Gettin into Motor Racing
Discussion
So I would like some idea from those who have been there and don it. Whats the cheapest way into motor racing - I long to race Caterham sevens but im still trying to get enough for a superlight - but in the mean time there must be cheaper forms of weekend racin for us skint ones out there. I did a couple of seasons of mini bike racin on the pretence that it was cheap, £6000 a season later im wondering if theres some four wheel action available for a similar budget. I found my self travelling around the south east and midlands chasing points on something that your kids should ride and now I wanna move on any ideas would be great the only thing im not really up for is Kart racing - I mingled aroung the pits of a few meets and the competitors all took it far to seriously - I dont want to be the next F1 promise I just wanna have fun doing what I enjoy best - trashing the nuts off someting ive got to spend the next 2 weeks fixing. So any Ideas out there.
Truckosaurus said:
If you fancy Caterhams, there is their Scholarship/Academy championship for not much more than the cost of the car (alledgedly).
Yeah, if you look into the Caterham scholarship it looks bloody good value for money to me.
Karting is bloody good fun though. There's nowt to match the thrill of the first lap. A good pukka race kart is mega to drive.
Hi,
Have a look at the ford xr challenge, fiesta challenge and mx5 challenge. There are loads of small race series similar to these which run, it all depends on what car you want to drive. Its all good close racing for not a lot of money. Theres also the locost race series, you could build your own car to a decent spec for sub £5k, or buy a second hand race car for £2-3k.
Have a look at the ford xr challenge, fiesta challenge and mx5 challenge. There are loads of small race series similar to these which run, it all depends on what car you want to drive. Its all good close racing for not a lot of money. Theres also the locost race series, you could build your own car to a decent spec for sub £5k, or buy a second hand race car for £2-3k.
Motor racing is expensive, even the cheep sort 
There are some ready to go TVR Tasmin class A motors for about 5k.
my running costs this year on the tuscan are (just) under 7k
G
I think the caterham academy is about the same total cost 13-15k with the car ( which you need to build i think) and a couple of sprints races and hill climbs but i think you'd be looking at 2007 as i think 06 is full
the max5's are also a good place to start
G
There are some ready to go TVR Tasmin class A motors for about 5k.
my running costs this year on the tuscan are (just) under 7k
G
I think the caterham academy is about the same total cost 13-15k with the car ( which you need to build i think) and a couple of sprints races and hill climbs but i think you'd be looking at 2007 as i think 06 is full
the max5's are also a good place to start
G
Graham said:
I think the caterham academy is about the same total cost 13-15k with the car ( which you need to build i think) and a couple of sprints races and hill climbs but i think you'd be looking at 2007 as i think 06 is full
So long as you haven't totalled it, you have a car to sell at the end of the season, so that reduces costs.
Probably the lowest cost single seater racing in the country is Formula Vee. Cars are available from about £2k, spares are cheap, and the engine and box are strong and reliable.
I looked at this series myself, but was somewhat limited to saloons by the fact that I'm 6' 5" !!!
Do a Google for Formula Vee, if you don't want to take the plunge & buy a car, then you can rent for about £250 a race, which is very good considering that they are quicker than Caterhams etc, and only slightly slower than FF1600
I looked at this series myself, but was somewhat limited to saloons by the fact that I'm 6' 5" !!!
Do a Google for Formula Vee, if you don't want to take the plunge & buy a car, then you can rent for about £250 a race, which is very good considering that they are quicker than Caterhams etc, and only slightly slower than FF1600
Graham said:
the max5's are also a good place to start
G
Max5 is indeed a good place to start.
You can build your own car for about £5k including the base MX5, alternatively you can buy one ready to go for about £6k. A full season (15 races) will then cost about £4k plus development/repair budget.
