Why not get into Fun Cup racing?

Just £1,250 will buy you a race drive

Fun Cup Racing at Spa

You've had the PC game, maybe the slot-car track or the radio-controlled racer for Christmas -- but there's nothing quite beats the real thing: a race seat in a close and competitively fought motor racing series.

Now one of the teams in the 2007 Uniroyal Fun Cup series is making car nuts' New Year's resolutions affordable.

"Every petrolhead wants to race at least once in his or her life - and a seat in a racing car for a single session or a whole season is a lot less costly that anybody might think," said motor race team owner Phil Martindale, who runs the Martindales and Trucks2Go Uniroyal Fun Cup team.

A double stint drive in a UK round of the Uniroyal Fun Cup series -- each race is four or five hours driving an Audi-based single-seater under a VW Beetle bodyshell -- costs from around £1,250.

"That's around four hours behind the wheel of a race car each weekend: practice, qualifying and the race itself," said Martindale.

"And before anybody starts wondering about race licences and qualifications and what have you -- that's all included in the price. And they can stop worrying about coming across would-be Formula 1 stars sharing the grid too: the vast majority of drivers are complete novices or fairly new, and the cars are not crazily fast - it's all about driving skills and fun.

"We'll get them their race licence, their clothing, practice and qualifying and then a race seat at circuits like Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Croft and Oulton Park."

Around £7,500 buys a whole season of double-stint driving for one person at each of six race weekends, including testing and hospitality.

Around £4,500 buys a car for an entire race weekend -- that can mean four friends achieving that New Year's resolution. But the ultimate has to be the £30,000 package: an entire season's racing in their own liveried car. In each case, the price is the all-in cost.

Martindale owns a number of cars that compete in the Uniroyal Fun Cup - a race series that provides cost-effective, close, exciting and, above all, good fun racing for all teams competing.

The cars are purpose-designed single-seaters with a strong tubular steel chassis, mildly modified super strong Audi/VW engines and gearboxes, race brakes and fully adjustable suspension wrapped in VW Beetle look-alike glass fibre body.

The races are all endurance, typically four and five hours in the UK, complete with pit stops and all the associated drama. Teams vary from two to six drivers in the UK and thanks to carefully designed rules, however many there are in a team the chance of success is exactly the same.

And with the car engines and gearboxes sealed and regulations strictly controlled, the racing is super-close and the running costs remarkably low.

"It's not Formula 1 speed or cost -- but it is very similar to Formula 1 in format: practice, qualifying and race over the course of a weekend, usually two days but often three. Now, what's going to be the bigger business buzz? The Christmas gift video game -- or the racing resolution achieved?" said Martindale.

www.funcup.co.uk

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Graham

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