Thinking of racing

[bumper]

Hi All

I am thinking of buying a caterham 7 to possibly race in the academy series , any advice or help or highlight any issues that you have all had etc

thanks Keith

[h_____]

Hop over to blatchat or roadsports.co.uk and ask the same question. All the academy lot hang out on there.

My take would be depends what you want to do. If you want the whole experience, learn how to drive, have your hand held, experience sprints and hillclimbs as well as circuit races then the academy is great. If you can drive and want to get stuck straight into racing then buy a car and go racing. It is certainly cheaper to go straight into a full race series with a second hand car. The graduates club is probably best for that. That said I loved the academy, and would do it again.

[L100NYY]

Morning folks,

I was pondering the very same over the weekend and have decided to enter the Graduates series. All I've got to decide on now is whether to enter the Graduates or Mega Graduates Series.

Either of these Series' actually work out cheaper than the Academy (ish) and give you a full race season rather than a combination of races/sprints/hillclimbs as you get with the Academy.

It was a close call though and I certainly wouldn't rule out the Academy as an almost 'failsafe' way of going racing. Also bear in mind that after a season of racing in the Academy you can then use the smae car to enter the Mega Grads the following year.

[Incorrigible]

Like H___ I did the Academy this year. It's great value and a great way into racing

I'm not sure that going straight into another race series is any cheaper. My whole season cost me £2k and the car depreciated by about the same. Next year we will do twice as much racing but it's likely to cost twice as much. If you bought one of this years academy car you would be poorer at the end of the season than if you bought a brand new car and did the academy. As for better value for money, dunno

If you decide to do Grads, think carefully about what you want to do later, Supergrads will give you more options. Also don't rule out the Caterham run RSB's (very similar specs)

[Incorrigible]

Just to clarify

Grads is the old academy car, live axle, vauxhall engine

Super grads is the newer academy roadsports car with minimal upgrade

Mega grad - no screen more power (£3k ish more)

But get over to the troadssports forum

www.roadsports.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php?sid=690ffff07868ec8930afabb47b6298f5

or blatchat (but you have to be a member to post (I'm not))

[starmist]

I have sold my TVR, bought a Supergrad and have just done my first race in the wet at Anglesey this weekend.

The series is fully supported so if you break / bend your car, it gets fixed for free (you only pay for the parts). There are about 150 in the series this year spread across Grads (reducing as the cars aren't build anymore) Supers (47 signed up so far) and Megas - around 35.

Just do it!

[h_____]

Just to qualify that last statement. the graduates does come with technical support for the race weekend. This means that if you suffer an expected technical issue during the race weekend they will attend to the car, for the cost of parts alone. They dont do setup or prep, and if you smash the car during the last race, they are not likely to fix it before you go home.

If it is a double header, and you smash it in the first race, they will get it race worthy for the next race. Amazing what they can do!

[h_____]

Should also add it is well worth going to a few races of each series to work out what you want to do. i.e. Grads (grads, supers and megas), RSBs, Academy, perhaps even the 750MC series.