The cars are built to last so providing you can keep it on the black stuff you could get a full seasons racing for around £10k and have £6k worth of car at the end. Rear wheel drive and full grids makes for some entertaining racing!
http://max5racing.com
>> Edited by SKR on Monday 19th September 20:27
www.selocmotorsport.com
http://forums.seloc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=36
Milltek Sport BMW Challenge (next yr it'll become a Championship) - E30 BMW 318 / 320 's. There's about 4 - 5 prepped ones for sale now from £2,500 +
Good close racing, great atmosphere, parts are plenty & cheap. You can also enter BMWRDC Kumho Championship in the invitation class so some weekends there's 4 quali's & races for about £400.
http://forums.seloc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=36
Milltek Sport BMW Challenge (next yr it'll become a Championship) - E30 BMW 318 / 320 's. There's about 4 - 5 prepped ones for sale now from £2,500 +
Good close racing, great atmosphere, parts are plenty & cheap. You can also enter BMWRDC Kumho Championship in the invitation class so some weekends there's 4 quali's & races for about £400.
You could have a look here www.graduates.org.uk
A seasons racing is around £5k with the Caterham Graduates. First 2 years I did it for less by camping and cutting down the amount of testing..and sold the car for about the same as I paid for it.
One of the big advantages is that tech support is provided..and it's a fiendly but competitive series.
We will all be racing at Spa weekend after next
This is not the same as the Academy. 12 to 14 races a year with normally one overseas circuit..but novices welcome.
A seasons racing is around £5k with the Caterham Graduates. First 2 years I did it for less by camping and cutting down the amount of testing..and sold the car for about the same as I paid for it.
One of the big advantages is that tech support is provided..and it's a fiendly but competitive series.
We will all be racing at Spa weekend after next
This is not the same as the Academy. 12 to 14 races a year with normally one overseas circuit..but novices welcome.
Hi, got 5/6 Rover 216Gtis in Welsh championship, great fun and (quite) cheap to run, prob do LMA's with them as well next year. We're taking 2/3 to our trackday at Donnington on 19th Nov. for people to experience a nice circuit on slicks with free instruction as well. We have 3 of these as hire cars but normally know of 1 or 2 for sale as well. Cheers for now,
Hi there,
I started in 2002 in the BRSCC Alfa Romeo Championship, without any mechanical knowledge, armed with a bucket full of enthusiasm!
You have the choice of front wheel drive, (Class F) Alfa 33 or rear wheel drive (Class E Alfa 75), or you can go wild in the modified classes!
My fellow competitors have been fantastic in making us welcome and helping out when we've had the odd problem - (like in my first race meeting, blowing the diff and gearbox by selecting 1st gear at Snetterton - the previous year's Champion and his mate loaned me and changed the complete gearbox on my Novice car!)
My Class F budget for the year is around £2.5k including entry into 10 or 11 races.
There are Class F 33's for sale for not much - put it this way, the car which won Class F in 2003 was recently (and may still be) for sale at £3,750!
Raced at Donington at the weekend, fastest lap in class F was 1:26.7, which isn't shabby at all.
This year we've been to Brands, Silverstone, Cadwell, Snetterton, Oulton and so on.
For 2007, there will be a new "Grass Roots" class, for modern production twin spark powered cars. The target build cost for a car is £2k, which should offer plenty in the "fun vs. £££'s" stakes.
The alfaracer.com website has the championship co-ordinators contact details, or I can pass on any info that you'd like.
Cheers and good luck!
Dave
>> Edited by superdavros on Tuesday 20th September 12:13
I started in 2002 in the BRSCC Alfa Romeo Championship, without any mechanical knowledge, armed with a bucket full of enthusiasm!
You have the choice of front wheel drive, (Class F) Alfa 33 or rear wheel drive (Class E Alfa 75), or you can go wild in the modified classes!
My fellow competitors have been fantastic in making us welcome and helping out when we've had the odd problem - (like in my first race meeting, blowing the diff and gearbox by selecting 1st gear at Snetterton - the previous year's Champion and his mate loaned me and changed the complete gearbox on my Novice car!)
My Class F budget for the year is around £2.5k including entry into 10 or 11 races.
There are Class F 33's for sale for not much - put it this way, the car which won Class F in 2003 was recently (and may still be) for sale at £3,750!
Raced at Donington at the weekend, fastest lap in class F was 1:26.7, which isn't shabby at all.
This year we've been to Brands, Silverstone, Cadwell, Snetterton, Oulton and so on.
For 2007, there will be a new "Grass Roots" class, for modern production twin spark powered cars. The target build cost for a car is £2k, which should offer plenty in the "fun vs. £££'s" stakes.
