XR2 Challenge

[campbell]

the old saying goes that "you should try everything at least once except incest and folk dancing".......

Brian J

Brian,

Always a pleasure to hear your acid wit from time to time!

Campbell

[greyrigg]

Never tried folk dancing

XR2's are great for close racing but as Ross says no motorsport is cheap.

''Racing is life, the rest is just waiting'' sums it up for me............

Malcolm

[Scotty C]

Never tried folk dancing

XR2's are great for close racing but as Ross says no motorsport is cheap.

''Racing is life, the rest is just waiting'' sums it up for me............

Malcolm

So what are your plans for this year?

[tut]

Probably to try Folk Dancing as his sister has emigrated.

tut

[Dominic]

[graeme]

I've got half an eye on MR2 Championship (750MC) for 2010. Can't do anything this year due to reduced income. MR2s looked lots of fun at Snetterton last week - sluggish up the long straights, but quick and flat through the bends. Going to have a much more closeup look at the cars at Brands and Cadwell in April/May. I reckon anywhere from £5k to £15k to get a car on the grid (from scruffy pre-raced mk2 to shiny self-prep low-mile mk3), then £500+ per weekend (14 races, but some are double-headers) and repair costs if you bend it. Cars have a good rep for reliability on the forums. Mid-rear combo too (I don't fancy investing time in learning FWD handling). From initial investigation I reckon having the car road legal and registered wouldn't be impossible (tricky and inconvenient maybe, but not impossible) with the advantage that you can then trackday it as well (maybe) and maybe even drive it on the road by swapping out the suspension and not worrying about security too much.

G

[SteveCowen]

As you'll notice I'm not a prolific poster here(!), but I did take part in XR challenge from 96-98 - just missed Brian J it seems! Firstly, as everyone else has noted no motor sport is cheap. I bought a car from the English series and ran it myself, and even in those days spent £3-4k per season. And that wasn't being remotely competitive... Once again as has been said before the main costs are race entries (can't believe how much that costs nowadays...), tyres, fuel, general damage (no matter how careful you try to be...), maintenance (you can get away without major rebuilds, but without some fettling you'll be getting left behind as the season progresses), and testing (really need to do this, seemed to be worth ~0.5-1 second in qualifying if I'd got some practice the day before). But as Ally Hunter told me after I'd wrecked my original car and just bought another, if you can't afford to buy it again you cant really afford to go racing. Which I then couldn't. Partly as a result of, err, a "change in personal circumstances", which in turn was partly as a result of XR challenge. You get the drift. If you decide to do it, get yourself a good lawyer...!! That being said, I'd do it again tomorrow...

[pete]

As you'll notice I'm not a prolific poster here(!), but I did take part in XR challenge from 96-98 - just missed Brian J it seems! Firstly, as everyone else has noted no motor sport is cheap. I bought a car from the English series and ran it myself, and even in those days spent £3-4k per season. And that wasn't being remotely competitive... Once again as has been said before the main costs are race entries (can't believe how much that costs nowadays...), tyres, fuel, general damage (no matter how careful you try to be...), maintenance (you can get away without major rebuilds, but without some fettling you'll be getting left behind as the season progresses), and testing (really need to do this, seemed to be worth ~0.5-1 second in qualifying if I'd got some practice the day before). But as Ally Hunter told me after I'd wrecked my original car and just bought another, if you can't afford to buy it again you cant really afford to go racing. Which I then couldn't. Partly as a result of, err, a "change in personal circumstances", which in turn was partly as a result of XR challenge. You get the drift. If you decide to do it, get yourself a good lawyer...!! That being said, I'd do it again tomorrow...

Hi Steve, Thanks for that but your caution is way too subtle for me to get. Why might I need a lawyer??

Pete

[offshorematt]

...I bought a car from the English series and ran it myself...

Careful of this though - I'm sure I read somewhere not that long ago that the regulations of the English series and Scottish series had since diverged and hence the Scottish cars could no longer be run down south. Don't know if that means the English cars are legible for the KH races That said, I guess the cheap car you've been offered is probably local and hence this wouldn't be an issue.

Have you considered Legends? I looked briefly into this a couple of years ago. I'm sure the gist was a novice season would run to about £20k but you were left with a car worth 12k at the end that you could sell on? 8k didn't seem bad for a full season racing although ultimately I lacked the skill and energy to do more than just look

[pete]

...I bought a car from the English series and ran it myself...

Careful of this though - I'm sure I read somewhere not that long ago that the regulations of the English series and Scottish series had since diverged and hence the Scottish cars could no longer be run down south. Don't know if that means the English cars are legible for the KH races That said, I guess the cheap car you've been offered is probably local and hence this wouldn't be an issue.

