Starting racing

[M9Mike]

So for a while i have wanted to get into track racing, I have been on the hunt for a while for the ideal car, I want something fairly cheap so under £5000 that is a capable first track car, but i need to also be able to daily it. Luckily, from my new house to work its only b roads so something that I could have a spirited drive down these roads also would be ideal. Insurance isn't really an issue so please suggest anything. Ideally, I'd like to become part of a club for whatever car I purchase, so please also suggest any clubs for the cars you suggest. I have been looking at clio 182's Megane 225's, golf r32 mainly.

[Kraken]

Personally I'd go Caterham or Ginetta. Bear in mind that a daily driven hot hatch will be at a disadvantage in nearly all race series with cars stripped and setup to be pure race cars.

[bltamil1]

I would suggest that you find a series where cars have to be road legal. As Kraken says, you will be at a HUGE disadvantage otherwise.

I think the new RX8 series requires that the cars be road legal, although not necessarily driven to/away from the track. The 116i Trophy might be the same, not sure.

Caterham Academy is a good series for beginners, but it is considerably more expensive than doing things yourself of course.

[M9Mike]

Thanks for the replies, what I would more than likely do is have most of the interior stripped anyway and take parts off the night before for instance. I do like the idea of road legal series. I have looked into caterham racing and me and my father looked at getting a kit, I just can’t justify paying over £20,000 especially since I’ve just brought my first house 😂 I defiantly want to acquire a caterham in the future though

[The Wookie]

I’d strongly advise against proper circuit racing if it’s your only car. It’s bad enough driving hundreds miles to a track for a raceday in your weekend car and having to make your way back to civilisation on a Sunday night with no car because it’s been banana’d by someone with no spacial awareness, and it will happen at some point.

Sprinting or Hillclimbing is probably the limit I’d suggest, in which case you’re probably looking at a prepped MX5 for the sort of money you mention

[fat80b]

The Wookie said:

I’d strongly advise against proper circuit racing if it’s your only car.

Sprinting or Hillclimbing is probably the limit I’d suggest, in which case you’re probably looking at a prepped MX5 for the sort of money you mention

Agree - a properly setup race car is an horrible place to be on the road. I have a rally car which is great off the start line on a stage and handles perfectly but I struggle to drive it on the roads and would never consider crossing town in it to go to work.

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but for road cars - check out the Targa rally thread - almost any road car and both you and your dad could double drive it on an event. Way more bang for buck than circuit racing.

[andye30m3]

I'd also suggest sprints and hill climbs if your planning on keeping the car road legal.

I'd look at the up to 2l road legal class as when I was sprinting the over 2l class was dominated by the GT3's.

If you can get one in budget an S2000 would work well in class or any number of Hot hatches if you prefer FWD.

[HustleRussell]

M9Mike said:

Thanks for the replies, what I would more than likely do is have most of the interior stripped anyway and take parts off the night before for instance. I do like the idea of road legal series. I have looked into caterham racing and me and my father looked at getting a kit, I just can’t justify paying over £20,000 especially since I’ve just brought my first house ?? I defiantly want to acquire a caterham in the future though

Spend half that on a used one then

[37chevy]

I know you say track....but have you also considered drag racing? You can take a completely stock car and race in national championships...a lot of people do it in their daily drivers, racing at that level is handicapped so the slower car gets a head start and it’s incredibly cheep, fun and friendly.

Also doesn’t take much £££ to be able to race at the European rounds, we can race in France, Sweden, Finland, Greece etc all in the same car, drive down there, race and drive home again. I’ve got an SRT6 crossfire running 11/12 seconds, have it as my weekend toy and drive 200 miles to the track in complete comfort.

Another thought is have you considered karts? I’d try short circuit karting a bit first but then you can pick up a long circuit 125 or 250 national kart for between £1500-£3000, race around Donington, Silverstone etc and it’s easy with just a small box trailer that can be towed by normal car/ be stored away easily.

[anonymous-user]

A few things to consider....

