Racing career advice
Discussion
I am sure there are a lot of people on the forums who can give you better advice, some who are proffesional drivers, but I will give it a go having raced for the last 10 years.
If you look at revenue even some of the top F1 drivers still pay to be in the team. So their income comes from personal sponsorship deals, some from selling their soul to get into racing from an early age. For example David Coulthard is sponsored by Highland Mineral Water in a deal he signed from a very early age and therefore they get cheap sponsorship now (though I think a new deal was done last year). When I spoke to Carlin Motorsport (F3 team) about their drivers they said they had to pay around £500,000 to get a seat in the car, though if the person was really good they could make it slighlty cheaper.
So all in all you need a lot of personal sponsorship or independant wealth to afford to race.
If going to get sponsorship always go for local first and build up your relationships with the local newspapers by submitting articles with them. This then builds up the press exposure that you are giving a potential sponsor. Contra-deals are usually the easiest things to get (eg you provide exposure through decals on car, they give you a service for free or cheap) and thus isn't an outgoing for the company and a good way of reducing your overall costs while racing.
You should always look for giving a sponsor more exposure and added value than they would get through a print advert, so never stop looking for that extra opportunity. This could be from offering the car for corporate events, making sure there is interesting company information on your commentators form, try and offer passenger rides or events when testing in the car.
The other streams that most drivers look to get more income is in driver training, be it part of a race school or by offering advanced driving on the road. These are harder to get into and require passing qualifications to teach.
That is my two pence, though sure someone else will come and point out my deliberate mistakes
I am going to put an article up in the next few weeks on the current running costs of my Ginetta racing so look out for that on the costs.
Hope that helps
If you look at revenue even some of the top F1 drivers still pay to be in the team. So their income comes from personal sponsorship deals, some from selling their soul to get into racing from an early age. For example David Coulthard is sponsored by Highland Mineral Water in a deal he signed from a very early age and therefore they get cheap sponsorship now (though I think a new deal was done last year). When I spoke to Carlin Motorsport (F3 team) about their drivers they said they had to pay around £500,000 to get a seat in the car, though if the person was really good they could make it slighlty cheaper.
So all in all you need a lot of personal sponsorship or independant wealth to afford to race.
If going to get sponsorship always go for local first and build up your relationships with the local newspapers by submitting articles with them. This then builds up the press exposure that you are giving a potential sponsor. Contra-deals are usually the easiest things to get (eg you provide exposure through decals on car, they give you a service for free or cheap) and thus isn't an outgoing for the company and a good way of reducing your overall costs while racing.
You should always look for giving a sponsor more exposure and added value than they would get through a print advert, so never stop looking for that extra opportunity. This could be from offering the car for corporate events, making sure there is interesting company information on your commentators form, try and offer passenger rides or events when testing in the car.
The other streams that most drivers look to get more income is in driver training, be it part of a race school or by offering advanced driving on the road. These are harder to get into and require passing qualifications to teach.
That is my two pence, though sure someone else will come and point out my deliberate mistakes
I am going to put an article up in the next few weeks on the current running costs of my Ginetta racing so look out for that on the costs.
Hope that helps
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