My Car (& Kart) History..

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Hey All,

I've seen lots of people do these and thought I'd join in! I'm 25, female and used to race in the Super One British Kart championships, so thought I'd include that in the timeline too Very brief details on each, including my greatest memory of owning it, so as not to bore you all.

Beast No.1 - 2006 - Age 17 - Ford Ka - Kept for 3 years. Greatest Memory: Fitting 6 people in it on the way from London to Alton Towers. Incidentally my first proper motorway drive!



Beast No.2 - 2009 - Age 20 - Peugeot 306 D-Turbo - Kept 3 years. Greatest Memory: It was a pile of ste. Pretty much everything was replaced on it, for pittance. However it got a 50inch TV in the back once, and drove through the bad snow of 2010 no problem....not all bad! (Also ignore the timestamp on the photo..my camera was a spazz.)



Beast No.3 - 2012 - Age 23 - 2001 Seat Cupra 20vt Remapped to 200bhp - Kept 1 year - Greatest Memory: Saving up & getting a full Milltek system put on. Oh the noise!



Beast No.4 - 2013 - Age 24 - Skoda Fabia VRS Special Edition Diesel - Kept 1 year - Greatest Memory: Beating most people off the line. Getting 50mpg, woooo? Alas the Seat had to go due to work commitments.



Beast No.5 - 2014 - Age 25 - Volvo C30 RDesign D5 Polestar Remap to 205bhp/450nm Torque - Greatest Memory: Taking it for a test drive and wheel spinning my way up the road in almost every gear. The sound from the 5 cylinder engine, good lord.



Beast No.6 - 2006 to 2010 - TKM 4/ Engine on Arrow Kart Chassis - Greatest Memory: Every time I sat in it on a race weekend. Sorely missed.




Hope you enjoyed scrolling through

[Ballistic]

Great action pic of the kart! It's not very often you see both inside wheels in the air. Where was it taken?

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Ballistic said:

Great action pic of the kart! It's not very often you see both inside wheels in the air. Where was it taken?

Clay Pigeon I believe! Justr before the chicane,it was a hot day with sticky tyres need I say more..

[Ballistic]

What made you stop racing, if you don't mind me asking?

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Ballistic said:

What made you stop racing, if you don't mind me asking?

Sure no problem Money mainly. 10 races a year, all over the UK. So travel costs were pretty high, that's not to mention race entry, tyres...engine rebuilds, the list goes on!

To be competitive consistently you had to spend lots on testing, and the latest chassis every few years. It's now all an awesome memory alas. My thirst for speed isn't quenched as much anymore.. Think I need a motorbike!

[Ballistic]

What was it like racing in the British Championship and which was your best race?

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Ballistic said:

What was it like racing in the British Championship and which was your best race?

Was awesome! Bigger grids than you seem to get now, and was good to race with good competition Probably a race at Shenington in 2006 or 2007 I think..got a 4th place finish in the final from 16th so was pretty happy with that. I seemed to be one of those people that attracted bad luck, if it wasn't an engine blowing up when you're in the top 3 it was some arse smashing you off the track.

Unfortunately even at a slightly higher level of motorsport you still got bandits! Majority of the blokes liked the fact a woman was racing and doing well, but there's always a select few that couldn't handle it. Was quite amusing.

[AndStilliRise]

Nice thread.

[CarlizzleFoSho]

AndStilliRise said:

Nice thread.

Cheers!

[Ballistic]

It's great that you have had the opportunity to compete at the highest level, which is more than most can say.

I have raced against some seriously quick women and treat them with respect and as an equal competitor.

If it's speed thrills your after, a motorbike for a few £ks will give you supercar performance and make a great adrenalin pump, or have you considered gearbox karting?

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Ballistic said:

It's great that you have had the opportunity to compete at the highest level, which is more than most can say.

I have raced against some seriously quick women and treat them with respect and as an equal competitor.

If it's speed thrills your after, a motorbike for a few £ks will give you supercar performance and make a great adrenalin pump, or have you considered gearbox karting?

Everytime I get tempted by a bike I think of all the people I know that've been mangled by them, so I can't say it doesn't put me off a tad. I did look into gearbox karting, but again we barely had the budget for what we did let alone going into gearbox championships! It's a real shame how a lot of talent in motorsport is lost to money. There were plenty of very talented guys who could get to the pinnacle of Karting, but just couldn't afford the extortionate rates some teams charge for single seater racing.

Would love to get back in to motorsport somehow. Nothing beats a weekend at the track.

[Ballistic]

CarlizzleFoSho said:

Everytime I get tempted by a bike I think of all the people I know that've been mangled by them, so I can't say it doesn't put me off a tad. I did look into gearbox karting, but again we barely had the budget for what we did let alone going into gearbox championships! It's a real shame how a lot of talent in motorsport is lost to money. There were plenty of very talented guys who could get to the pinnacle of Karting, but just couldn't afford the extortionate rates some teams charge for single seater racing.

Would love to get back in to motorsport somehow. Nothing beats a weekend at the track.

It sounds like racing is in your blood and your looking for an affordable way back in.
I started out racing 250ICE at club level but gave it up due to the costs and switched to doing sprint and endurance racing in pro-karts. RPM who tune the engines have a fleet of seven karts that they rent out for £150 per meeting, which is great value. I know they aren't the fastest things in the world, but when the margins are so small, quite often the difference between winning or being the first of the losers, is down to race craft.

