Advice welcome!
Discussion
Im wanting to start in motorsport. Would like to go ralling, however I've been advised that I would require a fairly large budget for the season, and someone that is brave (stupid) enough to sit next to me.
The other option is of course circuit racing. Then maybe go rallying in a few years time.
Just need an idea of how much a typical season would cost. Looking at a small hatch, saxo, 106 GTI, fiesta xr2i etc.
Any advice would be well recived.
Adam
The other option is of course circuit racing. Then maybe go rallying in a few years time.
Just need an idea of how much a typical season would cost. Looking at a small hatch, saxo, 106 GTI, fiesta xr2i etc.
Any advice would be well recived.
Adam
a season in motor racing can cost as little or as much as you want to spend.
but as a minimum you will need national b licence. which will be around £400 with go racing pack and ards test. helmet and overalls, you can get cheap ones from about £100 each but i wouldn't, spend good money in this area.
then you need a preped car, cheapest option is to buy a used race car rather than to prep a road car. you can get one for £1500 upwards. you will also need a trailer and tow vehicle if you dont already have these.
then the cost are variable as to how much racing you want to do and how competitive you want to be. you could buy tyres for every race, or make one set last all year. you will need to budget for brake pads/ fluid. engine oil changes + other service items. a race car will need to be serviced far more regularly than a road car.
fuel for race car can be quite a bit.
then you need to factor in the club.
club registration?
race entry fees?
travel. getting across the country to race meetings is one of our biggest expenses. hotel for the night before?
this can all be quite a lot of money and look quite daunting, but your first season is always the most expensive. and if you cant afford to do the whole year just pick and choose the circuits you like the most.
you will also need a contingency fund for those red mist moments where you suddenly become best friends with the local body shop.
but as a minimum you will need national b licence. which will be around £400 with go racing pack and ards test. helmet and overalls, you can get cheap ones from about £100 each but i wouldn't, spend good money in this area.
then you need a preped car, cheapest option is to buy a used race car rather than to prep a road car. you can get one for £1500 upwards. you will also need a trailer and tow vehicle if you dont already have these.
then the cost are variable as to how much racing you want to do and how competitive you want to be. you could buy tyres for every race, or make one set last all year. you will need to budget for brake pads/ fluid. engine oil changes + other service items. a race car will need to be serviced far more regularly than a road car.
fuel for race car can be quite a bit.
then you need to factor in the club.
club registration?
race entry fees?
travel. getting across the country to race meetings is one of our biggest expenses. hotel for the night before?
this can all be quite a lot of money and look quite daunting, but your first season is always the most expensive. and if you cant afford to do the whole year just pick and choose the circuits you like the most.
you will also need a contingency fund for those red mist moments where you suddenly become best friends with the local body shop.
Try looking into Sprinting and Hillclimbing, zero chance of anyone else damaging your pride and joy, just you against the clock, and plenty of cameraderie in the paddock, start with roadgoing classes with minimal safety requirements, spend as you wish to go up in the class structure.
Depends where you are in the country as to the locality of any hills, but plenty of sprint courses all over.
Depends where you are in the country as to the locality of any hills, but plenty of sprint courses all over.
AndyMil said:
Try looking into Sprinting and Hillclimbing, zero chance of anyone else damaging your pride and joy, just you against the clock, and plenty of cameraderie in the paddock, start with roadgoing classes with minimal safety requirements, spend as you wish to go up in the class structure.
Depends where you are in the country as to the locality of any hills, but plenty of sprint courses all over.
+1. This option is the same format as rallying, ( i.e one car at a time vs clock, classes, etc..), but allows great flexibilty from £1k hatch to Group B rally car to F1 engined single seater. Venues all over the place and great camerarderie. Just choose your budget, study the regs, buy the most competitive car you can for that class, ( seek advice here as it's not always straight forward ), get license, ( Nat B non race is minimum and circa £100 ), join BARC or similar, buy clothing/hat, and off you go. The only problem is that after your first season you may well be budgeting much more for the next one in the pursuit of faster times/bigger buzz! Depends where you are in the country as to the locality of any hills, but plenty of sprint courses all over.
i would look at karting. every year i keep saying i'll have enough money to go racing cars and every year i do the sums and i dont have anything like what i need. I was talking to the mighty mini drivers at the combe mini aciton day recently and they said you need about £8000 to do the first season.... and that also relies on you having a suitable to car.....
