Academy questions

[jimmyd123]

Hi,

I have been looking at getting into the Caterham Academy. I have had a good look round the website, searchedH too but still have a couple of questions.

What is the overall cost of the academy season? Is it just the £17000 advertised on the Caterham website? How about new tyres, etc?

Excluding travelling time how much of a day does a meeting take up? I would assume the best part, 8 ours?

Thanks,

James

[sjg]

I haven't done it, but have read a lot and chatted to people who have.

We'll start with the car. The 17k price is for it in kit form - you'll pay another £2500 for Caterham to build it for you. Home assembly will involve buying/hiring extra tools unless you have a very well equipped home garage. The 17k is also for the basic Seven, if you want paint, black pack, weather gear, a proper seat(!) it'll all cost you more.

You'll need a trailer for the car unless you plan to drive it everywhere (which isn't very practical with tools, spares and the like). A new Brian James is £1200+ and they don't go for a lot less secondhand.

On to you, if you don't have them (and I'm guessing you won't as the Academy is for novices) you'll need the nomex suit/gloves/boots as well as helmet. You're looking at several hundred quid minimum for that lot, and you can spend a lot more if you get into flashier or made to measure kit, or extra things like HANS devices.

Then each weekend you'll have a load of petrol/diesel for getting to these places (more consumption from towing a racecar too), almost all are very early starts so you'll be likely to be staying over. Accommodation/beer/food for you and any mates you can convince to assist you (and you'll be wanting their help!).

As well as the events themselves, a lot of people do trackdays at the venues beforehand to get used to them and the car. That can be several days more at £150+ a day, plus fuel, wear and tear, nights over, etc.

While road insurance is quite cheap for these, track and certainly race insurance is very pricey. Most people self-insure so you'll be wanting to have some spare cash put away just in case you hit something or someone.

It can all add up, some things (like the racewear) will last you a while but there's an awful lot of places where cash can just disappear during the year. I'd be putting aside £25k+ for the season, although you will (hopefully) have a car worth £13k or so at the end of it should you decide not to continue racing.

[concerned cat]

sjg said:

I haven't done it, but have read a lot and chatted to people who have.

We'll start with the car. The 17k price is for it in kit form - you'll pay another £2500 for Caterham to build it for you. Home assembly will involve buying/hiring extra tools unless you have a very well equipped home garage. The 17k is also for the basic Seven, if you want paint, black pack, weather gear, a proper seat(!) it'll all cost you more.

You'll need a trailer for the car unless you plan to drive it everywhere (which isn't very practical with tools, spares and the like). A new Brian James is £1200+ and they don't go for a lot less secondhand.

On to you, if you don't have them (and I'm guessing you won't as the Academy is for novices) you'll need the nomex suit/gloves/boots as well as helmet. You're looking at several hundred quid minimum for that lot, and you can spend a lot more if you get into flashier or made to measure kit, or extra things like HANS devices.

Then each weekend you'll have a load of petrol/diesel for getting to these places (more consumption from towing a racecar too), almost all are very early starts so you'll be likely to be staying over. Accommodation/beer/food for you and any mates you can convince to assist you (and you'll be wanting their help!).

As well as the events themselves, a lot of people do trackdays at the venues beforehand to get used to them and the car. That can be several days more at £150+ a day, plus fuel, wear and tear, nights over, etc.

While road insurance is quite cheap for these, track and certainly race insurance is very pricey. Most people self-insure so you'll be wanting to have some spare cash put away just in case you hit something or someone.

It can all add up, some things (like the racewear) will last you a while but there's an awful lot of places where cash can just disappear during the year. I'd be putting aside £25k+ for the season, although you will (hopefully) have a car worth £13k or so at the end of it should you decide not to continue racing.

Having competed in the '99 season, I'd say you're not far wrong there!

[SimonY]

edit: Ooops beaten to it.....

Hi there, I did the Academy in 2004 and currently race in Roadsports.

It is a great introduction to racing but having paid £17000 for the car there are still plenty of additional expenses. For example race suit, helmet etc. approx £800; a trailer approx £1200; test/track days before events at ~£200 each; accomodation for all of the days (although it is possible to camp); things which you will end up buying such as laptimer or new anti-roll bar; new tools which you may need; plenty of fuel; and maybe the odd bit of damage (!). Tyres are super hard and will probably last a season but you can get free ones from last year's competitors anyway. Usual estimates for the cost of a first season? ~£23-£25K. Your car will hopefully be worth £14000 after the year if in good condition. Not trying to put you off but it would be unwise to enter the Academy if the £17000 is a big stretch. But you will enjoy it and will probably think it is money well spent after your first race

A meeting can take up a whole day, typically: signing on 8.30am, qualifying 10.30am, race 3.00pm. Plenty of fiddling, chatting and watching racing to be done in between.

