Passed ARDS, but what to race - suggestions?

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[andye30m3]

I've done the last 2 years of the production BMW championship http://www.pbmwc.co.uk/ it's a great championship to be involved in, good value cars and entry fees and a friendly atmosphere in the paddock.

[mattmk391]

I normally hate these threads where everyone dives in to plug their own championship. But I think the MX5 SuperCup may genuinely meet your criteria in this case.

http://www.mx5supercup.co.uk/index.html

http://www.brscc.co.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4-zmjbzchI&fe...

[Stuart Thompson]

The PBMWs are pretty well run by Project8 and MSVR the MSVR website is the best one to look at rather than the p8 one.

[andye30m3]

fesuvious said:

andye30m3 said:

I've done the last 2 years of the production BMW championship http://www.pbmwc.co.uk/ it's a great championship to be involved in, good value cars and entry fees and a friendly atmosphere in the paddock.

Like the look of that. What is offputting though is the lack of bang up to date website. No news of the latest races etc.

As a newbie it just makes me question the series organisers commitment.

Am I being harsh?
Always had a soft spot for e30's though and 'macs' car in the classifieds looks good.

The website does take a while to update at times but that's not reflected in the racing, it's generally well organised. I think the entry fees are very good value compared to other series I looked at especially when you look at the circuits we raced on which included brands GP, donington GP, silverstone GP etc.

At £4k that car looks very good value.

[Munter]

If you got the Porsche finished you could enter it in the http://www.trackdaytrophy.co.uk/

Wouldn't matter about the swapped in engine then.

[mattmk391]

Ma5da is now no longer operating, I think this was quite well documented on pistonheads at the time if you wish to do a search for it.

The MX5 SuperCup is the direct successor to the Ma5da Cup and has grown through 2013 and is now looking very strong for next year.

The forum is here:

http://forum.brsccmazda.com/categories/supercup-ch...

I would suggest speaking to Drew at the BRSCC directly or one of the car preparers listed on the website. Alternatively Ray Worley is the drivers rep and his contact details are on the forum.

Matt

[Dan Friel]

andye30m3 said:

I've done the last 2 years of the production BMW championship http://www.pbmwc.co.uk/ it's a great championship to be involved in, good value cars and entry fees and a friendly atmosphere in the paddock.

Have seen this series a few times over the last couple of years (when marshalling), and if / when I race this will be near the top of the list.

[ShakeyJake188]

I was in the same situation as you a few months ago and chose brscc mazda in the end.... 69 registered competitiors and grids are still growing, so if your fast or slow their is always good competition and fun to be had.

Cars are cheap to maintain, I've even done 4 weekends racing and haven't had to spend any money on it between races.
Few second hand cars in the classifieds or get one built for not much more.
http://www.brsccmazda.com/


PS ma5da are no more.

[fiveoclockhero1]

Munter said:

If you got the Porsche finished you could enter it in the http://www.trackdaytrophy.co.uk/

Wouldn't matter about the swapped in engine then.

Today I finished my first seasons racing in Trackday Trophy and Team Trophy. They are both very well run, very friendly and there are 2 or 3 944's in it already.

[Madgit]

Try trackattackraceclub.com

[mattmk391]

Just spotted this MX5 mk3 car for sale which would be SuperCup eligible:

http://www.racecarsdirect.com/listing/51131/mazda_...

[bqf]

I hate these threads where everyone jumps in and plugs their own series! Terrible, those people.

Anyway - the BRSCC Porsche Championship has three classes, with the 924s being affordable, great handling cars all developed to the same spec. You can buy a race winner for £4k, spares are plentiful and cheap, and the cars are great fun. The paddock is a good place to be and we all tend to have fun. Also, we have an international round (Zandvoort this year, Zolder next, hopefully), and so you can tell all your mates you're an international Porsche Racing Driver... :-)

Seriously, well worth a look

[e21Mark]

Another vote for either the PBMW or Compact Cup here. I've not raced in either myself, but usually spectate. You could also use the car in the MSV track day trophy.

Obviously people have been racing e30's for years, so there's plenty of info available. They're also a relatively easy car to drive quickly and great fun. The same goes for the Compact and there's a healthy online forum. Parts are also cheap and readily available.

