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Old 14 Jan 2001, 20:50 (Ref:58482)   #1
touringlegend
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touringlegend should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridtouringlegend should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridtouringlegend should be qualifying in the top 3 on the grid
I really want driving to be my career, but my parents refuse to try and even help me in the slightest way. Can anybody help me.
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Old 14 Jan 2001, 21:46 (Ref:58504)   #2
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BTC-P fan should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
The first step is to try karting. I don't know how old you are but try your local indoor karting centre first. They often have a saturday morning club where you can learn and eventually progress to outdoor karting and get your ARKS licence. It's never too late to start. Your local driver, Gordon Shedden, didn't start in karts until he was about 16 I believe, and didn't start racing cars until he was 21 and 2 years later he is trying to land a BTC-P drive. Don't give up and start writing begging letters to potential sponsors, but you have to put in some effort yourself first.
Good Luck!!!!
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Old 15 Jan 2001, 14:31 (Ref:58606)   #3
Super Tourer
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Super Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the grid
Unless you have rich parents give up now !!!!!!!
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Old 15 Jan 2001, 19:42 (Ref:58667)   #4
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Dan Friel should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridDan Friel should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Not sure of your age - but there's two ways of going about it..

1. Go karting and be amazing at it, you might get noticed - although it'll take a certain amount of cash...

2. Work your butt off, get a decent education / job and pay for it!! Lets face it, there's only a few people who ever drive in BTCC - but there's plenty of rich guys who blast around in older cars in Formula Saloons..

I've planned motor racing for near on 10 years, now's the first time I can afford motor sport, and that's only sprinting..
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Old 15 Jan 2001, 21:49 (Ref:58691)   #5
touringlegend
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touringlegend should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridtouringlegend should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridtouringlegend should be qualifying in the top 3 on the grid
There was a thread discussing the cheapest form of racing a few days back there. Somebody suggested Class 1 Autograss racing for MOT failures. That reminded me that I have a slightly crashed damaged Nova SR sitting in my garage and another available from my cousin. I'm only 15 right now and thought that was a path I could also go down.
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Old 15 Jan 2001, 21:54 (Ref:58693)   #6
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JMeissner should be qualifying in the top 5 on the gridJMeissner should be qualifying in the top 5 on the grid
That thing about rich parents isn't true. For sure, it does help alot, and many of the drivers out there has or has had rich parents... But, giving up "just" because your parents isnt rich is bullsh*t...

One good example is the Swedish driver Kenny Bräck, I dont know if you have heard about him, but he drives in CART nowdays... And he started with nothing, his parents werent rich at all and he didnt know anyone who was involved in racing... But he just didnt give up, and he fought his way up through his carrier... And he has taken alot of controversial desicions, he got an F1-test offer from Benneton, but when it dint suit him, they didnt really care about him, he choose another road to find a team that really did care.

But enough glorifying his carrier, you can make your way up through motorracing without rich parents or things like that...

But one thing that you cannot make it without is talent. No matter how mutch you want it, you must be able to drive a car fast around a track
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Old 15 Jan 2001, 22:28 (Ref:58701)   #7
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Try telling Jenson Button that you need rich parents. His father was far from rich, and it was only when Jenson started winning championships that he started to attract sponsors. In 1998, when he came out of karts he had no money at all. It was only down to the sheer hard work of a few supporters who recognised his talent and his father's refusal to give up that he succeeded in finishing the 1998 FFord season.....the rest is history as they say. I know that this is fact because i saw it happen.
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Old 16 Jan 2001, 09:06 (Ref:58780)   #8
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Super Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the grid
Sorry for my flippancy guys, but I'm just trying to inject some realism. Tourlegend is talking of a career path. I've been involved with sponsorship, drivers and I'm a shareholder in ateam, so I know what the cost and likely chances of success are.

For every Jenson Button there a 1000 kids who get nowhere, some of whom are equally motivated. Yes JB is very talented
but he has always been placed in the right environment to shine. How do you think he would have done with a back street FFord team run from a transit van? Would he have won races and the festival, for example.

A year in Formula Ford will cost around £100 K with a good team. FRenault will set you back £140K with a top team. F3 will cost up to £250-300K with a top team and two years is becoming the norm. This means that somebody has to part with
around £750K to put a driver in a good team throughout the lower formulae and you're still no further than F3.

My point is that of all the drivers racing in the UK major national single seater series,virtually all the race wins came from drivers in the top teams in each series. How many other drivers do you remember form FFord, outside the Mackie, Haywood and Van Diemen teams?

By going other routes you are often wasting your money, and before anybody mentions sponsorship at this level of motorsport the driver (or father) pays and sponsors generally aren't interested in lower formulae.

So Touringlegend its very tough to make it anywhere and the costs I have mentioned are before you've spent several years in Karts which to be competitve are becoming increasingly expensive.

Yes, if a driver is exceptionally talented, he will get picked up by a professional manager/backer, but putting yourself in that position to shine, is not easy. Look at Derek Hayes he ran Button very close as his team mate at Haywood back in FFord, and actually beat him in the Eurocup series, but only now has he made it to F3...and who mentions him in the same breath as button now?
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Old 16 Jan 2001, 13:47 (Ref:58810)   #9
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Well

Something really needs to be done about the cost of going racing. There should be a championship where you can buy a very cheap road-spec car, fit a roll cage/racing seat/racing suspension and be able to race around tracks like oulton PK and Silverstone.

Not grass racing, no offence but if i ever got into any racing id want to race around real tracks.
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Old 16 Jan 2001, 14:30 (Ref:58815)   #10
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Super Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridSuper Tourer should be qualifying in the top 3 on the grid
There is cheap racing available like Road Saloons for example, where you can go racing for literally a few thousand per year including the car.

But these are purely for fun, not a career path.
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Old 17 Jan 2001, 20:46 (Ref:59075)   #11
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I would suggest that if you get a driving game for PC with a steering wheel, practice on there. For me, I get straight into it. To me it may be easy, as I always go for hardest and still win by a mile. The best games i would recommend is TOCA 2, Sports Car GT, Grand Prix Series and Le Mans 24 hours. Try and submit your laf record to a website, and if you have TOCA 2, try and beat a 1:12:083 (MY RECORD FOR SILVERSTONE)
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Old 17 Jan 2001, 21:19 (Ref:59089)   #12
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JMeissner should be qualifying in the top 5 on the gridJMeissner should be qualifying in the top 5 on the grid
Hmm, well. I dont think you can get any experience from virtual racing to real racing... You might be able to train your reactions a bit, but...

GPL on the other hand might be the closest you can get to a real race car. It sure is a great game!

But, the best training is still, the real one. Gocart, suprisingly , is the best way in ..
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Old 17 Jan 2001, 21:45 (Ref:59093)   #13
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Start off karting for sure, that's the best way, and don't believe the thing about rich parents, it will damage your motivation and that will affect your performance. It is possible to get a cheap old kart (useful for skidding around on grass) for £100 but you'd be lucky to get it for that. Once you get good with it you'll have to fork out quite a lot more for a prokart. Then you can go off racing round small circuits such as Clay Pigeon (stick the kart in the car boot if you've an estate) and hopefully get noticed, get yourself an engineer and start from there in a championship. It is expensive but it could be possible if you have the talent and a bit of luck.
Hope it goes well!
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