Edited by SimonY on Tuesday 17th April 13:50

Edited by SimonY on Tuesday 17th April 13:50

Edited by SimonY on Tuesday 17th April 13:51

[tel777.]

I'm doing the academy this year and Yer £25k is about right if you don't go overboard on extras, trackdays, training, race wear etc

My costs are about this (so far)

car £17,000
extras - seats, push button start, weather gear, paint £2,000
Race wear £1,300
Trailer (i'm hiring £500) to buy £1,200
Tools £200
Fuel £1000 for tow car
Acommodation £1,800
car maintenance, set up, 500 mile service £800
Insurance £300 (CCI)

misc costs - repairs, food, drink, track days, etc £2,000

I had actually budgeted for all of this but things that cought me out were things like having to buy a shed to put the stuff out of the garage in then put electrics in the garage, paint it out, put a new door on, level the floor, towing hitch for the Jeep, etc, etc about £1,000.

I allowed 30K for the season knowing that next year would be much cheaper as I would already have all the gear.

If I can help any further just let me know.

Terry

[jimmyd123]

Thank you for the comprehensive answers, more than I could have hoped for. To be honest £30,000 is too much for me at the moment, and I would be looking at at least £10,000 a year there onwards if I want to carry on.

Any other ideas for a cheaper intro to motorsport?

Ideally I want to learn to drive properly, racing can come afterwards.

[mechsympathy]

jimmyd123 said:

and I would be looking at at least £10,000 a year there onwards if I want to carry on.

I'm figuring on 5k (+ crash damage) on top of the car for my first year doing Supergrads. The car has cost me 11k, plus race gear (800) and trailer (1k secondhand). Classic grads cars are 8-9k with similar other expenses.

If you don't want your hand held quite as well as as the Academy do then the Graduates is a good way in. Plenty of friendly advice (and piss taking when you get it wrong) and enough hand holding not to make it completely daunting

[peter-2006]

Or if you wanted to stick to an offical Caterham championship then Roadsport B is a good starting point.

[dannylt]

jimmyd123 said:

Any other ideas for a cheaper intro to motorsport?

Ideally I want to learn to drive properly, racing can come afterwards.

Why not just to track days and get plenty of instruction then? Lots of time on track value for money.

[James.S]

The standard of driving is better in Roadsports aswell

[taffyracer]

Yes agreed by a used racer for 12k and do it that way, you'll learn more racing with experienced racers than you will racing with novices anyway

[tel777.]

I had considered both roadsports and The academy but as I had never even done a track day in my life I felt I needed a soft introduction into motor sport and the academy offered that support. For me there seemed to be a lot of focus on getting you ready for the racing with two/three sprint events and two official track days/handling days before the wheel to wheel combat started.

I was happy to shell out for this season knowing next year would be relatively cheap in comparison as I would have already bought most of what I needed. It also ment that I could get a feel for the racing etiquette (think thats how you spell it) so not to look to much of a chump in my first season in roadsports surrounded by more experienced drivers.

I also understand that a lot of the top racers in caterhams have been through the Academy so it must be a good grounding.

Saying all that if the money wasn't available this year for the academy then I would have winged it in roadsports and crossed my fingers that I didn't look too much of a muppet. probably best to get some feedback from guys who have gone strait into roadsports.

terry

[andya7]

First races/qualifying of the season;

Roadsport B - 22
Roadsport - 26

Super Grads - 46 (qualifcation race needed - two races for the price of one!)
Mega Grads - 29
(137 racing members!)

Everyone has their own opinions on whether they race with the 'official' series or not and their reasons why, but ultimately the 'official' series is a business and has to make a profit (which can only come from one place) whereas the Graduates is a non-profit making club and decisions made by racing members... perhaps that is why they choose to race at Spa Francorchamps... obviously with a lower standard of driving but far more popular

The Academy is not 'cheap' and probably £25-30k for the year, but as mentioned, you do have the tools to race the following year at a greatly reduced cost. Equally, you can buy a 2nd hand car and join the Graduates Club. Either way the costs in the following years you go racing will be about the same.

Ask a Roadsport driver and a Graduate driver the question and you will always get 2 answers, ask an Academy driver who moved to Graduates and you may only get one...

