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Cheapest forms of motorsport.
morcus - 13/7/12 at 06:15 PM

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.

daniel mason - 13/7/12 at 06:27 PM

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

morcus - 13/7/12 at 06:29 PM

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.

Westy1994 - 13/7/12 at 06:39 PM

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...

Rich

tomgregory2000 - 13/7/12 at 06:44 PM

Rallycross

morcus - 13/7/12 at 06:44 PM

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.

Westy1994 - 13/7/12 at 06:56 PM

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.

morcus - 13/7/12 at 07:00 PM

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.

Dangle_kt - 13/7/12 at 07:03 PM

bike or car?

There are some really cheap forms of bike motorsport

morcus - 13/7/12 at 07:04 PM

Has to be car really, I can't ride a bike.

Westy1994 - 13/7/12 at 07:08 PM

How long is a piece of string..

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.

morcus - 13/7/12 at 07:10 PM

Does seem like the figures I was thinking are probabl;y about right. How many events is that?

Westy1994 - 13/7/12 at 07:15 PM

10 to 15 I think from memory.

You could just do the odd one here and there if cash is tight, I know I could never afford to do 10 events now.

unijacko67 - 13/7/12 at 07:25 PM

Lawn Mower racing,, looks great fun, I'm looking out for a ride on mower to convert so don't know much about it, but should be a laugh.

iank - 13/7/12 at 07:30 PM

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

http://www.btrda.com/AutoSolo/

Westy1994 - 13/7/12 at 07:38 PM

That looks HUGE fun, I think I would have an issue remembering the course though.

daniel mason - 13/7/12 at 07:59 PM

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

Andy S - 13/7/12 at 08:31 PM

google grasstrack racing - thats about a cheap as real motor racing gets

loggyboy - 13/7/12 at 08:39 PM

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

http://www.btrda.com/AutoSolo/



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.

[Edited on 14/7/12 by loggyboy]

hillbillyracer - 13/7/12 at 08:46 PM

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.

Jon Ison - 13/7/12 at 08:52 PM

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.

hillbillyracer - 13/7/12 at 09:02 PM

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!

MikeRJ - 13/7/12 at 09:24 PM

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.

Jon Ison - 13/7/12 at 09:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by hillbillyracer

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.

dmac - 13/7/12 at 09:47 PM

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.

Duncan

Rod Ends - 13/7/12 at 09:59 PM

karting - the indoor fun rather than "sport" type or the outdoor more serious arrive'n'drive (Club 100?) type.

JimSpencer - 13/7/12 at 10:05 PM

Hi

As Mike RJ said above the 12 car rally has to be the cheapest, but AutoSolo's are a very close call too - but if you're looking for a really good day out with motorsport thrown in then Hillclimbs take a huge amount of beating..

While some folks bang on about how little seat time one can get at a hillclimb or sprint - though you would be surprised how close the latter can get to circuit racing on occasion, i've done more laps of Anglesey at a sprint than friends have for a days circuit racing - the sheer quality of the events that a clubman can get to compete at are epic and more than make up for it IMHO.

You can hop into the car you're sharing with your brother, drive it to Prescott / Shelsley / Loton / Harewood, compete in a class with other 'Standard production road going' cars (even a MX5 only class in the Hillclimb & Sprint association champs) and have a day out to seriously rival some of the motoring pagents but with you on the 'right' side of the fence..

I think the budget suggested by Westy1994 is about on the button, certainly it's very close to my spreadsheet for this and previous seasons - and re the MX5 roll bar, a nice simple one will suffice perfectly well, doesn't need to be a full cage.

If you've never been to one of the classic venues - and every Petrol Head should hang their head in shame if they haven't - Can I suggest getting yourself to Prescott for the 1/2nd Sept or the 6/7 Oct or Shelsley Walsh on the 18/19 Aug or the 22/23rd Sept and have a look at what it's really all about.

