I get pangs every now and then to go racing of some sort, which are becoming a lot more frequent.

I sold some bits to a guy a while ago who runs a car in the locost championship and was building a second to race himself (IIRC he runs the car with a local lad driving for him - good show in my book!). Anyway, I spent ages in his garage being shown all the setup he has and having a good old chin wag. The thing he said that stuck in my mind was 'dreams are just memories you never had'.

So, I think I should stop thinking about it and have a go.

My question is, where's the best place to start on a small budget?

Locost is the most obvious choice, but there's still a relatively large up front cost in getting a car etc.

I've looked at karting and it looks cheap on the face of things, but the same chap I was talking to about his locost is also involved in the South Yoakshire Karting Club and he reckoned to be properly competetive for a season costs more than a season in locost anyway.

Sprinting and hillclimbing could be a good start, but if I give it a go I should probably use a car that I can take on to enter into a proper race class of some sort (maybe I could enter my BEC Midget into RGB... ).

Probably a repetetive series of questions, but there's a load of different options out there.

Cheers

Steve

On a small budget............. hahahahaha

To be honest - i'd look towards karting if you want to keep it anything like sensible costs

I reckon it os think of a seasons budget, then double it. And maybe again.

If you fancy a cheap intro into competitive driving, try autosolo's with a local motor club. Cheap joining fee (and I think you need to be an MSA clube member to race anyway) but then they cost about £30 a throw. Nothing special required. So very cheap and gives a tatste of competing, but no real danger of damage to you or the car. You will also get the chance to see other drivers, some of whom will race.

If budgets are tight, do think very carefully. A pain if your budget gets blown after a race or two, and you have little to show for it.
If you are confident that money won't run out, go for it. Wish I could........so I am dead jealous

Hi there
I know just how you feel, getting the 'I want to race something, anything' thoughts. I looked on here and e-bay and bought a 'rolling chassis' it has a x-flow and pretty much everything needed to finish it except for cooling and fuel tank. I fully intend to have the car and myself ready to race in the 750mc series next year. I need to get the right roll cage etc and get a national B race licence and then i am sorted. Actually stripping the engine and putting stuff together is addictive. You can spend a lot of time and money if you want or do it cheaply and keep it 'locost', you might not be winning much but you might get to overtake me! Go for it, even if you hate it you can sell just about anything you have bought but you will love it. The appeal is that you can almost get started for £50, buy a x-flow and sort that, then look for a chassis with as much stuff as you can. Good and honest people on here, nobody rips anyone off and all the information is there, somewhere. Good luck, i really hope i have someone to dice with next year.
Regards
Joe

What about doing a bit of travelling around competing in hill climbs? It's obviously not racing against others at the same time but still has some competative classes. Some of the 7's are absolutely rapid up those hills.

Hi.

There's a few arrive n drive packages available in the locost championship. There's IMSM racing (2010 champions) and myself who can offer very reliable well presented cars with all the back up if you fancy a try at it.

Realistic budget for a SH car are 4k for one that requires work to 7k for a top notch ready to race n win car. A years racing budget once you have a car is 4k-6k.
If interested in the Locost champ in particular drop me a line and ill give you the full rundown.

Cheers Matt

http://www.uphillracers.com/showthread.php/sports-libre-starter-car-cheap-4134.html

Try this ideal starter car for hills and sprints

I made my small fortune in racing by starting off with a large fortune. I wouldnt change it for the world. If I sell my current car(its for sale by the way) I would use my kids pedal car if I had to.
I would rather rally than sprint but the friendship and helpfullness that comes with sprinting(I presume the same goes for the hills-I must try one)is great.
The racing is very competitive and for a day out its cheap just dont break it down into pounds per mile.
I cant afford to do anything else but it satisfies my urge to drive fast. I have won a championship and quite a few tropys over the years and they always give a smile when you see them as no one can take them off you. And if you dont win anything at least you are giving it a go






DO IT

sprint and hillclimb all the way baby .

std road car , basic safety gear , msa license , club membership , about £90 entry , off you go .