Whichever you choose you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner

[peter-2006]

andya7 said:

First races/qualifying of the season;

Roadsport - 26

There were 2 qualifying groups of 26 for Roadsport's

[SimonY]

andya7 said:

First races/qualifying of the season;

Roadsport B - 22
Roadsport - 26

Super Grads - 46 (qualifcation race needed - two races for the price of one!)
Mega Grads - 29
(137 racing members!)

Everyone has their own opinions on whether they race with the 'official' series or not and their reasons why, but ultimately the 'official' series is a business and has to make a profit (which can only come from one place) whereas the Graduates is a non-profit making club and decisions made by racing members... perhaps that is why they choose to race at Spa Francorchamps... obviously with a lower standard of driving but far more popular

The Academy is not 'cheap' and probably £25-30k for the year, but as mentioned, you do have the tools to race the following year at a greatly reduced cost. Equally, you can buy a 2nd hand car and join the Graduates Club. Either way the costs in the following years you go racing will be about the same.

Ask a Roadsport driver and a Graduate driver the question and you will always get 2 answers, ask an Academy driver who moved to Graduates and you may only get one...

Whichever you choose you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner

Aaaah, the perennial debate appears to be surfacing.....

Actually at Snetterton -

Roadsport B 22
Roadsport 41 (two qualifying groups, three races)

so certainly not lacking in popularity.

Funny that the racing members from the 'members run' Graduates club chose to race at Pembrey and Lydden, and not, for example, Oulton and Brands; to have 20 and not 30 minute races; to hold single race meetings in locations such as Cadwell Park; to travel over twice the distance to race meetings in a season compared to Roadsports

Edited by SimonY on Wednesday 18th April 22:10

[jimmyd123]

Hmmm, appears to be more options than I first thought. Looks like I need to do some more research, maybe get a few track days in to help me decide what I really want/need.

Thanks everyone.

Can anyyone suggest an instructor for track days? I am happy to use my own car, going to need new brakes and tyres soon so may as well get the most from them.

James

[sfaulds]

James,

If you want one to one instruction with a good insight to Caterham racing, you wont do better than Simon Mason from www.motorsport-tuition.com , although he's probably very busy at the moment.

Stuart

[cuzza]

jimmyd123 said:

Thank you for the comprehensive answers, more than I could have hoped for. To be honest £30,000 is too much for me at the moment, and I would be looking at at least £10,000 a year there onwards if I want to carry on.

Any other ideas for a cheaper intro to motorsport?

Ideally I want to learn to drive properly, racing can come afterwards.

Jimmy,

I went through this last year and looked at lots of championships as I wanted to try racing but not neccesarily in Caterhams. There are plenty of championships out there things like MX5s, Porsche 924s and MR2s where the racing is close as modifications are strictly limited which helps in keeping the costs down (just like the Caterham formulae).

I looked at the Academy and decided against it, if you're prepared to ask lots of questions and do your homework, getting a car and starting racing on your own isn't really that difficult and is much better vfm.

Best advice is to go to meetings and talk to the drivers (we're good at that ) and make your choice, then get a car as soon as you can (Autumn is probably the best time as people will be selling up at the end of the season but racecars come up all the time) and get some time in it on trackdays - then do your license test in the new year and off you go.

[mechsympathy]

SimonY said:

Funny that the racing members from the 'members run' Graduates club chose to race at Pembrey and Lydden, and not, for example, Oulton and Brands; to have 20 and not 30 minute races; to hold single race meetings in locations such as Cadwell Park; to travel over twice the distance to race meetings in a season compared to Roadsports

Now where's that handbag smiley

As someone above has said, if you ask a Grads racer and a Roadsports racer you'll get two different answers. There are cheaper ways into racing than Caterhams, but if you have to race Caterhams it's easy enough that you don't have to go via the Academy.

[h_____]

Without adding to the Grads vs. Roadsports debate. I can say a couple of things. Firstly Which ever you go into you wont be dissappointed, both are well run series with a lot going for them. The people in each will be friendly and helpfull. Now, as I race in Grads, I'll extend some comments where I have experience. At Pembrey (the first race of the season) we had at least 4 people (who I met) who had never raced before, all had only 2-6 trackdays prior to racing. 2 of them get 4 races that weekend, due to the qualification rules). Everyone had someone at the their level to race with, so you arent left at the back of the grid, while the good guys disappear into the distance.

My advice would get along to the meetings, whether its Grads, RS, MX5s whoever, go to the paddock, talk to people, get a feel for the atmosphere and see if you think you will fit in.

Oh and if you want to come to Grads race, we'll get you tickets! (I'm sure Roadsports will do the same!).