Have you considered Legends? I looked briefly into this a couple of years ago. I'm sure the gist was a novice season would run to about £20k but you were left with a car worth 12k at the end that you could sell on? 8k didn't seem bad for a full season racing although ultimately I lacked the skill and energy to do more than just look

8k does seem reasonable, but when I said a cheap car, I mean cheap...

Pete

[Shug]

As you'll notice I'm not a prolific poster here(!), but I did take part in XR challenge from 96-98 - just missed Brian J it seems! Firstly, as everyone else has noted no motor sport is cheap. I bought a car from the English series and ran it myself, and even in those days spent £3-4k per season. And that wasn't being remotely competitive... Once again as has been said before the main costs are race entries (can't believe how much that costs nowadays...), tyres, fuel, general damage (no matter how careful you try to be...), maintenance (you can get away without major rebuilds, but without some fettling you'll be getting left behind as the season progresses), and testing (really need to do this, seemed to be worth ~0.5-1 second in qualifying if I'd got some practice the day before). But as Ally Hunter told me after I'd wrecked my original car and just bought another, if you can't afford to buy it again you cant really afford to go racing. Which I then couldn't. Partly as a result of, err, a "change in personal circumstances", which in turn was partly as a result of XR challenge. You get the drift. If you decide to do it, get yourself a good lawyer...!! That being said, I'd do it again tomorrow...

Hi Steve, Thanks for that but your caution is way too subtle for me to get. Why might I need a lawyer??

Pete

For such an acid wit, you're a helluva dumbo sometimes

Sing along D.I.V.O.R.C.E....

[SteveCowen]

Err. exactly as Shug said! But that's all water under the bridge now... As to the eligibility of English cars, OffshoreMatt is right - the regs diverged somewhat as the years went on, and the English scrutineers were never as, well, fastidious, as Willie Grieg. Don't know if he is still the chief scrutineer for the series now though. My last English series car had quite a number of "features" which were probably not strictly legal, including having the roll cage welded through to the front suspension, but I only raced it once before the aforementioned "change in personal circumstances" so it never really got the full Willie Grieg experience...

Just incase my last post was ambiguous though, DO IT!

[SteveCowen]

Oh and I should mention that I started that last race on the same row of the grid as a young Gordon Shedden. Sadly as a result of neither of us setting qualifying times, but I try not to mention that bit too loudly...!

[pete]

As you'll notice I'm not a prolific poster here(!), but I did take part in XR challenge from 96-98 - just missed Brian J it seems! Firstly, as everyone else has noted no motor sport is cheap. I bought a car from the English series and ran it myself, and even in those days spent £3-4k per season. And that wasn't being remotely competitive... Once again as has been said before the main costs are race entries (can't believe how much that costs nowadays...), tyres, fuel, general damage (no matter how careful you try to be...), maintenance (you can get away without major rebuilds, but without some fettling you'll be getting left behind as the season progresses), and testing (really need to do this, seemed to be worth ~0.5-1 second in qualifying if I'd got some practice the day before). But as Ally Hunter told me after I'd wrecked my original car and just bought another, if you can't afford to buy it again you cant really afford to go racing. Which I then couldn't. Partly as a result of, err, a "change in personal circumstances", which in turn was partly as a result of XR challenge. You get the drift. If you decide to do it, get yourself a good lawyer...!! That being said, I'd do it again tomorrow...

Hi Steve, Thanks for that but your caution is way too subtle for me to get. Why might I need a lawyer??

Pete

For such an acid wit, you're a helluva dumbo sometimes

Sing along D.I.V.O.R.C.E....

[pete]

Err. exactly as Shug said! But that's all water under the bridge now... As to the eligibility of English cars, OffshoreMatt is right - the regs diverged somewhat as the years went on, and the English scrutineers were never as, well, fastidious, as Willie Grieg. Don't know if he is still the chief scrutineer for the series now though. My last English series car had quite a number of "features" which were probably not strictly legal, including having the roll cage welded through to the front suspension, but I only raced it once before the aforementioned "change in personal circumstances" so it never really got the full Willie Grieg experience...

Just incase my last post was ambiguous though, DO IT!

I'm dreadful for overthinking stuff and not actually doing stuff but I chased KH today to get my ARDS paperwork sorted and hoping to go and see the car at the weekend.

Suzy is a wonderful woman, she didn't raise an eyebrow when I mentioned buying the car, it was her who got me the ARDS as a present. She only objected to me storing the trailer i'd have to buy on the front lawn... (I mean you wouldn't see it from the street and the lawn is more moss than lawn ).

Pete