Beginner racing

[thegman]

I am looking to get into a racing series. I am an absoulte beginner. My only criteria are:

- I need to be able to drive the car to the track - dont have room for a trailer.
- I want to share the driving (and cost) with a mate
- It needs to be cheap - max 15k total

I have looked at:

locost
caterham
westfield

But I still have some questions:

1.Can I drive all these cars to the track?
2.Can I share a driving with a mate (is there only one race per event?)
3.Can I race on a novice B licence
4.Where do I get a car?
5.Is it always a two day event (qual on sat, race on sun?)
6.Whats best for beginners?


Any info gratefully received

[andy97]

thegman said:

I am looking to get into a racing series. I am an absoulte beginner. My only criteria are:

- I need to be able to drive the car to the track - dont have room for a trailer.
- I want to share the driving (and cost) with a mate
- It needs to be cheap - max 15k total

I have looked at:

locost
caterham
westfield

But I still have some questions:

1.Can I drive all these cars to the track?
2.Can I share a driving with a mate (is there only one race per event?)
3.Can I race on a novice B licence
4.Where do I get a car?
5.Is it always a two day event (qual on sat, race on sun?)
6.Whats best for beginners?


Any info gratefully received

Have a look at the CSCC "Tin Tops" series - there is a thread about it on here fairly recently. ideal for a novice & several run in it. Also have a look at the Classics Sports Car Club (CSCC) web site. The good thing about this series is that you get good track time for your money & it is also one of the few series where 2 drivers can share a car in the same race as they are a mini-enduro format for one or two drivers with a compulsory pit stop.

Yes, you can drive to the meeting but not ideal - race cars tend to be uncomforatble on the road & you should have a contimgency plan if anything breaks or you get damage at the circuit.

Nat B licence is fine.

Usually a one day commitment - practice and race on same day, but you'll need to be there early!

[anonymous-user]

thegman said:

I am looking to get into a racing series. I am an absoulte beginner. My only criteria are:

- I need to be able to drive the car to the track - dont have room for a trailer.
- I want to share the driving (and cost) with a mate
- It needs to be cheap - max 15k total

I have looked at:

locost
caterham
westfield

But I still have some questions:

1.Can I drive all these cars to the track?
2.Can I share a driving with a mate (is there only one race per event?)
3.Can I race on a novice B licence
4.Where do I get a car?
5.Is it always a two day event (qual on sat, race on sun?)
6.Whats best for beginners?


Any info gratefully received

first of all, good luck!


as mentioned, tintops is an excellent class and a real clubman championship for enthusiasts. you could buy (more on that later) or build a car relatively cheaply, it might not be that competitive but you are racing which is all that really matters have a look at the 750MC Golf GTI championship too

1.Can I drive all these cars to the track? there are many diffferent classes of car whcih you can drive to an event, all those you mention can be driven to an event in various forms (eg caterhams have many different class configuations but only the lower end of the spectrum are road legal, academy cars etc)
lots of saloon championships can be road legal (mighty minis (if its still going), tin tops etc)


2.Can I share a driving with a mate (is there only one race per event?)
i only know of tin tops taht are two driver races at a budget level but there are no doubt more.

3.Can I race on a novice B licence
yes

4.Where do I get a car?
lots of places on the web, racecarsdirect.com, here on PH, fastroadandtrack.co.uk are popular places

5.Is it always a two day event (qual on sat, race on sun?)
no, most small events are just one long day with qualifying in the morning and racing after lunch, makes for a long day but saves on accomodation etc. check with the championship before you buy a car though as these costs will add up. ther emight be one or two double headers per season

6.Whats best for beginners?

how long is a piece of string! look for a low level championship with limited mods, this way you wont be inclined to spend mega bucks on a car and go faster upgardes and things personally i would go for a slaoon car being easy to prepare, road legal and lots of spares available.

£15K is a good budget to get everything you need for a season and in something like the tin tops, a second (and subsequent) season will only be £3K all in bar accident damage... i would recommend buying a car already prepped and with a bit of racing history, this way you know its safely pased scrutineering and needs no other work to get it on track required. you wil lget a better deal rather than trying to buid a car from scratch.

