Toyota MR2 series announced today?

[ghinzani]

Cool grahame, have you got a car or will you hire? best of luck, plenty of people on here can help you with any questions you might have about starting - do a search on ARDS should bring up some pertinant threads.

[grahamewings]

I do own what was a rather nice T-Bar until a mishap at a Cadwell Park track day in May (see http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/det...&sc=Q0H7&s=155) and was considering buying another one, but after serious consideration have decided to hire as it suits my circumstances a bit better.

[ghinzani]

ouch, you biffed that baby!! still got it? I'm looking for 4th and 5th gear if you have them ;-)

[superbird]

Well I have to say before I actually got with my present missus and had'nt driven one I thought they were hairdresser motors, but around the lanes of Dorset the things fantastic - perhaps more fun than my 325 BMW. The handling is superb, and I can just imagine how nice it will be thru Gerards or the Craners.... Defo get your mate on here Richy, I want to hear more.

My bloke was looking at them around the time we got together, but I had a kart I let him race so he had to get a van!

[ghinzani]

Found the website up and running, looks like a demo race happening soon on the 19th october at Mallory. Unfortunately I will be out in my kart that weekend but if anyones there and can report back I'd be grateful.

web address is : http://www.reddragonautomotive.com/

[ghinzani]

News on the series, apparently 11 cars out at Snett.
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/MR2Challenge1.html

[Dan Friel]

Well although it's true to say the donington race was cancelled (well it actually took place on Sunday), there didn't seem to be any MR2's entered anyway.

I'm at Snetts on Easter Monday, so it'll be interesing to check out the cars. As long as they 3 or 4 cars out first time, that'll be a good start.

[Dan Friel]

I arrived at Snetts too late to see the race.. but 5 MR2's were listed in the programe, although I believe only 3 actaully took part in the race. But quite a promising start, and will be interested to see how many they get through the year.

[johnw]

Originally posted by Dan Friel
......although I believe only 3 actaully took part in the race. But quite a promising start........

A promising start? Give us a break!

[kpm]

johnw if you read the the previous replies you will see that the Mr2 Mk1 series runs in the 750mc Roadsports race, further more they race in the group B class, so if just one car turns up it makes no odds it still races, however if more than a few turn up sepperate awards are to be given to the competitors in the challenge, There were five cars paid up to enter at Snetterton but testing incidents accounted for two of them , expect to see more cars at brands . ps three mr2's raced at Snetterton making them the biggest single make in the championship!

[johnw]

Thanks kpm.
Wasn't intending to knock the initiative, just the comment which contradicted the post two above indicating 11 cars. That would have been promising

[Dan Friel]

I think the word 'quite' is quite important - very different from saying a 'very promising start'!

As my previous post suggested, I always reckoned that 11 cars would never happen. But they seemed to have gone about it in a proper manner.. join in with a well established (if a little floundering over the last couple of seasons) series and make a decent grid size. So well done the 750MC and the MR2 organisers!

[Tony_Simpson]

Originally posted by Dan Friel
I think the word 'quite' is quite important - very different from saying a 'very promising start'!

As my previous post suggested, I always reckoned that 11 cars would never happen. But they seemed to have gone about it in a proper manner.. join in with a well established (if a little floundering over the last couple of seasons) series and make a decent grid size. So well done the 750MC and the MR2 organisers!

The same thing happened with the TVR Tasmen cars a few years ago, run in an establised series and then branch out once you have some numbers. Pity more race series do not do the same thing.

[ghinzani]

11 was what I saw on the website, thats all. However if I was'nt so lazy the MR2 outside my house would be undergoing preparation... instead its bound for a barn whilst I move house and decide what to do with it :-(

on a complete tangent I drove thru Romsey today Dan on my way back from Hursley - how close is it to the M27! I should have looked at houses there, I reckon I could be in bornmuff for work in half an hour or so...

[Dan Friel]

Chose Romsey because of it’s decent location / pubs, all of which seem to sell well kept / quality ales (as demonstrated last night)..

Surely there’s not many cheaper ways of going motor racing compared to the MR2 series??

[ghinzani]

Quite a while since I started this thread but the MR2 series really seems to have taken off. At the kart show at Excel last month I noticed they were doing a season race hire for 9 grand, a couple of karters I know are considering doing the series. Looks very good value, however the MR2 I had was just tooo rotten. Anyone actually seen them race? Is it good stuff?

btw heres their website which has come on an awful long way since the original Red Dragon Automotive one a few years ago. http://www.mr2racing.com/

Well done for getting a clubbie series off the ground to the organisers and racers, especially in these times when they say theres too many series and new ones wont flourish!

[Ian Sowman]

I have commentated on several rounds of the championship, and while I am sure it is great fun to compete in it comes fairly low down on my list of "most entertaining championships to watch". There seems to be quite a wide range of abilities, which is fine as many of the drivers are novices, but it does mean that the field gets quite spread out for a one-make series. I also suspect that some cars really are road cars with a roll cage while others go right to the edge of the regulations.

The Mk2 cars are now starting to get a bit quicker and to win races, and I suspect they will be the cars to have in future. Having said that, there is (or was) a class for uprated Mk1s that left all of the more standard cars standing. Marcus Pye criticised this in Autosport, to the chagrin of the series organisers.

Generally, entry levels are very good, averaging in the low 20s for the rounds that I saw in 2006.

[ghinzani]

Cheers Ian - my thoughts to the karter guys who fancied doing it were that if they want to do it as fun then sure, but if they want to get anywhere then try Fiestas or Clios or something similar, if they could afford it that is.

[Ian Sowman]

To be honest, if that is a route that they want to go then a year in something like MR2s might not be a bad idea. They could learn the circuits - and circuit racing - relatively cheaply, probably look quite decent but do it where there is less spotlight.

You could go straight into something like Clios, but it would cost a lot more to be competitive, you would be up against more experienced car racers, and quite possibly would look a bit average - which may dent confidence and future hopes.

Interestingly, the star of 2006 was Sam Maher-Loughnan, a useful but underfunded driver who was aiming initially for US FF2000 for 2007, but then changed his target to something else (I remember not what).

[Al Weyman]

9 Grand? Is that concidered cheap these days for a 10 round bat about in an old car, sounds expensive to me at nearly a grand a round.

[woodyracing]

Hi all, I'm building a mk2 for this years season, it has really taken off and sounds like there will be a lot more mk2's for this year. The modified Mk1 class has been cancelled. The championship winning car was for sale at around £2500 with a years support (thats a Mk1) and Mk2's can be bought ready to race for about 4-5k. 9 grand is a fair bit of money but if you have your own car you can run yourself for a lot less, and these cars can be road legal too.

Andy.

[Ian Sowman]

Thanks for the update Andy - hope to see the MR2s a few times this year!

[woodyracing]

Hi Ian, yes do pop by and say hello if you see my name on the entry list

[car13]

Originally Posted by Dan Friel

Will be interested to see what the 'engine supplier' bit means! That could push up costs stoopidly.. why do you need a supplier if you can't modify the engine anyway??

ghinzani - Why not just take the glass roof out?? Surely they can't exclude T bars from entering, as that's what most of them are!

Engine mod's, most race series suffer from this problem even with good regulations those with big buck can work way forward.

There arnt many clubman based series that allow evening racing which is a shame as it prices a lot of us out of racing......

[Al Weyman]

I had a T roof in my Iroc, we got some steel panels rolled and welded them in place, no problem, no one has ever even commented on it.