Advise Required

[5mudge]

Hi all,

I'm looking to start some racing next year for the first time. Can anyone suggest a suitable race series/championship to look at?

I am also looking at buying a car. I have a £4K budget for the car. Where would be the best place to look for a 2nd hand race car? I would prefer something which is already race ready.

If anyone has any peals of wisdom they would like to share with me as well then please do


Thanks in advance.

[itsallyellow]

Sounds like class C of the TVR challenge would be ideal. There are some really good value ready to race tasmins.

Mike

[CoolC]

Have a look at the 750 motor club too. There are so many "cheaper" championships there that you should find one for you.

Are you thinking of tin tops or single seaters?

Stock Hatch - Formula Vee etc?

[RogueMotorsport]

750MC MR2 Championship would be within your budget car-wise. You could get a top-of-the-pile mk1 for that money or a reasonable mk2 if you haggled.

Cheers,

Patrick

[andy97]

I would thoroughly recommend that you look at the Classic Sports Car Club's "Tin Tops" series. I race in it myself - A cheap Fiat Uno or an even cheaper Alfa 33. It really is a good clubmans series and their are plenty of novices who have cut their teeth in it. The series is of a "mini-enduro" format of 30 min practices and 40 minute races, so good track time. The races have a compulsory pit stop so that you can share a car (and costs) with another driver if you want. Single drivers can still race in it but still have the pit stop & have to get out & back in.

Club membership is (from memory) £35 & series registration is £95. Entry fees vary from £245 at Anglesey to £285 at Oulton & Brands, making the series "good value" in terms of track time per pound.

As for places to buy race cars then look at the classified bit of this site, there's a specific motorsport section and also look at "racecarsdirect", "fastroadandtrack", "racedandrallied" and "motorsportads". There are a few cars around in your budget area,

Send me a PM if you want more info.

Andy

Edited by andy97 on Monday 1st December 12:26

Edited by andy97 on Monday 1st December 12:27

[pistol pete]

£4k for the car. + how much/year to run it?

Pete

[5mudge]

Thank you for the reply's so far. I will certinly have a look at the ad's on here.

I have set aside some money for running costs (fuel for tow car, damage, entry fees, storage etc.) which I am looking to cost roughly £6000 a year. Is this a sensiable figure?

Thanks again.

[andy97]

5mudge said:

Thank you for the reply's so far. I will certinly have a look at the ad's on here.

I have set aside some money for running costs (fuel for tow car, damage, entry fees, storage etc.) which I am looking to cost roughly £6000 a year. Is this a sensiable figure?

Thanks again.

This is a direct cut and paste from my reply on a roughly similar topic elsewhere on this forum:

"As for running costs, its difficult to say as people will always spend what they can afford, and it also depends on how highly developed your car is (in my experience, the more highly developed, the more rebuilds required & therefore the more expense!), whether you do mechanical work yourself or pay someone else, whether you test etc etc. Most cars in Tin Tops are not developed to "within an inch of their life" and are therefore quite robust and don't seem to need expensive engine/ gearbox rebuilds etc. There will always be someone that proves me wrong (and indeed I over revved an engine which is now being rebuilt but that was my fault and not the cars!). Most people will use one or two sets of tyres a year (Yoko A048s or Toyo R888s seem to be favourite - a set of 14 inch x 6 tyres for my car cost £250 and I only used one set for 6 meetings).

It really is fairly low cost (as far as these things go) and we have had a couple of people join us from Hot Hatch who are amazed at what good value it is. Cheque book racing is not encouraged & people definately are not spending vast sums of £ on tweaking, preparing, rolling roading and tuning etc etc between races. Many cars probably don't even get off the trailer between events! Its a series where the emphasis is on enjoyment - no one will make it to BTCC from CSCC Tin Tops, and its all the better for that!

Including entry fees, petrol, transport, a few overnight stays, paying for mechanical support at the track, consumables etc, I reckon to spend £600 a race. That would be c £150 less if i wasn't mechanically incompetent & didn't to pay for someone to help me. (remember at some races I can split that if I share a drive and the chap that shares usually gives me a few £ for the "rent" of his drive). On top of that my engine rebuild, a second hand gearbox & a few other odds and sods will cost me about £3500 (hopefully amortised over a couple of years). My car is just a Fiat Uno, though, so may be cheaper to run than some(although the engine is probably less robust than a Honda!).

