Getting into HC/Sprint Berkshire/Sussex reccomend club

[whittick88]

Hi All, I've been doing some research since getting my S2 Elise into how best to get into hillclimbs/sprints and the general consensus seems to be to firstly get a non race license and then join a local club.

I was just after some recommendations of clubs as there seem to be a lot out there! Ideally something located between Reading and Brighton as while I'm Reading based I'm trying to get my dad involved too who Lives down by Brighton.

He has suggested Bognor Regis Motor Club, are there any members on here that could give any insight?

Thanks, and sorry if this is in the wrong area.

[andylaurence]

Find what sprints are run locally to you and join the club that runs them. No point joining a club if all they run is rallies. I don't know what club is right in that area, but Sevenoaks would be good further East and Bristol would be good further West. I think Brighton and Hove MC run some.

[Dan Friel]

There's some decent "starter" threads on here, for example:

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

You'll be well looked for sprint events. Some of the more local clubs:

Farnborough DMC - organise sprints around Aldershot and also part of the Abingdon sprint set up.
Bristol Pegasus / Bristol MC - events at Castle Combe / Llandow / Hullavington
Bognor MC / Brighton - Goodwood

However, if the club you join is part of the ACSMC (have a read just to be sure) you should get an invite to any of the sprint events in the south.

I would get to a couple of events and have a chat to some of the competitors. A non-race licence is cheap and straightforward. You will need some basic safety gear (helmet, nomex overalls and gloves). There is no shortcut, you need to have a decent read of the MSA regulations.

[whittick88]

Cheers Dan, just the sort of information I was looking for

[teletubby]

You could try BARC South West Centre at Gurston Down, they even run a hillclimb school there.

[aeropilot]

Dan Friel said:

There's some decent "starter" threads on here, for example:

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

You'll be well looked for sprint events. Some of the more local clubs:

Farnborough DMC - organise sprints around Aldershot and also part of the Abingdon sprint set up.
Bristol Pegasus / Bristol MC - events at Castle Combe / Llandow / Hullavington
Bognor MC / Brighton - Goodwood

However, if the club you join is part of the ACSMC (have a read just to be sure) you should get an invite to any of the sprint events in the south.

I would get to a couple of events and have a chat to some of the competitors. A non-race licence is cheap and straightforward. You will need some basic safety gear (helmet, nomex overalls and gloves). There is no shortcut, you need to have a decent read of the MSA regulations.

This. While it's nice to be in a club that actually organise sprints, it's better to join the most local one that is a member of the relavant association of car clubs as you get the invite anyway, and you can more easily partake of regular club nights etc. As said, if all the active membership does is rallying (as mine did years ago) then it can be a bit of an issue, but these days it's might not be as it was for me back in the 80s/90s when rallying was a lot more popular. My old club now has a very diverse membership with people doing autosolo's and all sorts, so club demographics (south east clubs) have changed with the times.

[Stevemcmaster]

When I started sprinting 5 or so years back, Tunbridge Wells MC ran a great Sprint Championship which only went to race circuits. Here is a link:

http://twmc.org.uk/allcircuit/index.html

While they are based in Tunbridge, they take in circuits all over the south east and south e.g. Goodwood, Brands, Coombe etc.

And they are a nice bunch as well.

Steve