D Beddows - 13/7/12 at 10:23 PM

For cheap - it has to be Autosolo. Hillclimbing/Sprinting is fairly cheapish but you're looking at 150+ quid for a days motorsport by the time you get home plus the initial investment in race suit/helmet etc etc. It's a good day out no doubt but Autosolo is a LOT cheaper - try that first see if you like the whole experience, it will probably cost less than 50 quid for the day

lsdweb - 13/7/12 at 10:38 PM

One of the local motor clubs in my area is piloting a new kind of MSA approved event - it's called a Motorkhana and is, essentially, a single tarmac rally stage repeated about 8 times in a day.

It's attracting a lot of entries (always oversubscribed) and run about once a month.

The rally 'stage' is quite tight to keep the speeds down and is probably a couple of miles long maximum.

The cars entered are varied; no roll cage, harness, extinguishers, overalls needed, but helmets for driver and passenger are (but no restrictions on what type). And I don't think a competition licence is required, just club membership.

Passengers have to be over 13 and must 'sign on'.

It's quite entertaining (I've had a couple of passenger rides) but there is a lot of sh*t running around there (an MOT is not required!)

Entry fee is £30 for the day!

It's likely to spread but I have my reservations on safety.

I've looked at taking the Elise (when finished) as there is a class for sprint and hillclimb cars, but the stage is a bit rough in places (it uses the go kart track and some of the perimeter roads at Pembrey) and the Elise would be wrecked pretty quickly!

Wyn

RK - 13/7/12 at 10:57 PM

that sounds very good, that does.

Another vote for Autosolo (also called Autoslalom and Autocross). The only problem is that people moan about how bad their tyres are all the time, but that's the only real expense. It is also very good for the arms. Your arms, not the car's.

morcus - 14/7/12 at 05:58 AM

Tanks for the tips, where should I go to look up more info on Auto solo's.

lsdweb, do you have a link or anything for more info on that because that sounds ideal.

If things go to plan I'm moving to Bristol the weekend of Prescott so I should be able to go up for the sunday.

Any other suggestions on what sort of car to look for? The only slight problem is I need something without a clutch pedal, I might just keep the Eunos though, It's already started making itself lighter, and it's already dented.

Steve Hignett - 14/7/12 at 07:28 AM

Just reread this post and other's suggestions...

But if you are planning to use your MX5, didn't you buy an automatic for your road car?

morcus - 14/7/12 at 07:33 AM

Yes, but it would have to be for anything else as one of my legs doesn't always work.

lsdweb - 14/7/12 at 08:26 AM

Morcus

Kidwelly Motor Club (the Motorkhana organisers) - http://kidwellymotorclub.webs.com/

and here's a video

http://youtu.be/Gw7dWVgijBg

morcus - 14/7/12 at 08:31 AM

Thanks, that looks intresting.

Steve Hignett - 14/7/12 at 10:50 AM

quote:
Originally posted by morcus
Yes, but it would have to be for anything else as one of my legs doesn't always work.



I thought it was because of just one of your legs...
There's plenty of Semi-Auto's out there, but even better would be a BEC...

MikeRJ - 14/7/12 at 12:08 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JimSpencer
While some folks bang on about how little seat time one can get at a hillclimb or sprint - though you would be surprised how close the latter can get to circuit racing on occasion, i've done more laps of Anglesey at a sprint than friends have for a days circuit racing - the sheer quality of the events that a clubman can get to compete at are epic and more than make up for it IMHO.


Sprints seem to be much better than hillclimbs in terms of time behind the wheel, mainly due to the courses being longer and the locations of these events allowing sessions to be quickly completed rather than all the cars ending up the top of a hill after the event and then trundling down again after it's all over.

A couple of friends do tarmac stage rallying - this is pretty cheap for the amount of action you get, but of course you need a fully prepared car. In fact one of them went to Wiscombe hillclimb recently in his tarmac rally car and was hugely disappointed since the entry fee was as much as some of the special stage rallies, but he probably had less than 10 minutes driving in the whole day. He put in some very impressive times for his first hillclimb however.

[Edited on 14/7/12 by MikeRJ]

morcus - 14/7/12 at 07:54 PM

Thanks for all the tips, I'm gonna try and get out and see as much stuff as I can and see where it goes.