Any cheap series with arrive & drive cars available?

[Grant.C]

Hi, I'd like to have a go at racing without committing to buying a car. Aside from the financial aspect, I don't have a garage to keep one in or a way to get one to circuits.

I've done karting in the past with club100, and various driving experiences and track days. Single seaters are my favourite, but I'll give anything a go. I'm looking at doing my ARDS test soon and seeing if I can do a couple of rounds of something in 2023.

I was aiming for Formula Vee, as there was a company that rents them out starting at £650 per race (Bears Motorsport), but they don't do it any more. (I found AHS Motorsport who might be an option for Vees, still waiting to hear back from them).

Does anyone else hire out race cars of any kind (well, the cheaper kind) for one-off races?

[Grant.C]

pablo said:

Boss Racing will hire you a caterham, give them a call. There will be drives available in C1, Fun Cup, EnduroKa, City Car Cup etc too, basically anything where there is a multi driver structure. Your best bet is to wander round a paddock and talk to people

Thanks. I think the Caterhams will be out of my price range - it's £1650+ for a C400, although they have one or two that might be cheaper I'll ask about.

EnduroKa looks interesting - not what I was thinking of, but it was the endurance kart races I used to do at club100, maybe I'll see if the old team wants to reunite.. Seems like there are several companies doing arrive & drive for those too.

Those other series look interesting too, I'll need to investigate more. I guess one alternative to arrive & drive would be a series for road legal cars which I could drive to the circuit and park outside.

[Grant.C]

Dan BSCS said:

Depends what you want as C1/EnduroKa/etc. is a VERY different kind of racing to one make sprint stuff.

Maybe something like 750MC Locost or Ma7da or the MR2 championship may have something affordable.

Tom Sellars does arrive and drive in Ma7da and Rogue motorsport do MR2s.

I do arrive and drive stuff but not in your budget range.

Thanks, yes I've been looking at Locost - I've reached out to TSR to find out the costs for those.

MR2s with Rogue might be an option, although it's looking like around £1300+ for the car which will make for an expensive weekend (although test days are cheaper which is good).

What do you race, out of interest?

[Grant.C]

Yazza54 said:

Is running your own car not an option? Hire works for a lot of people but it's normally people with large amounts of disposable income.

EDIT - read the fking OP yazza.. apologies

Np - it's mainly the lack of a garage which is the problem, plus the additional outlay for a trailer etc. However I'm wondering if it would be feasible to get something road legal so I could keep it outside and drive it to the circuit, I'll have to look into that a bit.

I couldn't afford to do a whole series by hiring, I'm just looking at odd races to dip my toe in the water for now.

[Grant.C]

I heard back from AHS Motorsport, they do still hire Vees. Currently £900/day, although they said it will go up next year.

[Grant.C]

Yazza54 said:

I know a few people in the 750MC 116 trophy drive the cars there, for me that would put me off exploring the full limits of the car. It would allow you to dip your toe in though.

I figure you can always pay to get it recovered home if it's undriveable.

116 trophy looks fun.

[Grant.C]

Thanks for the continued replies everyone.

I've continued to look at this along with some other options - I'll try and post some actual details at some point. In summary I would say there is some kind of Arrive & Drive available for almost every series, and even some series which are only A&D. The arrangements vary between hiring a car and sorting the rest out yourself, and all-inclusive type deals where you pay a fee which includes everything apart from crash damage.

Some of the significant factors are:
- Endurance vs Sprints - Enduro you generally get more seat time for your money, but you're sharing the drive
- Practice - cheaper if you don't do the test day/track day ahead of a race, although I guess most people would want to
- Days racing - if there are races on two days vs one this will cost more
- Car - as expected cheaper cars are cheaper to race (and to fix if crashed)
- Length of agreement - it can be cheaper if you sign up for a whole series

For a single race with a practice beforehand, you're looking at somewhere around £2k+. (If you know something cheaper, let me know!).

Personally I could only do one or two races like this, for the time being anyway. I may still do that, but I'm leaning more towards finding a couple of people to build a 116 Trophy/C1/EnduroKa with which I think is the maximum fun for the money (if you enjoy messing around with cars, anyway).

[Grant.C]

It depends, some include those - the endurance ones in particular as you're sharing a drive. 116 Trophy for example with Forty40 is around £2.5k including practice and race entry, or around £10k for a full season of 6 races. (Although IIRC those guys do a track day rather than the official practice session).

[Grant.C]

Thanks Hamster69, it's good to have some options. I've not signed up for anything in 2023 yet - TBH I'm not sure I will given my current finances, although I do have a shiny new racing suit and licence waiting to be used.

116 Trophy seems to be one of the most cost-effective series and your prices look good so I'll be in touch if I manage to loosen the shackles on my wallet.

[Grant.C]

For anyone following, there are also drives available in EnduroKa for around £1k inc. VAT, for the shorter races shared between four people.