The alfaracer.com website has the championship co-ordinators contact details, or I can pass on any info that you'd like.
Cheers and good luck!
Dave
>> Edited by superdavros on Tuesday 20th September 12:13
Always worth having a look at the MG clubs and Austin Healey Club championships (AH are run through the BARC)
you can pick up good Midgets/Sprites for £3k or less and there's alot of good, close racing, it's a good place to learn and very friendly (for a race championship!)
I started off with them in 2001, had a few class wins and now I'm thinking about moving up to better, but more expensive, championships like Forumla Jedi. But MG's can move up to MGB's and the Healey class structure lets you start with Roadgoing, then semi modified, to full modified, or you can sell both kidneys and go for an A-H 3000!
for other cheap racing there's stuff like 2CV's, they are a great laugh and also surprisingly competitive, you could even do a 24 hour race at Snetterton with them!
you can pick up good Midgets/Sprites for £3k or less and there's alot of good, close racing, it's a good place to learn and very friendly (for a race championship!)
I started off with them in 2001, had a few class wins and now I'm thinking about moving up to better, but more expensive, championships like Forumla Jedi. But MG's can move up to MGB's and the Healey class structure lets you start with Roadgoing, then semi modified, to full modified, or you can sell both kidneys and go for an A-H 3000!
for other cheap racing there's stuff like 2CV's, they are a great laugh and also surprisingly competitive, you could even do a 24 hour race at Snetterton with them!
I presume it's circuit racing you are after...
If that's the case I can't really help you, but if you're after something slightly different consider two alternative forms of racing...
The guys that started our team went racing for their first season on a budget of £2k, and that included buying the car, prepping it for racing, buying a trailer and all of the entry fees...
We've pushed things a bit further with the current car, with the all in costs being somewhere between £7k and £10k (including Transit & Trailer and a years racing!)
You can easily be competitive in the sportsman classes with this sort of budget as the racing is about consistency as opposed to full bore heads up running.
Grass Track oval racing. We also run a class 2 Nova Autograss car. Once again, limited budget and plenty of competition. Autograss is one of most heavily supported classes of racing in the UK, but also once of the least known.. There are classes for everything from completely standard cars all the way through to specials running twin bike engines! And when you get to that end of the sport, the budget can be massive!
Have a look around our website for some more details and information about the two forms of racing.
HTH,
slinky
587racing.com
If that's the case I can't really help you, but if you're after something slightly different consider two alternative forms of racing...
- Drag Racing
The guys that started our team went racing for their first season on a budget of £2k, and that included buying the car, prepping it for racing, buying a trailer and all of the entry fees...
We've pushed things a bit further with the current car, with the all in costs being somewhere between £7k and £10k (including Transit & Trailer and a years racing!)
You can easily be competitive in the sportsman classes with this sort of budget as the racing is about consistency as opposed to full bore heads up running.
- Auto Grass
Grass Track oval racing. We also run a class 2 Nova Autograss car. Once again, limited budget and plenty of competition. Autograss is one of most heavily supported classes of racing in the UK, but also once of the least known.. There are classes for everything from completely standard cars all the way through to specials running twin bike engines! And when you get to that end of the sport, the budget can be massive!
Have a look around our website for some more details and information about the two forms of racing.
HTH,
slinky
587racing.com
i have seen maestros fully race prepped for around the £1K mark. yeah its a maestro but they have a competitive class in the MGCC championship and you are in a racing car so if its value for money you are after have a look around for something similar.
try the 750MC website for some more info on chepa motorsport.
caterham scholarships etc are great but the best part of £20K for the first season though you do get the car at the end of it, it seems an expensive way to start racing...
try the 750MC website for some more info on chepa motorsport.
caterham scholarships etc are great but the best part of £20K for the first season though you do get the car at the end of it, it seems an expensive way to start racing...
Totaly agree on MaX5 suggestions. It also has a very strong future which makes it reasonable sense for car re sale and investment. They will be into heats and finals next year the numbers are growing as they are, so if proper hard core close tactical racing is what you want then wont beat it.
>> Edited by Simon Mason on Tuesday 20th September 19:01
>> Edited by Simon Mason on Tuesday 20th September 19:01
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