Jag racing

Having done the 750MC series in first Stock Hatch then Locost then back to Stock Hatch, next year doing the Blue Oval series in our modified KA, basically motor sport of any description is not cheap! it will happily take all of the money you have and more as well, you need to decide what you want to race, what level you want to race at (front of the grid-back of the grid) you will need a race license for most series, all of the race clothing, helmet extra. Do you fancy building your own car (built 6 up to now) I think it's the best way as YOU know what you have built, what ever you do have fun and good luck.

For a real budget, grass roots motorsport you could try autosolo, its getting more popular and allthough its fairly simple and basic, its very competitive and alot of fun. and your talking about £25-35 an event. Couple this with only needing some basic mods to be competitive (check you local clubs class structure) but the best 'standard' road cars are small hatches, (106, nova, mini etc) and with some basic suspension mods and a new pair of tyres a year (depending on the event surfaces) you could do around 10 events a year through different clubs. Im not sure what clubs 'uup north' arrange solos but down here there are 4-5 clubs that organise as many as 4 a year each, and the furthest is only 80 or so miles away so you can safely (and usualy its required to) drive the car to the event.

Worth a look, but its obviously not in the same league as circuit racing.

Check out some vids on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=autosolo&aq=f
(adamgroccco is my bro)

How about trying time attack? That's cheaper, the risks of contact are minimal, but it is still a race, and in most cases you can use pretty much any car.
Gergely

Can I suggest that if you are able to, you pop along to Autosport in January. The 750 motorclub have a stand and there will be representatives from all the 750 championships in attendance, these guys are the guys that are out racing so will be able to honestly answer any questions you have and you can see and get a feel for all the different series. Quite likely there will be other organising clubs there as well
For what its worth my husband started racing 5 years ago because it was something he had always dreamed of doing but due to family comitments we couldnt think about it until our son had left colledge.
Our budget isn't big by any stretch of the imagination but I can't think of anything we would rather do now and beyond the racing the social side is fantastic as well. BTW he races in RGB

pick somthing where you can source all the bits for car yourself not where you have to have this and that from only one suplier at rip off prices , forget arive n drive sombodys is making a killing out off you , example mx5 racing rollcage double the price of other fia aproved cages etc, i keep looking for somthing competitive,, will post when i find it ,, i do oval racing thats as good as anything ,, dont bother with grasstrack it too tame,,,

Personaly i disagree.
Arrive and drives arent that bad a deal for the price when you consider the true cost throughout the years.
I decided to go racing earlyier this year , now due to 2 blown engines and numerous other problems spread over 2 cars due to changing from mr2 to locost the money i have spent would of give me nearly a season of arrive and drives, plus someone else has to trailer it , store it, buy the trailer, wash it, mend it etc etc

Personally i would always want my own car as i am that sort of person, but do not dismiss arrive and drive.
And i doubt anyone is making a killing ... a living maybe.

What about LEGENDS?

I quite fancy it myself as its canny cheap.

This year I raced a MK1 MR2 with the Red Dragon Track & Race Club's MR2 MK1 Series, its about the cheapest club racing out there www.mr2racing.com

I picked my car up for £1500 off of Ebay, there are currently a few ready to go cars for sale from £2000 up to £4000 but you can build your own for approx £2/£2.5k. I had started building my own but the one on ebay came along at the right price! I did have an engine problem and bought a fully blueprinted engine for approx £1k, although many cars still run leggy standard engines.

Race entry fees this year where £275, all meetings had 1 x 15 minute quali' and 2 x 15 minute races



I'm the white one No 98!! - thankfully he didn't hit me

[Edited on 1/12/10 by spdpug98]

MR2 series looks interesting but the calendar seems to be very orientated toward the more southern dwelling population.

