Really want to get 'involved' in some way or other!
Discussion
Well, I'm getting a bit frustrated at not being able to satisfy my hobby. I ran a 2 stroke kart for a couple of years but that proved too expensive for a student like me to get into racing so only did test days. Looking for something a bit more satisfying than that.
Pretty keen to work in motorsport (Aeronautical Engineering) and would like to do some club level stuff one day. Hoping to start a motorsport club at uni next year, what sort of stuff should I be aiming at doing? Something like a uni racing team in XR2's or the like would be amazing, but how to organise that sort of thing (ie driver rotas or something)? Would love to do a bit of marshalling or just getting mucked in with a project - still at parents house though so no room for an old wreck! haha. So, any advice on how to get in amongst it would be ace guys. Mainly focused on getting like minded uni folk together, but want to lead from the front and actually do stuff!
Pretty keen to work in motorsport (Aeronautical Engineering) and would like to do some club level stuff one day. Hoping to start a motorsport club at uni next year, what sort of stuff should I be aiming at doing? Something like a uni racing team in XR2's or the like would be amazing, but how to organise that sort of thing (ie driver rotas or something)? Would love to do a bit of marshalling or just getting mucked in with a project - still at parents house though so no room for an old wreck! haha. So, any advice on how to get in amongst it would be ace guys. Mainly focused on getting like minded uni folk together, but want to lead from the front and actually do stuff!
some ideas
www.marshals.co.uk - marshalling is easily the best way to get involved, most circuits have pretty good facilities these days and its a day watching motorsport for free whilst waiting for a chance to get called into action.
formula student - lcoal school/uni?
go to a race meeting and pimp yourself as a "spanner for hire" - always works, you will be doing it for nothing but the experience will be useful, you are unlikely to get a place with a big team without doing an "apprenticeship" with an owner/drive first.
local motor club - always looking for new people to train up as clerks or officials at meetings. its grass roots stuff (sprints etc) but you can get your clerks licence after two years or so and then work your way up to big meetings...
British Uni Kart Champs?
whilst at uni, we got enough money out of the SU to buy a TKM which we ran at test days just to give people the chance to drive a 2 stroke as we only did 4 stroke arrive/drive races.
www.marshals.co.uk - marshalling is easily the best way to get involved, most circuits have pretty good facilities these days and its a day watching motorsport for free whilst waiting for a chance to get called into action.
formula student - lcoal school/uni?
go to a race meeting and pimp yourself as a "spanner for hire" - always works, you will be doing it for nothing but the experience will be useful, you are unlikely to get a place with a big team without doing an "apprenticeship" with an owner/drive first.
local motor club - always looking for new people to train up as clerks or officials at meetings. its grass roots stuff (sprints etc) but you can get your clerks licence after two years or so and then work your way up to big meetings...
British Uni Kart Champs?
whilst at uni, we got enough money out of the SU to buy a TKM which we ran at test days just to give people the chance to drive a 2 stroke as we only did 4 stroke arrive/drive races.
Cheers pablo, some good ideas there. Any idea about the kind of folk to approach for spanner slaving? haha. I guess most clubbies could use a helping hand? Some are quite big, organised affairs though. I see marshall training tends to be only over winter? Might have to wait a while before I can get into that.. I really want to reform the Glasgow Uni motorsport club though, and that karting idea is brilliant! Would be great if we could do something like that at basic club level car racing though, ie XR2's or minis...
superhans88 said:
Cheers pablo, some good ideas there. Any idea about the kind of folk to approach for spanner slaving? haha. I guess most clubbies could use a helping hand? Some are quite big, organised affairs though. I see marshall training tends to be only over winter? Might have to wait a while before I can get into that.. I really want to reform the Glasgow Uni motorsport club though, and that karting idea is brilliant! Would be great if we could do something like that at basic club level car racing though, ie XR2's or minis...
almost any clubbie will need a hand and some of the teams with pay per driver racers like the caterham teams will probably be interested if you can prove you are competent. likewise i cant see a marshals club turning you away if you are willing and able, trained or otherwise they will find something for you to do. we looked at locosts and 2CVs but the uni got very scared about things like insurance and liability and it was a non starter, plus we really struggled trying to riase the capital. budget on £6-8K if you are starting from scratch even for the mighty mini series. we also had trouble finding somewhere to keep the car that we where we could work on it in the evening on uni premises (thus saving on rent of a lock up), then there are issues with towing it (if you passed your test after 1997? you will need to takle the test) and who gets to actually race it. in the end, booking out local kart tracks or going to test days with the TKM was by far the easiest solution.
BUKC is awesome and very competitive. the uni should be supportive as its well organised and all above board so to speak. i think its recognised by BUSA too. we used to have driver test days and shoot outs for the places though it was really who had the money and not who was fastest!
If you want to start a car club at uni, the things to look at are sprints, autotests, navigational scatters (I think that's the right name). If you google a local motor club and have a look at what they run it will give you a few ideas. You can try middlesex motor club for a few ideas.
The advantage of autotests is not needing a competition licence (I think this is still the case). Sprints can be done with a speed licence so no test. Otherwise racing will require people to do their ARDS pay for a medical etc.
good luck with it all.
The advantage of autotests is not needing a competition licence (I think this is still the case). Sprints can be done with a speed licence so no test. Otherwise racing will require people to do their ARDS pay for a medical etc.
good luck with it all.
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