Start rallying, bedforshire/chilterns

Start rallying, bedforshire/chilterns

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indiatango

Original Poster:

26 posts

42 months

Saturday 10th October 2020
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Hello,

I'm trying to get a start in motor racing, most likely rallying but also interested in hillclimbs, sprints, autotests, autocross and tbh most things that involve doing something competitive in a car (circuit racing is looking a bit too expensive for me at the minute, otherwise would love to try that aswell someday)

I've got my BARs booked in, plus some rally tuition but struggling to find a local club. I live in leighton buzzard and there's not much coming up on the motorsport uk website for this area.

Does anyone know about any clubs/groups in this sort of area that are involved in any form of motorsport? I'm pretty open minded - really just want to meet some people who are actually involved and get some pointers

Galveston

708 posts

198 months

Monday 12th October 2020
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Hello, I’ve spoken to a local friend and they have suggested South Oxon Car Club. https://www.facebook.com/southoxoncarclub/ or email info@southoxoncarclub.co.uk or https://www.southoxoncarclub.co.uk/

Currently £5 to join for membership until the end of 2021 (just need to join by end of October, they are running a special offer!).

They have a couple of autotests coming up and a 12 Car. They run others events for their members too so test days, table tops, socials etc feature (as and when covid allows!). Their members compete (and travel) in all the other disciplines you mentioned too so will be able to help and advise.

indiatango

Original Poster:

26 posts

42 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
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Hi Galveston,

Looks perfect, thanks for the link!

Yeah it's pretty tricky at the minute with covid etc but I imagine small outdoor events are probably ok, or at least no more dangerous than going to tescos!

On the plus side all this lack of socialising and being stuck at home has given me much more time to work on the car! At this rate it might even be back together before the end of lockdown!

velocemitch

3,795 posts

219 months

Friday 16th October 2020
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Not sure at what level you were thinking of going in at, but I'd suggest you look at Targa or Road Rallying initially. It is much much cheaper than stage rallying and you do not need a BARS test. In most cases just an RS Clubmans licence and club membership. (Oxen are fine). Also 12 Cars, Autosolos and Autotests are all great ways to get experience of club level motorsport.

Have a look through the Targa/Road Rallying thread on here and if you do Facebook look at the many groups, particularly Targa Rally UK and British Road Rallying.

As you will have noticed unfortunately many events (but not all) are being cancelled or postponed due to Covid, but hopefully by spring next year it should get back to normal.

indiatango

Original Poster:

26 posts

42 months

Tuesday 20th October 2020
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Thanks for the heads up re. Road rallying. I'd definitely be up for giving it a go; Am i right in thinking that it's much more about navigation and maybe less about actual driving skill? Or is that an unfair summation?

Autosolos and autotests look great as well, though due to COVID i've so far only seen them on youtube!

Actually already got my BARS booked in for a couple weeks time, plus some tuition, so will finally get some sense of what it's like first hand! Going to try and do a couple more sessions there while we're waiting for things to kick off again.

Yeah it's a real pain that everythings cancelled but i guess there's no way around it. I keep reminding myself that plenty people are suffering worse consequences than not being able to race! redface

Thanks for the suggestions. If i can find someone local to go with then i'll definitely give road rallying a try

velocemitch

3,795 posts

219 months

Wednesday 21st October 2020
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It’s true that the navigator on a road rally has a much greater effect on the result on an road rally than a codriver does on a stage rally. But be under no illusions that’s it’s all about the navigation, it still needs a very committed driver. The events are very much a team effort.
Targa Rallying is more driver oriented and the navigator isn’t worked as hard, but if they call a test wrong the driver will drive it wrong. A wrong test will kill any decent result. On e again it’s proper teamwork.
Obviously you need to be aware of the car regulations which are quite strict and can appear to be totally illogical.
Finding a navigator is always an issue too, but that’s the same for Stage Rallying, only the financial commitment is much higher on both sides for that.

indiatango

Original Poster:

26 posts

42 months

Wednesday 21st October 2020
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That's good to hear! Targa rallying hadn't really been on my radar at all so will have a read up. On the navigator front I'm actually hoping that i can do some navigating for someone else to start with before driving myself. It seems like a good way to get a feel for things and see how someone more experienced interprets the route etc. Also i'm yet to decide what sort of car to buy so it's a chance to quiz other drivers before commiting!

