Starting Racing & Pay Per Drives

[TheHoof]

All, I'd appreciate your advice on this one - I'm looking to start circuit racing in the UK in the next year or two and as I'm living in London I don't have space (or time!) to store maintain a dedicated race car.

Are there any series in the UK that have 'pay drives' and are suitable for newbies? I'd noticed that one of the MX-5 championships have a couple of seats available. Are there any others?

Cheers in advance!

[Roo]

If you like the look of the MX 5 championship have a look at the Mazda scholarship.

[Kickstart]

Every series I have ever raced in (well over 20 years) has had rent a drives. Some series and teams advertise these prominently and some don't.

I would decide what you want to race and then find a well supported series and contact the person/organisation running the series (eg 750MC etc) to find out who does rentals.

You can do anything from Stock Hatch to F3 to International GT not to mention lots of classics - some more serious racing involves a Nat A or Int C license

As always in racing it is just the little matter of budget.

I would guess these days that prices start from about £600 and go on up to the stratosphere

Have fun

[TheHoof]

Thanks for the advice.

I was thinking of something along the lines of either MX-5/MR2, perhaps a Clio or some other 'hot hatch', or ideally a Caterham.

Are there any Caterham championships that are particularly suited to newbies - perhaps the Roadsport B?

[NJH]

There are all sorts of ways you can play things if you can't store a car yourself just to broaden options;
1) Arrive and Drive
2) Your own car but run by a team
3) Your own car but stored somewhere

[nigel greensall]

Hi David

Have a look at Funcup - http://www.funcup.co.uk/

It is probably the best value for time on track and with very good mix of new and experienced drivers , the ideal place to start.

[adriand]

I can second the Fun Cup suggestion – 2010 was my first year’s racing. As a rental driver with the team support that comes with endurance racing, I’ve lost the novice cross, experienced Eau Rouge flat out (well, they’re not very fast …) and, as a complete beginner, been regularly overtaken by Nigel (and at the Donington World Cup this weekend, the likes of Paul O’Neill and Steven Kane).

[jleroux]

TheHoof said:

ideally a Caterham. Are there any Caterham championships that are particularly suited to newbies - perhaps the Roadsport B?

not sure about Roadsports, but there's a few arrive & drive options for the Superlight R300 championship. great fun cars:- 175bhp, LSD, 525kgs. some of the closest racing i've ever seen. there were a handful of novices on the grid this year and none of them disgraced themselves.

we (bookatrack.com) have 3 x R300 race cars for hire (will be 5 cars for 2011). mcmillan motorsport and DPR motorsport also have rental cars I think - not sure but Spy Motorsport may even have one as well for next year.

drop me an email if you want to see our information pack PDF.

Jonny
BaT

[RogueMotorsport]

TheHoof said:

I was thinking of something along the lines of either MX-5/MR2, perhaps a Clio or some other 'hot hatch', or ideally a Caterham.

We rent out both mk2 and mk3 MR2s in the 750 Motor Club's MR2 Championship. We're also building some rental BMW Z3 2.8s for next years new Roadzter series if that's of any interest?