Advice for poss newbie

[Miltec]

After coming to watch a Curborough,

Thought who better to ask the pros and cons of sprinting?

One con is I live on the south coast, so distance is a pain but other half is VERY interested in sharing the car on these evens so, her indoors may well win on that account.

Could someone give me a idea on how much the season would cost etc?

 

any advice would be helpful

 

Thanks

Liam

 

VX 1600 Live Axle

T440LKK

[The Laddie]

Hi Liam

This year was my first and breakdown was roughly

MSA Licence £35

Championship Entry £17.50

Nomex (2nd Hand) £70

Helmet £200 (I also bought boots & gloves but they are optional)

Each Event £85 per driver (Approx average)

Travelodge (or equiv depending on cheapest I can find) £35 average per event

Petrol.....Food.....Drink

 

Hope that helps

Regards

Mike

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Mike

[Alan Bowler]

You also need an FIA rollbar or cage if not already fitted. Assuming you go for Class 1, tyres should be cheap, but you should check what you have is on "list 1A", and consider getting fresh ones if yours are old/unsuitable. Yoko A539s appear to be the rubber of choice.

 

Go for it though - I've had a fun first season even if I didn't break any records!

AB

 

 

 

[Alan Bowler]

>

AB

 

 

 

 

Edited by - Alan Bowler on 26 Aug 2008 16:49:05

[The Laddie]

Forgot to include that I am Essex based, on the coast, so probably travel as far as you expect to.

 

Enjoy,

 

Mike

[FlymoFraser]

Have a look in the FAQ at the top of the Speed forum page.

 

Thishere details my costs in the first year, similar to The Laddie. If you find you don't like it you can sell most of the equipment mentioned quite easily and get most of your money back.

 

Definitely worth a go.

 

 

 

R287 Mobile Jaffa Cake- It's black at both ends with a smashing orangey bit in the middle here

[magister]

My first season this year

I thought about doing it for 20 years!!

Just wish I had started doing it earlier.

 

Ebay can be good for racesuits, but make sure that they have the correct coding.

Proban suits will not be accepted next year, and Nomex suits coded 'FIA standard 1986' will not be accepted from 2010 (if i have read the latest MSA mag correctly)

 

WANTED posts are often successful for the bits you need and club members don't charge the earth for them.

 

I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

PaulB

[steve and casper]

Couldnt recommend it more but resist buying all things caterham until you have researched it( unlike me) and also go for a good class 1 car spec(unlike me) but once engaged its wicked fun !!

Class 4 this month

Steve

 

 

[Tam]

Come and have a go We've been sprinting for a few years now and we love it.

 

It would be great to see another lady competitor too. As you will have seen at the weekend, there is a great camaraderie among the girls

 

There is no such thing as cheap motor sport but as noted above there is stuff you can do to minimise costs. We camp at a lot of events (often free at the circuit) although Micahel's upgraditis soon wipes out any savings 😳 I also tend to take packed lunch when I can - sounds like a little thing but you can easily spend £10 + on food and drinks at the events.

 

Tam

Drowned Rat Racing

[Miltec]

Been informed last night that Lara has found the overalls she wants..... Ouch

 

 

 

VX 1600 Live Axle

T440LKK

[GregP]

My advice would be to go for it. There are about half a dozen vx 1600's in class 1 this year so even if you're not at the very sharp end of the class at first there will be comparable cars to measure yourself against and compete with.

 

I began my hillclimbing outside the club but have to say that the atmosphere, support and general cameraderie at club events is 10 times better than I had experienced elsewhere.

 

It is a lot of money for a few minutes motorsport but the whole day (and night at Curborough ) are just as much part of the event as driving and make it worthwhile.

 

I run a vx 1600 like you and drive to events. Costs this year are less than £300 on the car itself including swapping to Yoko A539's that will last another season plus fuel. The only failure in 3 seasons has been a brake cylinder fixed for under £50.

 

Hope to see you next year

 

Greg

 

Edited by - Greg P on 27 Aug 2008 17:14:21

[Simon.Rogers1]

Talking of Saturday night Greg I haven't had an email from you guys or are you pleading ignorance. 😔

[GregP]

Darn, spotted, Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water Simon

 

Don't have access to personal e-mail at work but will drop you a line when i can

[Charlies Angel]

Hi Liam,

We are South Coast too and you do get a bit sick of the A34. We drew a line across the UK at the beginning of the season and said we would only do events South of the line, but as the seasons gone on that line keeps moving North. Once you get the bug it all seems worth while. Looking forward to Wiscombe though!

[Miltec]

Thaks guys, off to GPR this weekend for skid-lids etc.

 

What's a good track to have a practice on?

 

VX 1600 Live Axle

T440LKK

[Mark Durrant]

Liam

 

I would start with a track that is easy for you to get to and has instruction available. If you can get to Brands Hatch for the club trackday on 17 September where instruction is free this would be a good place to start. I know a few sprinters will be there and I am sure they will give you a few laps in the passenger seat.

 

Mark D

Comp Sec

 

[BarryT]

There are plenty of events in the South East if you want to practise before/between seven club events. I will be at Brands if you want to talk about sprinting etc in the South East but currently I don't do the club series. (Although, I was 'the other Caterham' at the Goodwood round this year).

I will be in the red group in a blue/yellow/black car.

 

Barry

[DaveGr]

This is my first season of sprinting, and I drive one of the 1600vx cars that greg refers to. You do sort of have accept that there are cars with more horsepower in class 1, and that it would therefore be pretty difficult to be an outright winner, but the effect isn't as big as I thought it might be. Matthew W in class 1 is in an identical car and is whole seconds quicker than me at every event (but then unlike me he stays on the track, which I think is sooo conventional) - so it's still a great test of who's behind the steering wheel. As greg says, you soon find out who is in a similar car so you can measure your progress against them.

 

As for costs, I haven't really counted it up, and i find time as big an issue as cost. They are pretty robust little cars really and I've had great fun (and some frustration) without any damage or failure ... so far, and it is terribly addictive - even sitting in the middle of the class 1 championship table my points still matter to me.

 

I decided to start sprinting because although I owned a caterham, i didn't really feel as though I was doing it justice blatting up the road. After four events, my little caterham isn't quite as clean as it used to be, but I love it even more. Driving hard is what they are for, no?

 

Cheers

Dave G

[GregP]

Couldn't agree more Dave, how Mr W goes that fast is beyond me. Still the good thing is it shows you what can be done which gives you the confidence to try harder.

 

By the way, I found out at Curborough that you car and mine once had something of an attraction for each other Will have to let them catch up next year.

[DaveGr]

Yes I suggested to Matt that I should snuggle JRR up to to your car, and get a picture, just for old times' sake - they did more than snuggle last time, clearly. I wonder if anyone out there has any pictures?

 

Perhaps that's it, perhaps my laps were so lousy at Curborough 2 because my car was nervous - a sort of post traumatic stress. See, I knew it couldn't be my fault.

 

Dave

[GregP]

From what I heard it was mine trying to escape your car's advances that lead to the trouble in the first place 😬 Will have to reunited them next year!