Locost Racing Question

[sammarc]

Hi all!



I really want to start racing, and think Locost racing (750mc club)is a great way to start, but I have no hope in hell of building a car from scratch, so I think the best way for me to go is to buy a ready done one, then learn as things go wrong!



Does anyone have any advice as to where I could find a locost racer to buy, best places to look etc. and do you have any advice as to what to look out for as major things, to make sure I dont buy a complete pile of poo.



Thanks for your time and help



Stay safe



Sam

[Galileo]

Go along to several races. The Locost are next at Mallory on June 3rd. The 750club web site will tell you the rest of the calendar.

http://www.750mc.co.uk/

Talk to the drivers and teams, they'll point you in the right direction. When you find a car, ask other drivers opinion of it. Who raced it, was it any good. Has it been crashed and when. What does it need in the way of engine rebuilds etc. I did this in Formula Vee. Everyone was very helpful.



Best of luck.

[mikee boy]

Hi Sammarc



I decided to buy a previously-raced car rather than build one myself. It's probably cheaper and certainly a lot quicker in the long run.

There are usually a couple on eBay, i.e.



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Locost-750MC-Race-Car-Track-...



The results from previous races are available from the 750MC website so you can verify any claims.



Good things to have are:



Range of diffs (3.9, 4.1 and 4.4)

5 speed 'box

recent chassis

Strong engine (Brian Randall's are expensive but seem to do the trick)

Spares package for when it all goes wrong at the first or second event



A well-prepared car with all the bits will perobably come in between £4-6000.

Hope that helps



Mikee

Edited by mikee boy on Wednesday 23 May 10:30

[SimonY]

That rollcage is horrific!

[sammarc]

thanks guys - all really helpful. It's mental re-adjusting your brain to the costs of racing. Locost racing interested me because I thought it would be "low cost" but most of the cars for sale seem to be around £5k - which is a lot to fork out initially, and I might not be any good! lol



Really appreciate all the help and advice - if the other racers are as nice it should be a lot of fun!



keep the ideas coming!



thanks again!

[sammarc]

Oh yeah - 1 more question, are there any engineers or somewhere where they will build you a new racer from scratch that meets the locost racing regs? if so - does anyone know a website or contact details?



Cheers guys

[LocoBlade]

Nope, I believe that pro built / prepped cars are specifically outlawed in the regulations to keep costs down.



Have a look on www.locostbuilders.co.uk as well, there's a racers segment to the forum there so might find more people involved than on a general site like this.

Edited by LocoBlade on Wednesday 23 May 13:28

[custardtart]

Procomp build bespoke cars to compete in the Locost championship. Their cars have won it a few times too.



www.procomp.co.uk

[LocoBlade]

Hmm, Im sure I saw the regs on a website somewhere which mentioned about professionally built cars not being allowed, maybe wrong then unless Procomp etc get around it by supplying partially built kits or something?

[Simon Mason]

sammarc said:

"low cost" but most of the cars for sale seem to be around £5k - which is a lot to fork out initially, and I might not be any good! lol

Doesnt mater one bit if your any good or not, just go get stuck in and have some fun. No racing is cheap specially not in year 1 and the sooner you start the sooner you learn.

[Mark Benson]

sammarc said:

thanks guys - all really helpful. It's mental re-adjusting your brain to the costs of racing. Locost racing interested me because I thought it would be "low cost" but most of the cars for sale seem to be around £5k - which is a lot to fork out initially, and I might not be any good! lol

Really appreciate all the help and advice - if the other racers are as nice it should be a lot of fun!

keep the ideas coming!

thanks again!

Being realistic, year 1 will cost you around £10k for the car, bits, clothing, fees, accommodation and a budget for repairing any dings you might have.

You can do it cheaper (camping everywhere, no crash budget etc.) but it's better to race a whole season and have something left over at the end than budget low and find the pot is empty after a few races.

As for cars, get the one with the best results history you can find and make sure it's in the same state it raced (ie. same engine and geometry if possible), it's not unknown for cars to be raced then a different engine installed before sale.

You'll also find Locost racers a friendly bunch on the whole, enjoy!