1. Have you costed your ARDS test (£300), racewear (£1000 minimum), together with a cage (£1000) race seat (£250), harness (£100), extinguisher (£200) and kill switch etc into the budget...
2. Very few people will care that your race car is your daily driver and they will go for that late braking lunge up the inside knowing, if it all goes wrong, they can tow their car home.
3. How far are you away from the circuits? That’s a lot of miles if you are going to Brands, Croft, Silverstone, Oulton etc etc
4. As others have said, a lightly modified road car on the track is useless against out and out race cars, a heavily modified race car is horrendous on the road.
5. Your insurance premium will probably go up...

There will be a local motor club near you who can compete in a regional sprint championship, most have a totally standard road car class. Seriously consider this instead. It’s not “racing” but you’re far more likely to be able to drive the car home at the end of the event. It’s competitive, you may even get a trophy!…

[andy97]

As with others, I really wouldn’t recommend your race your daily, but if you have to, the only series (or class within a series) that caters for a road legal car on a level playing field for all competitors that I know of is the CSCC Mazda RX8 class within their “New Millenium” series.
Even here, I bet you will be the only one actually using the car on a daily basis, but the series regs are designed for cars to remain road legal and use the oem dampers and brakes etc.

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/838e83_a9ef81c24358...

It is a very good club and well run, and there is a very good emphasis on good driving standards, but be aware that you will be in a race with lots of other quicker cars, and contact can happen.....

Edited by andy97 on Sunday 26th May 12:18

[df76]

Can't add anything to the above.. You can't do this with just one car, it just wouldn't be much fun and there's bound to be total disaster. Friend close to Castle Combe used to drive his Clio to the circuit for the Saloon races. But it was a short distance (15 miles) and it was a dedicated competition car.

[HocusPocus]

+1 on karting. You can sprint at a local club or go endurance racing with a team of mates. Relatively cheap motor racing (like all other racing the best cheque book usually is at the sharp end). Can be extremely close racing.....like 0.242s once after 24 hours at the Alain Prost track at Le Mans! Better fun on your 5k budget to be in the karting mix than blow your brains in a compromise car at the back. People only go racing if they want to win.

[grumpy52]

As I have said to every person that has thought about going racing , can you afford to throw that car and everything invested in it away ?
There have been many series over the years for or including road legal cars . I have dealt with many that have ended in the armco or in a mess in a gravel trap .
I like to relate the words of the fabulous Wally Pratt who was still competing in his 80s . Wally ,for many years used a Fiat 500 Abarth as both his road car and competition car . We asked him if he truly loved the car as he had owned it for over 30 years . Love it ! I fuzzing hate it ! All the times that the fuzzing thing has broken at an event , then I have to get a mate to tow me home , then I have to fuzzing fix it so I can get to work on monday morning !
For a road legal car I would go for sprints or hill climbing . Go along to a few events and chat with those in the road classes .
As others have said factor in all the extras like race suit, helmet and ARDS course

[joema]

+2 on Karting.

Can you even get a car and get it prepped, get your ARDS and gear etc and do a few races for your budget?

Karts are cheaper to get into, cheaper entry fees (£50ish vs a few hundred) too. You'll get wheel to wheel competitive racing and 2 stroke karts are quick and perhaps more fun than a low powered car? Will also help you to learn race craft. I think it offers far better value when you look at how much it costs to race a low powered crappy hatch back personally.

It still not cheap though. If you wanted to reach the top you would still be spending 5 figures but £5k would get you a pretty good season (assuming kart purchase is included which would be about half for a decent rotax set up).

They're easy to work on and transport - on a trailer or even in an estate car, even on roof bars.

Plenty of teams are out there that can give you a taster day if you're interested. Lots of local friendly clubs too.

I miss proper circuits a bit but the racing outweighs that.

The other thing to consider is something like the sprint series that javelin run which is a sort of time trial based on road cars. They're a bit more relaxed. But any wheel to wheel racing is always going to be more expensive and involved.