I have also raced an Alfa 33 (whilst waiting for the engine rebuild on the Fiat to be complete) and I bought that car for £750-00. It was a bit of a shed, not helped by me replacing some accident damaged panels with different colour ones! But it did 5 races and performed OK. Almost a disposable race car!!

I am sure that the guys winning in their Integra DC5s or Civic Type Rs are spending more (particularly if you take in to account the original purchase cost) but its all relative".

I hope that this helps. £6K should be very achievable.

Edited by andy97 on Monday 1st December 13:19

[Graham]

The year I won the TVR series in the Tuscan (2006)my annual outgoings were 6.5k !!! but we did very little testing, and had no accidents or failures, and an engine sponsor to look after that side of things...

so yes you can run even a big car on 6k if your careful... saying that though Cadwell the following year cost about 6.5k in one weekend ....


As mike said there are some Tasmins around for 2 grand plus so 4k should get you nicely in a Class C car...

entry fees should be around 280-300 for a double header round and all 7 events in 2009 are double headers...

some of the outline circuits being

Sillystone
croft
Donny
Brands
Snett

[1]

With £4-5k to spend on a car and the same again on running it for the season you have quite a few choices, I would suggest one of the following;

MX5
MR2
Production BMW
Stockhatch

All offer competitive racing and a good paddock atmosphere.

Edited to add that my recommendation are obviously based on closed wheel and not open wheel. They are also based on you needing little or no mechanical knowledge.

Edited by 1 on Monday 1st December 17:31

[modee]

The 750mc locost championship is within your budget and the racing is tops. Check out 750mc.co.uk for regs and cars for sale.Check out procomp.co.uk for in car video. good luck.

[andy97]

Another suggestion would be to go down the single seater route with the Monoposto Racing Club. For your £4K budget you could get a FFord Zetec and could easily run that in the Mono 1800 class on the budget you have outlined.

[stockhatcher]

nothing for me to really add here, except that buy your car wisely. 4k plus 6k to run it, is definately a useful amount to go racing with, and you should be able to complete a seasons racing with that budget. however one smash and it can be all over. if it is your first season racing, i'd suggest buying the cheapest but most reliable car, take a look at the car's finishing record, 100% means you'll hopefully be having the fewest amount of problems, take it from me, there is nothing worse than traveling 3 hours to have your car break down in the assembly area!

also if you buy cheap and race well, the value of your car may go up, therefore making you money. if you were looking at stock hatch, there are plenty of cars around for 2k, i'd look to spend that amount, and so long the car is tidy at the end of the year, you'll probably get near enough that back.

hth

[RapidoJW]

MR2's?

[wee_skids]

Come race with us in the Nippon Challenge, some cars for sale on the forum within your budget, how about a supercharged MR2 - ready to go, and with race history.

http://nipponchallenge.14.forumer.com/viewtopic.ph...

[Racylady]

I would suggest that you go along to Autosport in January and speak to various people there! There's lots out there to suit most peoples budget.

[andy97]

Racylady said:

I would suggest that you go along to Autosport in January and speak to various people there! There's lots out there to suit most peoples budget.

Hmmm, but fewer and fewer series are represented because its so damned expensive to exhibit. The BRSCCC will have a stand (probably as they have an association via the old "Racing Car Show") and you can bet that the 750 mc will have a stand but the CSCC stand will be smaller than last year, BARC probably won't be there, the Clubmans Register won't be there, Monoposto probably won't have a stand etc etc.

The number of clubman series represented can probably be counted on two hands. Best to keep asking questions on here (and other motorsport forums), send PMs asking for more detailed info and browse the web, but everyone's advice is biased in one way, shape or form!

[windybob]

XR Challenge?

[h5lrw]

Your budget would fit the Golf GTI Championship perfectly. Close competitive racing and a friendly atmosphere.

If you need any more information drop me a line at [e-mail] and I will be in touch.

The Championship provides the ideal platform to get you started behind the wheel enabling you to gain valuble racing knowledge you can take with you to the Stock Hatch championship or the new VAG series being piloted in 2009.

We will be at Autosport International situated adjacent to the 750MC stand.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

[5mudge]

Thank you all for the replies. You've all given me some good pointers and advise.

Thanks again.