Young Drivers in Historic Motor Sport and associated topics.

[Al Weyman]

Funny enough I was having a chat with one of the CTCRC members on this subject at Brands at the weekend. He sponsors his son in the Minis who is very quick and originally cut his racing teeth with us in the Historics and learnt his craft well from the old buggers out there, proof in the pudding is he is way up in the championship in the Mini's if not leading it by now. Anyhow dad told me he still had his historic car sitting there ready to race but he was not really interested as it (in his words) 'had no street cred running around in a load of old bangers' (with a load of old gits as well if truth be told!).

Also I have raced in our Pre-93 Championship this year as well as Historics (or in my case Post historics but a 1970 Camaro is still an Historic in my book) and I have notcied in Pre-93's I am by far the oldest out there the rest being mainly made up of young guys so by my observations I would say a lot of the above statements are true, makes you wonder what will happen in Historics when more us old gits hang up our helmets or fall off our perchs which is why I always find this stuck in Pre-66 thing a bit strange.

[simon drabble]

with both Woodcote Trophy and Legends 50's sportscars Championships in rude health I woudl say 60's is safe for a good few years.
Ironically I would say these are the series that will weather a reccession best as the owners are at a stage of life when personal leverage is low and dependency to a booming economy less

[driftwood]

modern cars souless?? !!!
remember the historic cars where once modern and souless they really beacme attractive because there was " history " of the car or driver who ran that model that has created the attraction
in 10 years time the 2000 c/ship winning dallara or lola F3000 car will have some ooh la la when the next generation come along who will look at the spaceframe or alloy tub cars you are salivating over today and say you will not get me in that death trap in the same was as the current 60-70`s car owner will talk about a 1929-48 race car with no seatbelt roll hoop etc in the same way
for some car owners its the engineering or technical side that makes modern cars appealing but they can be too complicated to run maintain and i admit a straight forward 1974-84 F2 atlantic F3 car is an attractive propostion for most folk = simple to run repair restore and "safe" compared to older tube frame cars

[Al Weyman]

I saw some young guy in our Pre-93 cobbling together a manual switch over system for the Honda CVH system the other week and he lost me going on about ohms resitance and all that and bypassing the duff cpu, maybe thats why they go for the newer stuff and we plod on with the old tubs which we understand. :-(

[Redneck Rocket]

Originally Posted by LYNX

you are either into cars or not!

Too right! I'll race anything with an engine and four wheels! (Three at a push).

[LYNX]

Originally Posted by Redneck Rocket

Too right! I'll race anything with an engine and four wheels! (Three at a push).

3 wheels isn't fair; it catches out the clever hedgehog that rolls into a ball between the lights.

[bludvl_x19]

I dont race (atm) but when I do start racing, I would love to start off in Historics, and stay there. My parents both race/d historics, and I love the culture, the camraderie, and the racing that comes out of it.
My only concern might be that because I am significantly younger, that I might, might be considered a bit of un upstart, maybe trying too hard, not racing in the spirit and the like.
Hopefully I can start racing by next Easter, fingers crossed

Michael

[LYNX]

Originally Posted by bludvl_x19

I dont race (atm) but when I do start racing, I would love to start off in Historics, and stay there. My parents both race/d historics, and I love the culture, the camraderie, and the racing that comes out of it.
My only concern might be that because I am significantly younger, that I might, might be considered a bit of un upstart, maybe trying too hard, not racing in the spirit and the like.
Hopefully I can start racing by next Easter, fingers crossed

Michael

Do not worry there are a number of historic racers that started aged 16. For example Jack Woodhouse driving a FJ ELVA 100, from the age of 12 was nicknamed FED (Future ELVA driver) and his times are well up there with the car's expected performance. Michael Lyons is another example of driving FI, FJ and other series. You are accepted for who you are, drive safely, learn the tradecraft- no problems. The difficulty is gaining the sponsorship to go a different route than via Karting aged 7 and so on!

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by bludvl_x19

I dont race (atm) but when I do start racing, I would love to start off in Historics, and stay there. My parents both race/d historics, and I love the culture, the camraderie, and the racing that comes out of it.
My only concern might be that because I am significantly younger, that I might, might be considered a bit of un upstart, maybe trying too hard, not racing in the spirit and the like.
Hopefully I can start racing by next Easter, fingers crossed

Michael

G'day Michael, Jill's right, by your actions will you be judged. If you race fair & clean, you'll be just as welcome as the next bloke. In fact a lot of older guys in historic racing are very concerned about the future of our sport and really keen to see young guys join the ranks. I was only 26 when i got in to Group Nc, and the older blokes were terrific, some of them were really helpful.

[rogerwills]

Great to see someone who competes (and wins) in historics winning a major modern championship. Congratulations Olly Hancock! Definitely a star of the future.

[delta]

I had the pleasure of running Olly a couple of years ago in his Dads FF2000 and apart from comming second in the race minus front wings and not being able to test with the other front runners. He gave excellent feed back in qualy and was a real joy to work with. Needs to be in F3 next year.

[LYNX]

How many ten-tenthers are there driving in Historic Racing aged 25 years or less. More importantly how many throughout Historic racing per se. Especially non-UK drivers whom are easier to identify.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by LYNX

How many ten-tenthers are there driving in Historic Racing aged 25 years or less. More importantly how many throughout Historic racing per se. Especially non-UK drivers whom are easier to identify.

I switched from moderns to Historics at the age of 25.

[delta]

Im 55 does that count as being a young upstart. I was a bit miffed i did not get nominated for Autosport young driver of the year.

[driftwood]

you where once a young upstart can you remember that far back?
at what age does one say a driver is a young driver for historics?
In principle the cars when new where driven by young drivers!
hysterical FFords pre 71 where race dby 17-19 yr olds f3 cars 18-23 year olds F2 and F Atlantics 20-25 year olds who had not made it to F1
so in reality a driver 18-25 yrs old is the right driver for that type of car today

[delta]

Originally Posted by driftwood

you where once a young upstart can you remember that far back?
at what age does one say a driver is a young driver for historics?
In principle the cars when new where driven by young drivers!
hysterical FFords pre 71 where race dby 17-19 yr olds f3 cars 18-23 year olds F2 and F Atlantics 20-25 year olds who had not made it to F1
so in reality a driver 18-25 yrs old is the right driver for that type of car today

I can remember it only seems like yesterday.

[Enrico Spaggiari]

Originally Posted by LYNX

How many ten-tenthers are there driving in Historic Racing aged 25 years or less. More importantly how many throughout Historic racing per se. Especially non-UK drivers whom are easier to identify.

I started driving in historic racing in 2005 at 23, with my 1965 Ford Mustang.
On this year I had the wonderful opportunity to drive also a Cooper-Climax T53 (Spa, Silverstone and Goodwood) and a Cooper Bristol T20 (Nurburgring) of a friend of mine .
My past racing experiences were just a couple of years of karting in 60cc and 100cc junior classes.
Then my parents wanted me to study so I had to give up.
Now I can say they made the right choice.
I'm not interested in racing modern cars : they are no fun and they don't have a personality. Historic racing cars needs of more skill and more respect to be driven properly, especially if the car you are driving is an important one with a great historic background. You can feel the soul of these machines.
If I only could find a sponsor which helps to cover some costs ...

[John Turner]

I have to admit to a soft spot for modern GT racing (there's nothing much more charismatic in my view than A DBR9 or CR6) and I try to keep an open mind about contemporary racing. However, Enrico's post is a ringing endorsement of the historic racing scene from a young man; well, 26 is young to me, anyway.