Racing Classics?

[andy97]

Yes, buying a well prepared car is important, and buying one of a type that is well supported with knowledge and spares availability is also important (rather than buying something esoteric or unique) but I would suggest that the OP needs seat time rather than worrying about championship winning cars.
If historics really are the thing to get the juices flowing get advice from the relevant club about what to buy but get good instruction, get on track days and test days and get racing for a year to see how talented you are (or are not) and then assess what your aims are and what it is going to cost to achieve them.

[Seamus54]

HustleRussell said:

More than that, actual car manufacturer, model and year selection is critically important in historic series, particularly in something like Formula Junior. The majority of the cars on the grid wouldn’t have a chance of a class win even if impeccably developed and with the best driver.

Even in historic formula ford where the cars all have the same engine and only span a 5 year period, there are some chassis which are no hopers in terms of podiums and wins.

My own experience backs this up:

My first race was at Combe in the Lotus Challenge and I naively entered my virtually standard roadgoing Elan and was up against modsports cars on slicks, I lasted only 3 laps before being lapped and then spinning off at Quarry with a broken engine.

Undeterred, I decided that I needed a purpose built race car but with a desire to race a Lotus. A flick through the classifieds in Autosport I picked out a race ready Lotus 61 complete with trailer and a deal was done for £1500: Obsolete FF1600s were cheap at the time (1984) and they weren't classed as historic then but there was a championship for 10 year old cars run by the BRSCC.

Pre '74 FF1600 was very popular and frequently had 2 qualification races and a final, I soon realised the deficiencies in my chosen model even after a new engine and tyres I was still only just able to get to the back of the grid of a final by seasons end. As mentioned above by HustleRussell the Lotus 61 was amongst the "no hopers" of chassis choice, never a winner except in period. So with the benefit of hindsight I bought a more competitive Merlyn Mk20 and immediately reaped the reward but I was still only a midfielder.

For 1986 I decided I wanted more and moved up to pre '80 FF2000 with a Reynard SF78 which at the time turned out to be a midfield choice once I got it sorted with a new engine. I started 1987 with my Reynard and got my best result of 7th at the opening round at Thruxton, but the following week the 1986 champion Lola T580 came up for sale so I snapped it up. First race with it I was 4th then I followed it up with a class win and lap record on the Brands GP circuit.

So the moral of my tale is don't do what I did and do your research and a buy the best car that you can. If you go in blindly like I did I struggled with the equipment and needed to spend money on a new motors just to be a midfielder. Beware that a lot of race cars are sold with worn out or dodgy engines. As soon as I got a proven car I was a front runner. If your car is on the button you know it's the driver that needs time and money to improve and not the car.

P.S. I stayed in FF2000 for 30 years with Lolas long enough for them to become historic and all my old cars other the Elan are still racing. Unfortunately I also became historic, overweight and too slow for single seaters so now I race a friends MGA's as a 2nd driver. Also worth a mention is that when I started there was no equivalent to the ARDS test you just bought a race licence and off you went with no testing or training required.

Edited by Seamus54 on Friday 5th February 14:46

Edited by Seamus54 on Friday 5th February 15:12

[ntiz]

Thanks again!

So on balance don’t spend a fortune on a winner because I won’t do the car justice, but make sure not to get pup......... sounds easy

Speaking of cars what the difference between racing touring cars, single seaters and sports cars? I like them all so how do you decide what suits? It’s not like you can go for test drives.

[WickerBill]

ntiz said:

Thanks again!

So on balance don’t spend a fortune on a winner because I won’t do the car justice, but make sure not to get pup......... sounds easy

Speaking of cars what the difference between racing touring cars, single seaters and sports cars? I like them all so how do you decide what suits? It’s not like you can go for test drives.

You may not be able to drive those cars but you can drive school cars when doing your ards licence...you’ll get a taste of a single seater, saloon car and sportscar

Only you can answer that question tbh, it’s what floats your boat. Sometimes it comes down to budget though, often at club level people choose saloon cars because of the ease of which you can find parts, or low powered sports cars.....hence suggesting things like the MGB mInis or things like formula Ford where parts are sometimes based on road cars

[Kickstart]

ntiz said:

Thanks again!

So on balance don’t spend a fortune on a winner because I won’t do the car justice, but make sure not to get pup......... sounds easy

Speaking of cars what the difference between racing touring cars, single seaters and sports cars? I like them all so how do you decide what suits? It’s not like you can go for test drives.

The answer of course is one of all types

Purpose built racing cars IMHO are better to drive and without budget issues I would love one of this type of sports racers
https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/1188...

One thing to bear in mind is the type of racing you want to do - whilst I love single seaters I prefer longer races especially things like Spa 3/6 hours, Old Timer GP on the proper ring etc which you need a pre 66 FIA car but if you fancy winning one of those races you will need a serious car and lots of talent

[Seamus54]

Kickstart said:

Purpose built racing cars IMHO are better to drive and without budget issues I would love one of this type of sports racers
https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/1188...

I did a shakedown test at Mallory in that very Elva together with its owner and Simon Hadfield straight after it's rebuild from a box of bits.

Getting back on subject this feature on a racing MGB and the one that follows in an Elan will give a good insight into driving a historic sports car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiFaeJIdoqQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lJelTBUTEI

And FF1600

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNudREeVTws

And this one for a historic FF1600:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o40nMq-ftcc

Edited by Seamus54 on Sunday 7th February 21:28

Edited by Seamus54 on Sunday 7th February 21:35

Edited by Seamus54 on Monday 8th February 12:41