[1]

thegman said:

I am looking to get into a racing series. I am an absolute beginner. My only criteria are:

- I need to be able to drive the car to the track - don't have room for a trailer.
- I want to share the driving (and cost) with a mate
- It needs to be cheap - max 15k total

I have looked at:

locost
caterham
westfield

But I still have some questions:

1.Can I drive all these cars to the track?
2.Can I share a driving with a mate (is there only one race per event?)
3.Can I race on a novice B licence
4.Where do I get a car?
5.Is it always a two day event (qual on sat, race on sun?)
6.Whats best for beginners?


Any info gratefully received

None of the things you have mentioned will be a problem and £15k is a good budget to start with, however driving the car to the cirucit will be a pain in the arse.

The circuits are all over the country and a race day/weekend can be a long day, the last thing you want to do at the end of the day is get into your race car for an very noisy, uncomfortable 4 hour drive home! There is also quite a bit of stuff you will need to take with you, which I doubt will fit into any of the vehicle you have mentioned.

Other options to consider;

Find somewhere to store a trailer (hire a garage, storage on a local farm etc)
Hire a trailer
Arrive and drive hire of the race car
Pay another team/competitor to get the car to the circuit for you.

Having said all of that I do know some of the Caterhams are road legal and some of the Lotus Elise guys drive to the circuit as do some of the Golf GTI's.

Also I shared a car in my first season in 750mc Stockhatch and we found the easiest way was to alternative weekends.

[guru_1071]

pablo said:

[(mighty minis (if its still going),

it certainly as popular as ever.

though i wouldnt fancy driving the car to and from the events, though there is one bloke who does!!!


there is also a few guys who do car hire as well, so you can dip your toe in the water before you splash out!

[RacerMDR]

driving car to track is going to be a big problem I reckon.

Anything competitive and you'll be getting the bus home probably one time in five

[Mr Smith996]

I'm in my fifth year in Production BMW and have allways driven to the circuit (inc Spa x2) I don't want to own a tow vehicle and I enjoy driving the racer on the road. Only once have I chosen not to drive home, when the bearings on my original moon mile engine failed at Oulton in 2004. Having followed a mate with failed big ends back from Croix I now know the car would have made it home.

If you want a budget beginner Championship take a look at pbmwc.co.uk and our forum on SELOC. I am only doing five meets this year, entry fees will be under £900 for 8 races, eight £45 tyres will last the season and a few TD's and IMO, we have the best paddock in the land.

[anonymous-user]

RacerMDR said:

driving car to track is going to be a big problem I reckon.

Anything competitive and you'll be getting the bus home probably one time in five

it is a difficult one, noone wants to be backing out of late braking overtaking moves etc because you need to drive the car home but on the flip side, the cost and hassle of a tow car and trailer makes driving the car to an event quite appealing.

i wouldnt have a problem driving a race car to an event even if it was fully race prepped, take my time getting there and race at my own pace at the event. i would just have a sticker on the dash saying "you need to drive this home". i am sure i could find someone of a similar pace to have a battle with regardless of whether its the front or the back of the grid. there arent going to be any f1 team managers there looking for taltent so that do ir die move from 5th to 4th or whatever can stay in the "wat might have been"...

[RacerMDR]

I am AMAZED any of you guys would consider driving your race car to the circuit and back again.

Granted I race Caterhams and its pretty fierce.........but its generally missing body parts at least - but certainly undriveable on many many occasions!

[Redmax]

Given the type of cars you've specified, I would check out the CSCC Magnificent 7s rather than the Tin Tops.

Details here: http://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/magnificents...

[andy97]

Redmax said:

Given the type of cars you've specified, I would check out the CSCC Magnificent 7s rather than the Tin Tops.

Details here: http://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/magnificents...

Same club, same ethos, same good VFM experience but perhaps the "Tin Tops" cars are potentially slightly more user friendly to consider "commuting" to race meetings in!!

[no.53]

I would agree with the above comments about driving to the circuit - really not a good idea.

