despair..

[Grant.C]

pablo said:

Given you’re Yorkshire based, why not head over to Harewood and do some hillclimbs for a year or so. You can be competitive in a road legal car and it’s not expensive. I’d look for a clip 182, build it up to the 750MC regs but run it in modified production albeit on 1c tyres (rather than slicks).

That way you’re not up and down the country each week and when time and funds allow, you have a pukka race car eligible plenty of series from CSCC, track attack, 750MC etc etc

That's more or less my plan - yes Harewood's where I'd go for hill climbs, mixed with track days (so I can learn the tracks I'll hopefully be racing on). I'm not planning on really getting into hill climbing though, I don't expect to be competitive or anything.

A Clio would be good, they seem pretty pricey though, like £5k+ for a 182 - turns out you can get a 206 GTi race car for that!

[Grant.C]

LennyM1984 said:

I'm not sure what your budget is but have you considered a Ginetta G40 GRDC/Cup? I picked one up for £12k.

ETA: I've recently bought a trailer (I was renting them before) and will be storing Car + Trailer together for £120 a month (we already have too many cars on the drive and my dad was moaning about me taking over his garage space).

That does sounds pretty good value, about the same as most of the 116/MX-5 race cars I've seen. Unfortunately I don't have £12k though.

Car storage is something to consider, if I could find something close by it would give me more options. I think it would use too much of the already limited budget though.

[Grant.C]

drmotorsport said:

I guess you could keep the OEM seatbelt in as well as harness subject to pretensioner/airbag lights not going off. However i doubt a regular 3 point seatbelt would fit correctly around the wing on a modern race seat. IIRC you need an E marked race harness to be road legal - surely the rally boys have found a solution for that side.

Yeah I've been having a look at harnesses and general race car MOTs. It seems like harnesses need to meet a BS standard to pass the MOT, and 'E' mark to be road legal, so should be OK if you can find the right one.

General MOT seems more up to the tester, there are clauses which allow for standard equipment (airbags etc.) to be removed in some cases with the example of rally cars driving between stages being given. It seems race cars probably come under this but it's not black and white. Some people seem to make it work though, including our man in the Fiesta.

MOT time with a Rally Car/Race Car/RallyRep etc?
Racing harnesses for road?
MOT Requirements for Seatbelts and Harnesses

[Grant.C]

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

there is a cheap 206gti series as part of the track attack race club
https://racecollective.com/championships/206-gti-c...

3k gets you a car.

I've been looking into this, seems it is possible to get a 206 GTi race car for the Track Attack series for under £4k. This is now Plan A.

[Grant.C]

df76 said:

This meets both requirements https://www.schroth.com/en/racing/street-legal/det...

Thanks, looks like that's the harness for me.

[Grant.C]

Kickstart said:

What about buying a really good system to go virtual racing instead, I appreciate its not the real thing but its doable, fairly cheap and you can be up and racing in a few days.

Way ahead of you there! I started sim racing a few months back. I am enjoying it, and plan to continue whatever happens IRL. I'm at the point though where the next step is more serious money on a direct drive wheel and so on - but if could put that money towards racing IRL instead, I'd rather do that.

[Grant.C]

CanoeSniffer said:

£12k is insane money for an MX-5 or 116i, even fully built. Where have you been looking???

There are actually quite a few series where cars can be had for sub £5k, MX5s, MR2s, Clios are all popular.

Mainly Facebook groups. I've started to look around though, and yeah it seems there are a few that can be found for £5k and under. The trouble I think is like you say, many of them aren't publicised - Racecarsdirect.com has a few though.

This is good news - puts my plans back a bit while I save up for a higher initial outlay, but it will be cheaper overall and I'll be racing sooner.

I'll need to start checking out a few more series. It would need to be a tin top, ideally RWD - maybe MR2s, I used to drive a Mk2. BMW Compact Cup also looks interesting, I saw one of those for £6k. I suspect the most budget end will be all FWD, but that's OK - I don't really mind at that point, whatever's cheapest.

[Grant.C]

STORM22 said:

Grant.C did you find a suitable race series? If you are still considering options I can recommend the RX8 Trophy run by the CSCC:
https://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/rx-8-trophy

Hi Storm, no not yet. Well there are a few suitable series, it's the road-legal race car part which is more of a challenge.

RX-8 Trophy looks very interesting, could have been designed just for me in fact. Relatively cheap RWD car with simple build which is road legal, sign me up! I can even listen to the stereo on the way to the track. :-) 230BHP seems kind of spicy for a novice racer though.

Are you guys at Snetterton in a couple of weeks? I might come down and check it out.

What are the down sides - do people end up getting towed home much? What's the reliability of the RX-8's like? I guess it goes through the consumables fairly quickly.

[Grant.C]

Duke Caboom said:

I have driven road cars to compete in sprints and Hillclimbs and some forms of rallying, on and off, for may years.

When you are far away from home you are always conscious that an accident or break down would be very difficult.

Yeah I appreciate it's not ideal, but I'd rather be worried about getting home than not racing. I'm planning to stick to more local rounds, initially at least. My plan is to get some recovery company details ahead of schedule and hope one of them can take me and the car home if the worst happens, which I reckon will be £300-odd.

[Grant.C]

Following the advice of the learned PH community I've acquired a pre-raced RX-8 which I'm hoping to run in the CSCC RX-8 Trophy:



It needs some work as things are out of date and it's not currently race-spec, but hopefully it's stuff my minimal spannering skills can cope with - hard bits like roll cage and wiring are done.

Good thing about this series is the cars are road legal and minimally modified (standard shocks, still has stereo, etc.), which should make driving to the track less of a chore.

Wish me luck!

[Grant.C]

Finally did my first race at Mallory Park at the end of August.



Took longer than I'd expected to get the car ready - even to get it past the MOT. It had been used as a track car for the last 2-3 years and there had been a number of changes (and some crash damage) that meant it was no longer road or race legal. I ended up changing the exhaust, fitting a new seat, fixing the bumper, changing brake pads, fitting a battery isolator, and about 100 other things. I just managed to get the bare essentials done in time for the race. It certainly stretched my mechanical abilities but I got through most of it via YouTube and some advice from the other drivers on Facebook. It's been a good learning experience though, I certainly know a lot more about cars than I did when I started.

Buying a pre-raced car was a good way to go, would have taken a whole load of extra time and money to convert a road car, and I'd have had to pay other people to do that hard things. I'd still like to give that a try at some point in the future though.

The race itself was fun, although again there's a lot to learn and take in. I qualified last, but managed to keep it on the track so at least I finished ahead of the people who crashed! :-D I've got another race in October so I'll have time to sort out some of the the non-essentials and see if I can be closer to the pace at that one.