How to get in to Motorsport ?
Discussion
On a similar note, how many drivers (in the UK) actually get paid hard cold cash for their services?
(Not counting blokes who own their own teams and fund themselves by sponsorship and other driver's fees).
I'm thinking a handful of the top BTCC and BGT drivers, then it's guys like Peter Hardman, Barrie Williams, Willie Green and (until recently
) Win Percy who run in historics.
(Not counting blokes who own their own teams and fund themselves by sponsorship and other driver's fees).
I'm thinking a handful of the top BTCC and BGT drivers, then it's guys like Peter Hardman, Barrie Williams, Willie Green and (until recently
) Win Percy who run in historics.Getting someone else to pick up the bills requires a considerable amount of hard work and more than a hint of talent. Even the quick guys in sportscar racing struggle to find budgets.
Take Rob Barff in LMES. Proven as a quick bloke, bloody quick in the Dallara, replaced by Pearce because he ran out of cash.
You'd better get looking for money...
Take Rob Barff in LMES. Proven as a quick bloke, bloody quick in the Dallara, replaced by Pearce because he ran out of cash.
You'd better get looking for money...
Bit of a shame that. He is a bloody quick driver, who knew how to give that Dallara a bit of stick. Impressive since he had no prototype experience, and I can't imagine they're easy to drive.
Basically, you've got your work cut out. Even some of the guys in F1 have to pay (via sponsorship, admitedly) I can't think of anyone in club level motorsport who gets paid
Basically, you've got your work cut out. Even some of the guys in F1 have to pay (via sponsorship, admitedly) I can't think of anyone in club level motorsport who gets paid
unless you use do something like the farcical "scholarship" at Three Sisters, or one of these made-for-TV things, Average Joe has to go out and buy, prepare and race a car himself to get noticed. It does happen but usually not without a fair amount of financial backing already in place.
its about luck really, knowing the right people, being in the right place at the right time and geting a few good results when it matters. In my opinion, anyone over the age of 25 starting out in motorsport should forget any idea of getting noticed and concentrate on having fun! Unless you can start in a championship like the FPA, you wont get the coverage or the ability to prove yourself to warrant team managers taking a gamble on you.
its about luck really, knowing the right people, being in the right place at the right time and geting a few good results when it matters. In my opinion, anyone over the age of 25 starting out in motorsport should forget any idea of getting noticed and concentrate on having fun! Unless you can start in a championship like the FPA, you wont get the coverage or the ability to prove yourself to warrant team managers taking a gamble on you.
a rich mans game?!?! not at all.
Enter sprints and hillclimbs which you can compete in in your own road going car and cost around £100 per event once you have a helmet and overalls. Of course you can buy a car and modify it or even buy a full on race car, your call!
FFords can be had for around £3K, saloon cars can be found for anything from £1K upwards. there was a MG Maestro turbo for sale on PH a while back, fully race prepared and ran in the MG championship but it was £995!!! OK, so its a Maestro but its still a racing car and you are still on the track with twenty others.
There are loads of cheap championships out there designed to get people onto the track. Of course cheap is relative, an initial season in any championship will be high but sucessive seasons need not be so much as you will not have the initial outlay of a car. There are lots of hidden extras regarding racing such as tow car wear, travel and subsistence, a damage fund etc etc but racing can be done on a budget. Almost every circuit in the country has regional championships so such costs are reduced. SEMSEC at Lydden, Combe has three!!!
go to race meetings or go to the autosport show in january at the NEC, meet people, ask questions as all the major championship organisers are present at the NEC.
Remember that there will always be someone out there with more money than you in whatever championship you might enter. My advice would be have fun and dont get hung up on winning, podiums or even top ten finishes....
Enter sprints and hillclimbs which you can compete in in your own road going car and cost around £100 per event once you have a helmet and overalls. Of course you can buy a car and modify it or even buy a full on race car, your call!
FFords can be had for around £3K, saloon cars can be found for anything from £1K upwards. there was a MG Maestro turbo for sale on PH a while back, fully race prepared and ran in the MG championship but it was £995!!! OK, so its a Maestro but its still a racing car and you are still on the track with twenty others.
There are loads of cheap championships out there designed to get people onto the track. Of course cheap is relative, an initial season in any championship will be high but sucessive seasons need not be so much as you will not have the initial outlay of a car. There are lots of hidden extras regarding racing such as tow car wear, travel and subsistence, a damage fund etc etc but racing can be done on a budget. Almost every circuit in the country has regional championships so such costs are reduced. SEMSEC at Lydden, Combe has three!!!
go to race meetings or go to the autosport show in january at the NEC, meet people, ask questions as all the major championship organisers are present at the NEC.
Remember that there will always be someone out there with more money than you in whatever championship you might enter. My advice would be have fun and dont get hung up on winning, podiums or even top ten finishes....
Admittedly, i totally agree with you on foremostly having fun.
I have actually perused sites such as www.racecarsdirect.com (nice site), and have thought about the FF's as they are reasonably cheap.
How easy would they be to maintain for a novice ?
Thinking about doing a part-ownership with another novice and the 2 of us go to events and compete in the same car.
Back on topic though - I still find it bad for the industry not to go to these kinds of events and find talented drivers that otherwise wouldn't be found !
I have actually perused sites such as www.racecarsdirect.com (nice site), and have thought about the FF's as they are reasonably cheap.
How easy would they be to maintain for a novice ?
Thinking about doing a part-ownership with another novice and the 2 of us go to events and compete in the same car.
Back on topic though - I still find it bad for the industry not to go to these kinds of events and find talented drivers that otherwise wouldn't be found !
"HOW TO GET IN TO MOTORSPORT "
Take a wheelbarrow full of twenty pound notes and push it into a racing car preperation specialist, and repeat these words...
"I am too stooopid to have this money, please can you take it and give me a car that will only last an hour..Thankyou."
After that, remove both frontal lobes and start gibbering.
Brilliant way to ruin a perfectly good weekend....
Take a wheelbarrow full of twenty pound notes and push it into a racing car preperation specialist, and repeat these words...
"I am too stooopid to have this money, please can you take it and give me a car that will only last an hour..Thankyou."
After that, remove both frontal lobes and start gibbering.
Brilliant way to ruin a perfectly good weekend....
Graham said:
"HOW TO GET IN TO MOTORSPORT "
"I am too stooopid to have this money, please can you take it and give me a car that will only last an hour..Thankyou."
AN hour? you can get them to last a whole hour wow...
Graham's last excursion was 2 laps (almost). A grand total of 120 seconds. Which was disappointing in a 6 hour endurance race
griff2be said:I actually think that you are being a bit harsh here Andy. As the Tasmin was down at 1:10is laps, and it was Graham's first two laps at racing speed of the day, including an out lap, he could well have been closer to the 180 second mark!
Graham's last excursion was 2 laps (almost). A grand total of 120 seconds. Which was disappointing in a 6 hour endurance race
As to the costs though, Dom thoughtfully blew up his gearbox after a similar amount of time in a gentlemanly bid to be available to fix other team members cars. With this in place a reasonable size repair was completed in exchange for only one of the purple folding things - bargain!!!
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