With a 15k budget you and your friend could get an arrive and drive package in CSCC Tin tops, in fact you'd spend less than that - more like £10k incl going to Spa

[RacingPete]

I know quite a few racers who drive to the events... one guy use to keep his 4 spare tires in his living room and load them in his MGF racer to and from events, quite a squeeze but he enjoyed it lots.

The problem is that he wrote the car off at Mallory one year in an accident that wasn't his fault got collected by a car trying to keep flat out on the exit of Gerrards and dominoes the pack into each other forcing him 90 off into the barriers... Unfortunately you cannot factor for that even if trying to keep out of trouble with the mantra of "Got to drive this home"

If you have done nothing at all and if you can face it you might want to look at sprint and hill climbing as an alternative. Easy to do a two driver share, risk is substantially reduced, always one day events, and majority of the competitors will drive to the event - fully matching your requirements apart from the circuit racing part

[jimmy306]

18K gets you into the Caterham Accademy series including the car. Is this any good or not?

[RacerMDR]

depends on your point of view. I did it. It cost more like 22k to be honest all in. Thats quite a lot for 3 sprints, 1 hillclimb and 4 races.......

When you could buy a graduate car for 11k......and do the whole season for probably 6-8.....and you get 14 races...plus you use proper tyres etc.

www.graduates.org.uk

[anonymous-user]

RacerMDR said:

I am AMAZED any of you guys would consider driving your race car to the circuit and back again.

Granted I race Caterhams and its pretty fierce.........but its generally missing body parts at least - but certainly undriveable on many many occasions!

the simple fact is, if the only way you can go racing is to drive the car there and back ,thats what you have to do... if, as a sacrifice, it means not going for the 50/50s then that is teh compromise you make.... at the end of the day, the guy just needs to ask him how much does he want it? not everyone is in it to win it, i am at combe a lot and many of the fford drivers can only keep racing if the car is undamaged such is their budget... you can see the driving conduct is very gentlemanly and well natured (bar the top eight or so how are hooligans !)

[RacerMDR]

pablo said:

RacerMDR said:

I am AMAZED any of you guys would consider driving your race car to the circuit and back again.

Granted I race Caterhams and its pretty fierce.........but its generally missing body parts at least - but certainly undriveable on many many occasions!

the simple fact is, if the only way you can go racing is to drive the car there and back ,thats what you have to do... if, as a sacrifice, it means not going for the 50/50s then that is teh compromise you make.... at the end of the day, the guy just needs to ask him how much does he want it? not everyone is in it to win it, i am at combe a lot and many of the fford drivers can only keep racing if the car is undamaged such is their budget... you can see the driving conduct is very gentlemanly and well natured (bar the top eight or so how are hooligans !)

Totally fair enough.........but unless you are driving Miss Daisy - surely you are going to get failures....(even simple things like Throttle cables, blown tyres, wheel bearings) which would prevent you from driving home?

and as someone else said - I've seen many crashes - and all parts of the field that were a result of a minor mistake or getting collected by someone else......

Places like the Hairpin at Mallory, or Luffied at Silverstone.......or Goosneck at Cadwell.....you'd end up having an accident by trying to be cautious?

just my experience - which as I said is all karting and Caterhams

[rallycross]

you have a big budget so there are lots of things you could do, but only a few where the car could be driven on the road and still do quite well in its class.

sprinting would be a good place to start if you have to use a road car, most racing cars/race series are not suitable for drive arrive,race and then drive home (hence people use trailers)

[thegman]

Thanks for all your feedback!

[LuckyP]

It was my plan to drive the MR2 all round the country and pitch up on the morning and leave in the afternoon. I got away with Snetterton, just got away with Brands this weekend but after visiting the kitty litter I am now thinking that I can't risk driving it there (or more precisely back). As my mate also had to take all the tools and spares and the support car back before the racing had finnished I was really one my own. 1 x Race car, 1 x 10 mm socket and one set of number plates!!

Doesn't induce much racing confidence!!

How about these dollys? Are they any good? Ya kna, just a set of wheels mounted to a tow bar and a set of ramps to get you up them??

Pete