Beer fuelled mid life crisis

[vladcjelli]

After a brew or two at a mates bbq on Sunday, talk began to orbit around the, "we should do something exciting" galaxy.

This lead to a quick browse round the interweb to hunt down the most accesible/cheapest form of motorsport.

Neither of us have a suitable daily, so would need to buy a cheap bit of fun between us.

Keen to race, but mindful that even small racing "incidents" could prove time consuming and costly.

Having researched, I've come to the conclusion that perhaps sprinting/hillclimbing might be a semi sensible start. The lowest class seems to be up to 1400cc, and after a bit of classified browsing, I reckon a good starting point could be £700-900 worth of MG ZR 105.

Excuse the ill formatted ramble, not really sure which end of this pipe dream to start.

Any advice appreciated.

[SubaruSteve]

Overalls, helmet, gloves, cheap 1400 car. Taxed and MOT'd stick some numbers on it and a timing strut. Get a Nat 'b' licence from MSA. Enter Hillclimb or Sprint, have fun for not a lot of money. And yes it is better than a track day.

Do it.

[Dan Friel]

As above, do it.

There's a good thread here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

The good thing about an MG ZR is that you can run it in the MGCC Speed Series and they go to the best venues. Or use it in a local series in the sub 1400 class.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgccsc/

[vladcjelli]

SubaruSteve said:

Overalls, helmet, gloves, cheap 1400 car. Taxed and MOT'd stick some numbers on it and a timing strut. Get a Nat 'b' licence from MSA. Enter Hillclimb or Sprint, have fun for not a lot of money. And yes it is better than a track day.

Do it.

Seems like a fair summary of the stuff I've researched so far. Are motor clubs like real life versions of this place, or more like golf clubs with snobbery and the like?

Dan Friel said:

As above, do it.

There's a good thread here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

The good thing about an MG ZR is that you can run it in the MGCC Speed Series and they go to the best venues. Or use it in a local series in the sub 1400 class.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgccsc/

Cheers will digest this lot and see how my mate takes to the idea of the MG. He used to have a Rover 25 as a company car many years ago, so hope he holds no grudges.

Based in Derbyshire, so hoping central location will be beneficial with regards to travelling to events.

[Furyblade_Lee]

Good advice so far. A 1400cc car is a good start. Will allow you also to do some road rallying too. I'd throw another ball at you too in the form of an S1 1300cc, 100hp Peugeot 106 Rally. May cost you £1,000 to £1,500 BUT it has huge potential with off the shelf stuff and it also looks "proper" if you know what I mean! Don't worry about tuning either car at first, keep it standard ( you can just ditch the carpet ) as you will be directly racing your mate at first if you double enter the car.

Budget £400-£500 each for a helmet (v2 are good at about £140) a racesuit ( £250-£350 ) and gloves (£40).

An MSA affiliated car club
membership is about £20, MSA National B non-race speed licence is £42 (no medicals) and you are good to go.

The car will need a 10"x2" black aluminium timing strut made, mounted onto your
front Numberplate bolt, with it's lower
edge 180-200mm off the ground. Wrap some yellow electrical tape around your battery earth wire to identify it, and you will need 11" numbers for the sides. I buy a nick pack off eBay for £20, and stick them on a magnetic roundel ageing from ebay, cur out from a £10 sheet of White magnetic vinyl.

That's about it.

Ideally you need sone decent tyres (either list 1a or 1b) dependent on rules. Those codes are basically approved tyres, 1a regular road tyres and 1b "R" type tyres like Yoyo R888. The lists are in the net or in the bible MSA "blue book" which you get with your licences.

Both those cars mentioned will be ideal, I'd personally go for a pug due to being lightweight, the weight is
everything in a standard class.

Enjoy!

[rustybin]

If you are just starting I couldn't recommend the Hillclimb and Sprint Association more highly. Cracking bunch really helpful and not a hint of Golf Club. The championship visits all the top venues and there are classes for everything.

[SubaruSteve]

Furyblade_Lee said:

Both those cars mentioned will be ideal, I'd personally go for a pug due to being lightweight, the weight is
everything in a standard class.

Just don't do this with it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7sawSsGIgI

[Furyblade_Lee]

A hammer and some T-cut would sort that, just a scratch!!!

[Shoestringracer]

I competed in the MGCC champsionship. Very firendly and all the best venues. Also, they use a target system which means you have a time to race against even if you are the only one in the class on the day. Recomended.

[Furyblade_Lee]

I have been doing some autotests recently as I have introduced my 14 year old nephew to cars. He loves it, and it is free for him to enter rounds! Like Sprinting but on grass ( can be tarmac too though ) sort of slower sprints. Moves then onto autosolos which are slower sprints. These need NO licences or safety equipment, just your regular road car. A great way to get into motorsport, and as before you can compare times with your mate in the same car. I am sure your local car club will organise something similar. His gran is looking into buying him an old 1400 Nova or 106 so he can have is own car and progress through to sprinting when he is old enough, a few hundred quid will buy a suitable car.

Edited by Furyblade_Lee on Sunday 3rd June 10:47