If things go the way they look like they're going I'm soon going to be working office hours, so I'll have free weekends, and
I've got a bit more money so I really want to have a crack at some racing next year, and my brother is also up for it at the moment.
I was looking at hillclimbing but when I asked before about that it seemed there were cheaper and safer options. I'll be moving to the west
country in autumn so I'll be looking to go out and see some stuff the end of this year. Ideally something in fairly normal cars.
In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.
hillclimbing is your best bet id say. events are relatively cheap and once your car has passed scrutineering and you have the correct clothing theres
not much more to it
Would I need a Roll Cage if I used my eunos? I'm still trying to work out what I want to do with it, but I'm still unsure I want to go on
track with it.
In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.
quote:Originally posted by morcus
Would I need a Roll Cage if I used my eunos? I'm still trying to work out what I want to do with it, but I'm still unsure I want to go on
track with it.
Not if running in the road car classes, but for safety sake it's not a bad idea.
I turned to Hillclimbing as the Rallying just got too dear for me, had a great laugh whilst my time in the sport and met some great folks, a lot of
whom I am still in contact with 15 years on.
I was put off from tracking my car, as I could not really afford to repair the car should someone punt me off at the first bend, whereas if you have
an 'off' in hillclimbing it's either your own fault or something broke.
Have a go at the hills, but be warned - it's addictive...
I'd want one for safety, I was just worried I might need an expensive one. My Brother has been offered a half decent rover 216 GSi (the origami
style one) that he reckons would make a good toy. I'll have a deeper look into it, I've got lots of links from last time I asked.
In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.
All cages will be expensive, you could just run the bare minimum if you wanted to, just a rear bar and fixed diagonal, I have forgotten all the
options that are listed in the 'blue book' no doubt someone will post what the min standard is today.
The Rover sounds ideal, the only issue is - as you progress on the hills, you will want to get your times down and the first few seconds are easy to
get, the last few are not however. Give yourself a budget for the season and DON'T go over it.
That sounds like sound advice, I'm trying to work out what money will be available, but it does depend on things I've not decide yet, like
whether or not I keep the eunos and where specifically I end up living not to mention what money my brother has to put in and what we spend on a car
etc.
What sort of Budget should I be looking at? I know thats highly subjective but I'd like to know a ball park figure if someone has any ideas.
In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.
Depends how competitive you want to be. In the last few seasons, I would spent £500 or more just to get a few tenths quicker, and that's the
problem, once you start it's hard to stop throwing money at it - well was a problem for me anyway.
You could take a standard road car and run that for a season, this actually is not a bad idea as you will have spent very little and get used to the
hills and your driving, hey, you might even decide you don't like doing it....
After that and depending on the class regs, you can use track tyres, tune the engine and suspension etc.
Its been 15 years since I last competed, but I usually spent about 2 grand a year on entry fees and fuel for the tow car and race car. This did not
include the 'offs' that we sometimes had, add in some more for this.
Might not be your thing, but Autosolo is one of the cheapest and safest motorsports at the moment. Cross between a sprint and an autotest, so much
more about control at speed rather than just pure speed so an MX-5 has a chance to be competitive.
And you can pretend you're in the Sweeney if you pick the right car
id get a clio172/ 182 and strip it out. they are cheap as chips and quick.
or a cheap striker or someting. one on ebay i was watching never sold at £2,750 and was a nice motor
quote:Originally posted by iank
Might not be your thing, but Autosolo is one of the cheapest and safest motorsports at the moment. Cross between a sprint and an autotest, so much
more about control at speed rather than just pure speed so an MX-5 has a chance to be competitive.
And you can pretend you're in the Sweeney if you pick the right car
Good to see Steve being one of the top links for an autosolo search.
Indeed, autosolo is defo a good step to having a fun without spending alot on gear.
Heres another video that my bro made
With soloing you need a road legal car, £30-35 entry and a £20 annual club membership.
With sprinting you need a non race licence, overals, helmet, £70+ entry and all the expense of 'proper racing' as alot of it is rich
people playing!
Soloing is more about the driver than the car.
Of course Sprinting is flat our racing, so not really compareble when it comes to adrelin, but soloing has a great competitive spirit.
Autograssing is as about as much "bang for buck" as you'll get but you aint got to mind getting dirty!
Plenty clubs around the country, plenty classes to find something that suits you & very friendly.
quote:Originally posted by Andy S
google grasstrack racing - thats about a cheap as real motor racing gets
I gave up autograss racing years ago to go circuit racing due to the ever increasing costs, a competitive autograss car can cost double and some, of a
competitive RGB car for example, 3 minutes track time once every 3 hours lost it's apeal to, that's my take on it anyway.
To compete at a high level in autograss I dont doubt it will cost a lot, stick to club level racing & be prepared to be beaten by the high level
cars you'll come upagainst at times & the costs are much lower. It's a sport that rewards a good car builder even if you aint got the
money some others spend.
Check out the entry fees, what some events cost alone could pay for your entries for a whole season!
The absolute cheapest form of motorsport is probably 12 car events which will be organised by your local motor club. These are navigational rallies
so you need a good navigator to be competitive. Autotests are also cheap, though you'll get through a bit of rubber on tarmac events. Sprints
and hillclimbs are relatively cheap and concentrate more on speed, but you don't get an awful lot of time behind the wheel at most events.
Check out the entry fees, what some events cost alone could pay for your entries for a whole season!
But the flip side to that is the one event will give more track time than a whole seasons autograss racing ?
I enjoyed autograss racing it was great fun, loved tinkering and building cars, it still suffers though from in my opinion to many classes, in my day
there was mens 10 class's, juniors then 3 ladies class's, that's 14 different class of cars, there could be as many as 5 heats in
class one for example (bog standard minis, zero tuning, strip out and race) though I see one on eBay right now £2750 reserve not met ??? Followed by 3
heats of class 2, 3 of class 3......... You could travel to a meeting and get 2x 2 minute races over the cause of 6 hours, trailer up and go home.
It needs a shake up to regain it's appeal to me anyway, it lost it's working mans motorsport roots long ago.
I would vote against a rover 216, although the handling is ok on the road it will have chronic under-steer on the track/hillclimb (been there, done
that) there is better stuff about for similar prices and some stuff has much cheaper aftermarket performance gear. Also if the classes are still the
same then you will not be competitive against the 1800s as the car is quite heavy. Look at the classes at your local events and see what other people
are running successfully.
If you want really cheap motor sport then auto tests and grass auto tests are probably the best but the grass auto tests are very hard on the car so
buy something disposable.