I totally agree with you in that the most talented racers don't always get to the top and quite often a seat comes down to how much money you can bring into the team. You only have to look at the lower tiers of F1.

Bikes can be dangerous and I have them up after what happened to one of my friends. One option would be to buy a cheap 600 and just take it to track days to get your thrills.

[Schtum]

Ballistic said:

I started out racing 250ICE at club level but gave it up due to the costs and switched to doing sprint and endurance racing in pro-karts. RPM who tune the engines have a fleet of seven karts that they rent out for £150 per meeting, which is great value. I know they aren't the fastest things in the world, but when the margins are so small, quite often the difference between winning or being the first of the losers, is down to race craft.

My son and I used to endurance race a Pro Kart back in the late 90's. The only time I got much out of it was when we had a run of podiums. I always found driving the damned thing to be like a cross between 2CV and truck racing. It was as slow as a 2CV and handled like a truck.

My son's just got back into karting and he's planning on campaigning a Praga chassis in our local non-MSA Rotax Max series this coming season. Having watched him testing and doing one 100 mile race at the end of last season, that looks more like it. The costs are also very reasonable.

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Ballistic said:

Bikes can be dangerous and I have them up after what happened to one of my friends. One option would be to buy a cheap 600 and just take it to track days to get your thrills.

I'm thinking of doing one of those one off bike 'taster days', that isn't a CBT just a pootle around an old runway. As much as I adore the thrill of speed, there's just too much risk in bikes. The fact that everyone I know has fallen off or mangled themselves, well that doesn't stand it in good stead!

Fell off my mountain bike really badly a few years ago and that shat me up, so I think bailing on a motorbike would probably put me off completely!

[MotorsportTom]

CarlizzleFoSho said:

I'm thinking of doing one of those one off bike 'taster days', that isn't a CBT just a pootle around an old runway. As much as I adore the thrill of speed, there's just too much risk in bikes. The fact that everyone I know has fallen off or mangled themselves, well that doesn't stand it in good stead!

Fell off my mountain bike really badly a few years ago and that shat me up, so I think bailing on a motorbike would probably put me off completely!

Good little thread and the Volvo looks smart, didn't realise they did a 5pot diesel!

But this bike thing, it's slightly griping at me. Bikes are not dangerous, they're more of a risk but they are not dangerous.
I'm very bias as my passion is bikes and nothing in the world could tempt me from them and I thoroughly recommend them to everyone.

Falling off a bike is going to happen, if you can't accept that it's not for you. I've never crashed on the road but you're right it does it hurt and can put you off. It took me a good 4 months after a high side to start getting confident going quickly again!

Google the GetOn scheme as it sounds like that's what you meant, 1hour free taster ran by dealers. It's how I started properly and it's a good idea imo.

I've sort of lost the point of my post but basically motorbikes are the best things and you should get one, the feeling of pinning the throttle and stting your pants is actually remarkably fun

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Yeh that's the one! Was on about the GetOn scheme

That's the thing, I didn't mind crashes in karting but I actually don't like the idea of having an off on a motorbike! So knowing that that could be inevitable at some stage, that is enough to put me off. It's a weird thing, in one sense I'm massively tempted (even though my nearest and dearest say no, and on the other I think I'd be a st rider as I'd be worried about coming off). Think part of that fear stems from smashing myself to bits down a mountain on the bike!

I've got over it and obviously use a push bike now, but yeh don't think I have the right mentality for motorbikes. I'd be like 'Weeeeeeeee this is fun....oh st what if I come off round this bend'. Which is weird as on four wheels, racing or otherwise, that thought of danger never comes into my head. Maybe I should get a quad

[MotorsportTom]

CarlizzleFoSho said:

Maybe I should get a quad

Imo quads are more of a risk than bikes! After tipping one with ease offroad I'd hate to try and use one on the road! Plus you have all the downsides of a bike with all the downsides of a car! And they're not even that fast or cheap!

I can honestly say nothing focuses me like riding my bike, often I go for a rode purely to clear my head as when riding I think of nothing but riding and rarely do I think "what if I crash here" or "what about if.."
More likely I'm thinking about how to approach the next junction/corner/overtake or whatever it may be.

The fun of riding massively outweighs the risk of crashing. The idea you'll be a st rider and crash is a very normal, I thought that a bit but when I did start to ride I thought I wasn't all that bad, looking back after only 2 years and I'll never know how I got so lucky and didn't crash!

I'll probably look back in another 2 years and think I was a st rider now

[CarlizzleFoSho]

I get your point, I suppose the fact that everyone that has a bike doesn't have a bad thing to say about it even if they've fallen off.

It does look like so much fun. Having only been on the back of a bike I found that goddamn awesome. I think I'll try the GetOn scheme day and see how I like it and if I find it fun.

If not I'll carry on saving for my next 4 wheeled thrill, Audi RS3

[MotorsportTom]

Good in yer! Let us know how it goes.

For the same price differential between your Volvo and the Audi I'll wager you can easily get a 150bhp bike much more fun!

[CarlizzleFoSho]

MotorsportTom said:

Good in yer! Let us know how it goes.

For the same price differential between your Volvo and the Audi I'll wager you can easily get a 150bhp bike much more fun!

I'll keep you posted! It doesn't help when you have mum, dad, boyfriend, e.t.c all saying don't you dare get a bike Was watching a documentary about a guy roadtripping America on his Suzuki Van Van....pitiful power but looked like amazing fun! What an experience.