Still, worth adding to the list though.

hi steve

have a look at BARC NW SPORTS & SALLOONS

I race my mk indy in it.
there is always a full grid of cars and alot of drifferent makes and models.
you can even race your midget in class C wich is for bike engined cars

quote:

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Originally posted by StevieB
MR2 series looks interesting but the calendar seems to be very orientated toward the more southern dwelling population.

Still, worth adding to the list though.

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Originally posted by beaver34

quote:

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Originally posted by StevieB
MR2 series looks interesting but the calendar seems to be very orientated toward the more southern dwelling population.

Still, worth adding to the list though.

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i live nearish york and are intrested in getting into motorsport, ive allways liked the look of that auto test stuff and i go to harewood hilclimb a fair bit, have a look at the auto 66 season for sprints and hill climbs

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quote:

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Originally posted by StevieB

quote:

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Originally posted by beaver34

quote:

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Originally posted by StevieB
MR2 series looks interesting but the calendar seems to be very orientated toward the more southern dwelling population.

Still, worth adding to the list though.

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i live nearish york and are intrested in getting into motorsport, ive allways liked the look of that auto test stuff and i go to harewood hilclimb a fair bit, have a look at the auto 66 season for sprints and hill climbs

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My mate does the Auto66 series for motorbikes, which share a lot of events with the cars. Always good to watch but I'm not sure it represents very good value for money when you consider how much track time each car gets on the day for the cost of entry.

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You could add the Northern Sports & saloon car Championship to your list. It's a similar sort of thing to the NW sports & saloons, but based mainly at Croft. ( with away rounds at Cadwell, Oulton and Knockhill next year)
There are classes to fit pretty much any car, Saloons, sports, kits inc BEC, road tyres or slicks.

NSSCC website

Nice Honda, Who is that?????

quote:

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Originally posted by Richd
Nice Honda, Who is that?????

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NSSCC Does look interesting and I have looked at it previously.

Big attraction on that series is that the travelling (and money that goes with it) is cut down quite a bit. Plus I could enter my BEC Midget also - guess it would go in the pre '74 class.

Another one to add to increasingly long short list...

quote:

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Originally posted by StevieB
NSSCC Does look interesting and I have looked at it previously.

Big attraction on that series is that the travelling (and money that goes with it) is cut down quite a bit. Plus I could enter my BEC Midget also - guess it would go in the pre '74 class.

Another one to add to increasingly long short list...

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From reading the regs, engine's are free and only some classes (H not being one of them) state that bike engines are not allowed.

I would make the assumption that my car would go into class H in that case. If not, I'm happy to go against bike engined mini's anyway - I reckon my car will be lighter than a mini with the same engine anyway.

quote:

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Originally posted by StevieB
From reading the regs, engine's are free and only some classes (H not being one of them) state that bike engines are not allowed.

I would make the assumption that my car would go into class H in that case. If not, I'm happy to go against bike engined mini's anyway - I reckon my car will be lighter than a mini with the same engine anyway.

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I did half suspect that even if a BEC is technically allowed by the regs, the scrutineers discretion bit might put a stopper on it.

Only reason for finding a class for the BEC Midget to sit in is that I have such a project currently underway. If it happened that it isn't really competetive enough in the class it's slotted in to, I'd probably just sell and get myself either a Westy, Striker or Fury and race that instead.

I personally wouldnt bother with karting unless you are pretty young and under 70kg, or just happy to get your ass kicked near the back of the field, i raced rotax max competativley at club level then then superkarts at uk european champ level for many years and i can tell ya unless you spend huge money on new chassis good engines and plenty of track time you'll probably never get near the pointy end of the pack unless you are really really talented, they are also very hard physically to drive compared to a car , although in saying all the negatives if you want to learn race craft and basic setup and how to drive smoothly u cant beat a kart imho, locost etc is a far cheaper option im sure and also i doubt 3/4 of the field have been driving competativley since the were 8 years old, so your more likely to find people in the class that are your level.

Im not knocking karting I loved it but u need to go into it with your eyes open