Another consideration is your size/weight. I quite fancied an MX5 track car but at 6' 3 and 19 stone it felt a little snug.

[mattmk391]

So, as you can see there is plenty of choice out there.

Whatever you choose the things I would consider are:

How competitive you want the racing (Evenly matched cars/biggest budget wins)
How much maintenance you want to do on your car (Reliability).
How much contact you find acceptable (a small amount is inevitable in any championship btw).
Availability of spares (shortages on old cars/more expensive for new cars).
Championship longevity - how many years do you think the championship will be stable with solid grids.

IMO the only way to find these things out is to trawl YouTube, championship forums/classifieds/websites, TSL timing, read through technical regs then view some cars. Attending race meetings can also be good but a bit tough at this time of year. Then make up your own mind.

ETA: Thinking about it, TSL is very useful as it will tell you how many cars started a race, lap times, how close the race finished and how many DNFs there were. This would be my first stop when investigating a championship - http://www.tsl-timing.com/

Edited by mattmk391 on Monday 11th November 10:31

[UH-Matt]

Don't rule out MR2 Championship also with the 750MC. A bit faster and excellent fun.

Will be doing my 4th year next year. Never looked back or considered anything else.

[dapearson]

Coupe cup. Hyundai coupe racing. £6k including the car and a season of racing. http://www.coupecup.com/

Failing that, buy a live axle caterham and come racing in the graduates club. http://www.graduates.org.uk/ There's a car for sale for £7750.

[3059hp]

Another vote for the BRSCC Porsche Championship. Great and relatively affordable racing, a welcoming paddock atmosphere and they are very novice-friendly. If you're just starting racing you'll need a series that can help and advise you through all the off track stuff as well as the actual racing, and this one does that.

[mozzerS]

mattmk391 said:

So, as you can see there is plenty of choice out there.

Whatever you choose the things I would consider are:

How competitive you want the racing (Evenly matched cars/biggest budget wins)
How much maintenance you want to do on your car (Reliability).
How much contact you find acceptable (a small amount is inevitable in any championship btw).
Availability of spares (shortages on old cars/more expensive for new cars).
Championship longevity - how many years do you think the championship will be stable with solid grids.

IMO the only way to find these things out is to trawl YouTube, championship forums/classifieds/websites, TSL timing, read through technical regs then view some cars. Attending race meetings can also be good but a bit tough at this time of year. Then make up your own mind.

ETA: Thinking about it, TSL is very useful as it will tell you how many cars started a race, lap times, how close the race finished and how many DNFs there were. This would be my first stop when investigating a championship - http://www.tsl-timing.com/

Edited by mattmk391 on Monday 11th November 10:31

+1 to this - good advice

This was all recent for me too (ARDS 18 months ago) and I have just completed my first year racing - although only did 3 events.

Weighing it all up I went for the Lotus on Track Elise Trophy www.lotrdc.com/elisetrophy
OP - I had similar concerns to you. ET ticks a lot of your boxes but maybe a little higher budget - should get ready to race car around £10-13k+ (mine was in that range).

My own reasons were:
- all one class of car (RWD) with similar power/weight (max power & min weight for each model) and standard tyre.
- good circuits - usually 1 day Quali and 2 x 20 min races
- good for novices but top drivers too so find your own level/battles - good standards
- professional/well run (good website! )
- cars - good availability of cars (ready to race or convert) and spares, good resale (usually a few in the LoTRDC classifieds) so I figured I could sell reasonably easily if I didn't take to it - but I have!)
- option to drive in Lotus Cup (1hr+ races with shared drive option and more competitive)

No regrets here - highly recommended - and yes I'm plugging my own series

[Racecaptain]

LOTRDC made my wife and I very welcome as newbies this year, good racing, supports great rounds, pit garages at each round, well controlled and well policed series.
Cars poss a bit more than you are wanting to pay but £12500 will get you a good car that will hold its price, (I bought one for $5k of e bay and did the work on it myself bought all new parts and was less than £10k) cheap to run, a standard VVC motor with a descent exhaust and tidied inlet will run mid front pack with no probs and can be bought for less than £500 with gearbox!! so cheap to run, control tyres weight limits etc so down to driver!! if you want a test have a car ready to run at Donington, let me know
worth a look
http://www.lotus-on-track.com