so I chose karting. Dependant upon your choice of class you could be racing every weekend and entry fees are £50 or thereabouts. if you just want some fun, a reasonable rotax max (125cc, 14000rpm, 30 bhp) can be yours for about £1500, then you just need some new tyres and possibly an engine rebulid before the start of the season. with a budget of £2500 you could have everything you need to go racing and entry fees for the season and probably sell the kart at the end for the sme money you bought it for. suitable helmets are quite cheap, race suits are under £100 because you dont need nomex and you can tow the kart with any car. every circuit does open test/practice days and they are as little as £30 per day.
the £8000 quoted was as follows
£2500 minimum for the car and any prep work required to get it legal for season, updates required for new regulations etc
8 races at £500 per race to cover entry fees, getting there and back, sundries, fluids etc etc
£1000 contingency fund to pay for any damage incurred duing the season
most circuits run test days the day/week before a race day which are useful if you are a novice and have not visited the citrcuit before so thats anohter £250 per day
so I chose karting. Dependant upon your choice of class you could be racing every weekend and entry fees are £50 or thereabouts. if you just want some fun, a reasonable rotax max (125cc, 14000rpm, 30 bhp) can be yours for about £1500, then you just need some new tyres and possibly an engine rebulid before the start of the season. with a budget of £2500 you could have everything you need to go racing and entry fees for the season and probably sell the kart at the end for the sme money you bought it for. suitable helmets are quite cheap, race suits are under £100 because you dont need nomex and you can tow the kart with any car. every circuit does open test/practice days and they are as little as £30 per day.
the £8000 quoted was as follows
£2500 minimum for the car and any prep work required to get it legal for season, updates required for new regulations etc
8 races at £500 per race to cover entry fees, getting there and back, sundries, fluids etc etc
£1000 contingency fund to pay for any damage incurred duing the season
most circuits run test days the day/week before a race day which are useful if you are a novice and have not visited the citrcuit before so thats anohter £250 per day
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 20th December 14:07
Well I have finally made a decision. Seems like sprinting is the best way forward for this year, along with some track days. Wont need to aquire a second car or trailer for this season, and therefore put some money aside for next. Licence application will be in the post as soon as 2011 starts.
Just need to trade in my dirty diesel for a quicker and more track focused car. And then just drive to and from, hopefully! Upgrading and servicing as required.
Thinking of a Fiesta ST or Clio 197. Leaning more to the Fiesta, just for running costs.
Just need to trade in my dirty diesel for a quicker and more track focused car. And then just drive to and from, hopefully! Upgrading and servicing as required.
Thinking of a Fiesta ST or Clio 197. Leaning more to the Fiesta, just for running costs.
Good decision. You can get to learn your car and the venues without the pressure of other competitiors around you at the same time as is the case with circuit racing.
I've been sprinting for about 10 years in a variety of different classes and barring the unforeseen, costs are quite reasonable.
Hope to see you out there sometime.
I've been sprinting for about 10 years in a variety of different classes and barring the unforeseen, costs are quite reasonable.
Hope to see you out there sometime.
Edited by Trev450 on Thursday 23 December 16:33
wonderboy said:
Well I have finally made a decision. Seems like sprinting is the best way forward for this year, along with some track days. Wont need to aquire a second car or trailer for this season, and therefore put some money aside for next. Licence application will be in the post as soon as 2011 starts.
Just need to trade in my dirty diesel for a quicker and more track focused car. And then just drive to and from, hopefully! Upgrading and servicing as required.
Thinking of a Fiesta ST or Clio 197. Leaning more to the Fiesta, just for running costs.
have a look at the class structure for the events that you are likely to enter before buying a car if you are buying it with an eye on sprinting it. i'm not saying that you go out and buy a car purely to win the class but you do want to be fighting at the top of the timesheets rather than as an also-ran. there is no point buying a car for competition if its hopelessly underpowered becuase you will get disheartened.Just need to trade in my dirty diesel for a quicker and more track focused car. And then just drive to and from, hopefully! Upgrading and servicing as required.
Thinking of a Fiesta ST or Clio 197. Leaning more to the Fiesta, just for running costs.
as an eg, the fiesta is a 2 litre and many championships run different classes. as an example the ASWMC class is 1800cc to 2600cc where you might be a little underpowered with just 150 bhp whereas other areas may run something like 1400cc to 2000cc which would obviously suit the fiesta a bit more....
if you can run a 2000cc car, a good clio 182 can be had for around £4K, not only is it a better starting point (+30bhp) but there are lots of go faster bits easily available to give you a bit more power and improve the handling.
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