Hello, not sure if this should have been in the racing area but hey,

Ok i have had a bit of a change of situation and would now really like to get into sprinting. Now i would be a complete novice in this, could someone with a bit of time talk me through what i should be doing.

It would be on a locost budget! would probably be looking at picking up an mx5 to use and also keep it road legal but can be very track orientated, on that note are there friendly insurance companies? I had the indy with adrian Flux, called them up to ask about swapping it for an mx5 and they wanted to put my premium up £2,550! i asked why and their reply ' its a powerfull rear wheel drive car, i dont think anyone else would ensure you for less' in a very matter of factly way, i didnt even bother to explain what they where currently ensuring me on.

Thankyou for any help,

Anthony.

[Edited on 15/7/10 by 55ant]

Speak to your local motorclub. They will either be organising sprints, or point you to another club near by that does.

check out the http://www.msauk.org website for a list of clubs.

Have a look at the classes and regs for the events that you are thinking of competing in before buying a car to do it with. You could end up trying to make an unsuitable car competitive which doesn't really work.

If you are going to compete in the road going classes then there is very little to do to the car - they actually restrict what you can do. I would think a cage or hoop of some sort would be desirable.

I don't think that insurance companies are interested if you use it for sprinting as that is not an on road use. so it should just be insured for on road.

thankyou guys, i have been looking around and the green belt mc are very local to me so going to send a few emails.

Where can i get the rules and regulations for road going vehicles or are they specific for individual motor clubs?

insurance wise just trying to find someone who is good for insurance with any of the modifications the car may have.

You will need to join a motor club first and then apply for a competition licence. The club will give you regs and classes for their events. You will also get the MSA blue book which has further regs and loads of other stuff on safety, tyres cages etc.etc.

Ant, easiest/quickest way into that is prob. Autosolo.
Cars have to be road legal, taxed, MOt'd and driven to the event with no special requirement for helmets or overalls.
Not allowed to be as fast as sprinting but heaps of fun (based on the one we did at Abingdon Carnival last month). They also ran a Sprint but by the looks of the entrants could be lots of wonga to be competitive.
See footage of both on Youtube
Also Cloudy with the Warner R4 and others have done A/solos and the reports are pretty positive.
Given a few of those you should be able to tell if you are quick enough!
Cheers, Pewe

PS Course is marked out by cones and you have three runs per layout. Normally two different layouts run clockwise then anticlockwise i.e four runs/day x 3 = 12 runs in total.
Object is to set the fastest time without touching cones. Time is spent either driving, spectating or marshalling with other competitors so it's quite a sociable event. Speed is kept down by regs saying you need to have a right angle bend approx. every 50 metres (or is it 75?). Results for each run were given at finish line and published after each layout.

[Edited on 15/7/10 by pewe]

thanks guys, im going along to the social meeting for the green belt motor club next wednesday, thanks for all the tips! autosolo's ey, what exactly are these? they sound good.

2010 Bluebook is here

http://www.msauk.org/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=876

Autosolos have just an absolute hoot
As above, a course laid out with cones, often on an airfield or whatever. I am doing one this sunday and another the next. VERY reasonable, at £25 and £30.
My car (a Triumph Toledo) will not be competeitive on the second one, but last year I got 2nd in class with it in this sundays event.
Anyway, go and find one. And again have a look on youtube.
Autosolos are run under "autotest" rules, which means no race licence or anything special needed. Any car will do. Really, anything, as long as it is road leagal and passes the scrutineering (which is VERY basic. 4 wheels. check. Brakes work. Check. Throttle return springs. Check. NEXT!)
In fact, if you are near Bovindon airfield that is the location for this Sundays event. Club Triumph have 50 odd entrants, mostly very odd, all shapes and sizes, entering. No probs if you want to have a look.....

I belong to Sevenoaks and District Motor Club and do Autotests (on grass) with them. They are also running and Autosolo event at North Weald on 25 July in association with a number of other motor clubs; usually, if you belong to one, you can enter the events of all the other clubs they are affiliated with.

www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com, click Regs in the list on the left, then Regs or Entry form next to Auto Solo - North Weald 25th July 2010 on the page that comes up.

[Edited on 15.07.2010 by Humbug]

Yep, thats the second one I am doing. Fantastic! A fast open layout, my car is not best suited really! Got a class win a couple of years ago in the Zetec powered spit (though I was technically beaten by another competitor, but he got FTD so I was promoted within the class )

Hi Anthony

I'm sprinting in an MX5 this season - it's not the quickest out there (I'm on the wrong tyres for the class!) but it's a real hoot and pretty tough!

I've had one first and one second in class so not too bad. It's no fun when you get stuck in with all the Elises though!

Drop me a message if you want to know more!

Regards

Wyn

Bit of a post highjack, hope you dont mind.
Wyn will probably give me the answer.
I have never seen a MX5 at the Loton Park Hillclimb over many years, any reason why?

This is AutoSolo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2LneZS_dPc

Linky to my local MC that organises 4 a year.
http://fdmc.org.uk/autosolos.php

guys thankyou for all the help, with regards to the mx5 does anyone have any advice on what to go for, im speaking to a chap about this one..

PH

thinking i could make a few pennies selling of the interior and wheels aiming to break even with a few changes to a more track focused car,

anyone have any advice, budget around 2k but would push for the right car, not wanting to go over 2.5.

Cheers, Anthony.

Anthony, also look at Borough 19, it's a great club, very friendly (all sprinting is) and great organisation. They organise plenty of sprints in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. As an affiliated club that would automatically allow you to enter the regional championships too (AEMC, ASEMC etc.) As said have a look at the Blue Book before you make any mods to the car if you want to compete in a road going class. To compete in roadgoing the car must be taxed, insured and MOTd (if necessary) but does not have to be driven to the event (thankfully for us on Sunday).
You'll need
A car obviously
Club membership : £20-30
MSA Competition Licence : £34 this year
Helmet : Type AF/R (or above) from about £120 to a lot
Overalls : From around £100 seond hand
Gloves : from around £20
Timing strut : make you own
Then it's just the entry fees per event, typically around £70
All I would say apart from that is do it, most fun you can have with a lot of clothes on, it's brilliant fun, totally addictive and it has to be the friendliest competitive sport on earth.

And this is sprinting,
Debden last Sunday (ignore the two McLarens in the opening shots, most of us don't use anything quite so expensive, you run in classes so you'll be competing against similar performance cars)

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

just looking through the blue book, cheers for that!

it states for road going cars that the suspension configuration must remain the same, does this mean you cant change anything suspension wise?

I think it means the type of suspension has to remain the same i.e. if it was built with coilovers you have to keep coilovers, pretty sure you could change springs but mabe not to adjustable dampers if it didn't have them as standard.

quote:

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Originally posted by 55ant
guys thankyou for all the help, with regards to the mx5 does anyone have any advice on what to go for, im speaking to a chap about this one..

PH

thinking i could make a few pennies selling of the interior and wheels aiming to break even with a few changes to a more track focused car,

anyone have any advice, budget around 2k but would push for the right car, not wanting to go over 2.5.

Cheers, Anthony.

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cool cheers, just looking for it to cover the racing seats etc and wheels and tyres, and massive spoiler, only joking, looking through the rules they seem very good in the road going class, just a couple of the cars im looking at have aftermarket suspension, can always change it back i guess. really looking forward to this! feels like im doing the right thing for once!

You'll be ok with modified suspension in Road Modified, provided it uses the original suspension pick up points. You don't want to end up in mod prod!

I'm not sure why there are'nt more MX5's in the sport - one built to the rules could be realy competitive in the road modified classes!

Wyn