Are there any particular targa / road rallies in the uk that you would particularly reccommend or should i just go with whatever's happening at the local club?

velocemitch

3,795 posts

219 months

Thursday 22nd October 2020
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That's exactly the right thing to do, if you can try and find some local 12 Car rallies or Navigational Scatters (short events run on a weekday evening) and offer to navigate its an ideal way of getting in to it. From there you could move on to Road Rallies and Targa's. If you can't get a ride try marshalling to get to know the ropes.

Also look out for online navigation events, a few clubs have been running them during the lockdowns, they use typical clues for navigation you find on events (though usually a bit trickier) and you plot routes on to your maps at home. The route is checked by reporting back features you pass. There are also online navigational scatters where you plot about forty places from map references and find the clue from Google Earth. usually done live over a two hour period.

You are quite well placed in that area if you are prepared to travel a bit. Wales and the Welsh Borders is still the heartland of Road Rallying, with a number of excellent and extremely competitive events. But the South West is also really coming back to life with events like the Bagger, Barbara Cartland, Exmouth Memorial etc.
Here's a useful link;
https://www.aswmc.org.uk/

Good Targa's in your area, Bustard and Bath Festival come to mind. Bearing in mind lots of cancellations due to Covid though.

Cars.. mainly hatchbacks, older stuff like 106's, 205's, Corsa B's, Micra K11's are still popular there are lots of Rally bits for them to make them strong and quick. Newer stuff like Clio 172's, Fiesta ST's (Mk 5), MG ZR's, Golf GTi's, Various Proton's.

If you like RWD Mazda MX5, BMW Compacts, and if you are wealthy enough Mk 2 Escorts

Remember four cylinder maximum normally aspirated if over 1500cc. No modifications to the induction system (apart from filters). If its on carbs, no more than two chokes and single cam. This excludes lots of turbo diesels and old school twin carb, twin cam Historics. Single colour bodywork and no fancy spoilers and wheel arches unless factory fitted.

Have a look at entry lists and results you will get a feel.
Good websites for results are
Rallies.info
rallyroots.com
The latter has loads of reports which make great reading.



Edited by velocemitch on Thursday 22 October 10:14

indiatango

Original Poster:

26 posts

42 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
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Blimey, that's some really helpful info thanks!

Marshalling could be a good move like you say; I'd be up for anything that gets me involved. Been watching loads of targa rallying online and looks fantastic! Road rallying also looks much faster paced and exciting than i'd realised (judging by youtube at least...).

Thanks for the advice on cars. Definitely not wealthy enough for a mk2 Escort sadly! Always liked 205's and you can still pick them up fairly cheap so that had actually been my initial thought, otherwise if I go RWD then its hard to get better value than an old MX5!

If I go MX5 then i'd be inclined towards the MK1s unless anyone thinks that's a bad idea. I've driven them on the road a few times and they feel lovely - light and balanced, not to mention doing 7k revs out of the box which i would have thought is a good start for a rally car? Obviously the most important thing is that they look awesome wink Certainly a far cry from my mk3 GTI which peaks around 2-3k revs and then by the time you hit 6k you may as well get out and push biggrin

For my rally tuition in November I opted to do it in a ford KA as i figured i'd most likely end up with something small and FWD but gonna ask if can add on some extra time in one of their RWD cars to get a sense of the difference (they have a couple mk2 Escorts there, can't really pass up a go in one..)

Bloody hell, can't wait to get going with this!

Grayedout

407 posts

211 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
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No idea where you are with budget but just placed an advert in the classfied for a Fiesta Rally car package with all the spares that you would need to start your rallying career

bucksmanuk

2,311 posts

169 months

Friday 6th November 2020
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If you go west from Leighton Buzzard there’s Thame Motorsport Club, which I’m in. We/they do some road rallying and have some good contacts. The meeting place is the Seven Stars at Dinton. https://www.sevenstarsdinton.com/ - which is usually on (in non-COVID times) the second Monday of the month.

We used to share the running/management of the Rockingham stages with Middlesex Car Club.

The web sites ancient, so ignore that!

We are on Facebook too - https://www.facebook.com/groups/164297920283545