Now here is the dilema, I would like to get myself prepared for the 2010 season, but would it be best to buy a prebuilt race car for what appears to be around �15-16k or buy a cheap S1 and prepare it for Class A I really would love a motorsport bodied car but I think I might be going to far to start with, what do you guys think?
Buying is going to be a ready car is cheaper and easier IMO.
A Class A ET car that has a good reliability track record. There is nothing more frustrating than mechanical gremlins stopping you racing.
There are some options on lotuscentral.com
Ade
Firstly you need to download the 2009 Regs as soon as they are available (very soon I believe). That will give you a good idea of which spec (eg mods/power/weight) of car you can run in either Class A, or Modified.
I would then get to as many of the 2009 rounds you can , to assess what suits your requirements best, before deciding on a car towards the end of the season.
As Damon says, a proven race car would be my choice, rather than starting from scratch…but Sean would 100% do the opposite
I think preliminary regs are already available for registered/interested drivers. Drop Paul a line.
A class A car is about as fast as an exige S due to the lower weight so they’re not exactly slow. I think modified class would be expensive unless you could do a lot of the setup work/repairs yourself.
If you bought a pre-built car you could do a years trackdays in it to get used to it and iron out any probs.
For me I’ve set no real date. However, the year I turn 40 (3 years away) I would expect to hold the necessary license. I’m learning more and more everyday and last years biggest lesson (not to blow Will’s trumpet too much) was how much I have to learn after a PAX ride with him, oh and also his car! The current car I’m modifying is more of a hobby and a learning curve…it’s just a bit of fun and will probably end up as light as it can possibly be, as powerful as it can possibly be and as well set up…as it can possibly be! But I think class A is not where I plan to start…I think I’ll keep a new second hand purchase fairly standard and dog it out the hard way in that. THEN when I’m way better than say Russ or Sean lol I’ll strip off the carbon, apply a bit of home made ply & Ally and try out with the big stuff.
Times not right for me now, I’ll be making no more big everyday car purchases…it’ll be going on this! The trackday bug needs a goal I guess so we’ll see.
Ade what about your car! You’ve spent some wedge on that, what you doing with it?
Rob you are totally right btw, (I &) Ade should obviously follow the season for a few years it goes without saying.
Yes definately going to try to follow this year as best I can, I did look at 2 class A cars for sale at the moment at �16k that look good, I also found a sport 160 for sale for �8k another �8k for upgrades to get it ready for class A seems reasonable.
I do want to try to get a car before the summer so I can do some track and test days to get it set up correctly.
As for my Exige I want to keep it as well, just got to sell my Fiesta to buy a tow car.
Ade
I think RussT may have a Class A ready car for sale too (he has 2 of them!). Also, Evosal is worth contacting, as he seems to have a production line for them
I am umm-ing and arr-ing my reply to this. I think 16k for a series 1 class A car is just about fair if the car TRUELY is in A1 condition AND you are no good with a spanner yourself. Bare in mind though the person you are buying the car off is on the verge of making a profit, it just isn’t that expensive to put a class A car together. However if you have watched any of the class A guys race, there is a lot of contact and the cars look very second hand, very quickly.
The series 2 car Evosal was selling at about 12k if my memory serves me right was a good deal, especially now it has the right ECU on it and the VVC is working and its on the pace. That car was mint, the body work was spot on.
The modified class has far less contact, with most of the guys managing to get through the year with no contact at all. Body work repairs are often the most expensive and time consuming unless you have the right contacts.
Sean…
I am umm-ing and arr-ing my reply to this. I think 16k for a series 1 class A car is just about fair if the car TRUELY is in A1 condition AND you are no good with a spanner yourself. Bare in mind though the person you are buying the car off is on the verge of making a profit, it just isn’t that expensive to put a class A car together. However if you have watched any of the class A guys race, there is a lot of contact and the cars look very second hand, very quickly.
The series 2 car Evosal was selling at about 12k if my memory serves me right was a good deal, especially now it has the right ECU on it and the VVC is working and its on the pace. That car was mint, the body work was spot on.
The modified class has far less contact, with most of the guys managing to get through the year with no contact at all. Body work repairs are often the most expensive and time consuming unless you have the right contacts.
Sean…
I think Sean makes some great points there. The initial cost of modified is higher, but I think now that the power limits have been dropped the costs per race won’t be hugely difference between A and modified.
As Sean says, there has been a lot more contact in A than in B/C in the past year especially. I’m sightly worried that this might happen more in ‘modified’ this year as there should be more people racing closer together…this is where the large costs may come in !
If I was doing it all again, I’d buy a damaged car and build it from scratch rather than taking a nice road car and turning it into a race car.
I did consider swapping to class A for 2009, but decided to carry on with my car as it is and see how things go.
If I was starting from scratch, I’d be building an S1 class A car.
The other thing to bear in mind is that it’s not cheap ! - just to get on the grid you really need to spend :-
Safety equip for car - 2k +
Trailer - 2k
Driver equipment - 1.5k (helmet,suit,boots etc)
ARDS test - 500quid
6 grand before you get on the grid.
Thanks for all the replies so far
As I can turn a wrench a bit I am now starting to consider a cheap damaged S1 111S and turn it into a race car, this way I hope to keep the costs down to a level that is manageable. I don’t expect to be to competetive just want to do it really so I can say I have.
So far I have a trailer I can hire if required so that helps, I was expecting the other costs for race suit etc plus the ARDS test and was going to do that this year to break up the costs a bit before starting in 2010.
Just need to wait till about May ish when my cash will become available for a car, it does seem a viable target with the budget I have to spend.
I think that’s the way to go… I personally love doing the work myself and enjoying learning as I go along.
I didn’t really have much of a clue mechanically when I started but they are quite easy cars to work on and it’s mostly logical at the end of the day!
My Honda is currently in bits in the garage, it makes it a huge difference to costs if you can do the prep/maintenance yourself.
My Honda is currently in bits in the garage,
Why ?
My Honda is currently in bits in the garage,
Why ?
Don’t ask a racer what they are doing to their engines…sshhh…
LOL
I am quite possibly the first person to experience HGF in my Honda !
Hahahaha…quite ironic really!
That’s unlucky
I am quite possibly the first person to experience HGF in my Honda !
Hahahaha…quite ironic really!
Anything to do with the overheating you experienced at Croft ?
Would a Sport160 (WVTA) a good start for a class A car? or is the highest power a VVC?
I am quite possibly the first person to experience HGF in my Honda !
Hahahaha…quite ironic really!
Anything to do with the overheating you experienced at Croft ?
Yep, been suffering with it all season off and on… coolant has been ever expanding and boiling out the top of the header tank.
Yep, been suffering with it all season off and on… coolant has been ever expanding and boiling out the top of the header tank.
Another thing the 'yota engine does not suffer from…
You do realise you’ve just cursed yourself don’t you ?