Fed up of virtual motorsport, always wanted to go racing for real?
Well look no further than Sprinting & Hillclimbing one of the cheapest forms of motorsport in the UK & abroad.

Competitors compete against the clock on a closed course. Shelsely Walsh being one of the most famous venues. With machinery ranging from classic mini's to hybrid single seaters that could out run F1 cars, there is a class for everyone.

How can i get involved? i hear you ask. Well i have the answer right here. The car i competed in last season is up for hire for an event or you could buy it off me & run the whole season. Contact me for more details.

http://www.simonlewis.com/imag ... idge-Shelsley-July-92.jpg
http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/1462701.htm

Motorcycle racing is probably cheaper.

Not when they have to put your body back together again.

Joking of course, but the requirement for a substantial ball collection probrably puts a lot of people off racing on two wheels.

I have been tempted by looking into hillclimbs and sprints, but it seems rather expensive (well compared to road rallies, autosolos, PCTs and short circuit racing at least ).

What's the actual cost to get started? There's the cost of an MSA helmet and suit (currently I've got perfectly good ones but they're out of date) and a non-race license plus what are the entry fees like?

With Shelsley 20 minutes away and Prescott about 40 and some sprints organised by the OMC it does begin to sound tempting. The MSA does seem to create unintentional barriers to true low cost motorsport by not using common sense when it comes to the safety bits.

I'm interested in taking my car endurance rallying but for that I need harnesses and an extinguisher. I've got all of them to the correct spec in my car already, they're just all out of date, which really is a silly marketing con. I know the complete history of the harnesses and they've never been in an accident, so despite their age (7 years old) they're in far better a state than a lot of harnesses that are in date that get taken out of cars from significant accidents and reused. The extinguisher could be perfecty good, it just hasn't been sent off each year to get a sticker put on it, therefore I need to buy another one...

Looking at it that's going to be around £300 to replace and in no way give any safety advantage over the exsisting equipment in an old road car with only a rear rollcage, the purchase price of my car! That money could be better spent on a pair of bucket seats and upgrading to a full cage, which would make the car a lot safer.

i say recreational go-karting

opinions...

Quote from blakehoo88 :

i say recreational go-karting

opinions...

True competitive karting on any level is more expensive than budget level motorsport with cars. Arrive and drive soon gets dull and boring, competition of any sort makes motorsport so exciting.

Quote from ajp71 :

True competitive karting on any level is more expensive than budget level motorsport with cars. Arrive and drive soon gets dull and boring, competition of any sort makes motorsport so exciting.

i guess over there it's different cuz in the league i race in the summer there are about 7 out of 9 competitive guys in my race. But yeah as you move up the ranks in karting the faster the cost rises

Quote from 5haz :

Not when they have to put your body back together again.

Hehehehe well it's free for that on the NHS.

Sprints and Hillclimbs are great - cheaper licence, cheaper entry fees and fewer modifications to cars (unless you want to).

The downside is that "against the clock" runs can get boring (they did for me - I NEEDED to be racing cars), and the cost per minute is quite high as the runs are only short. For my entry fee in racing, £300 gets me about an hours track time. A sprint gives about 5 - 8 minutes run time in total (varies of course). European hillclimbs are often very long compared to the classical British hillclimb.

But I'd certainly recommend anyone who wants to get into motorsport at the club level to consider sprints or hillclimbs as their way into the sport.

I've always fancied a go at hillclimbing but like Tristan said I think after a while I'd get the urge to be racing bumper-to-bumper with 29 other cars again.

With regards to track time, the best we've had in the MR2s was a weekend at Pembrey. For the entry fee of £300 we got 1x20min practice, 1x20min qualifying and 3x20min races which was an awful lot of driving for the money.

i remember this season whe where 15 pepole within 1 sec

Quote from ajp71 :

What's the actual cost to get started? There's the cost of an MSA helmet and suit (currently I've got perfectly good ones but they're out of date) and a non-race license plus what are the entry fees like?

Entry fees range from £70 up to £110
Once you have your suit, helmet & licence your good to go.
Prescott is one of my local hills & i agree with you about the MSA rule changes its crippling the sport & they dont even know it. The go racing pack for a start is silly money just for an application form.
Its even more frustrating when there is nothing wrong the equipment you already have & you are forced to purchase newer spec stuff.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Sprints and Hillclimbs are great - cheaper licence, cheaper entry fees and fewer modifications to cars (unless you want to).
The downside is that "against the clock" runs can get boring

I agree Tristan & i am in that exact same boat wanting to race but only being able to afford to sprint. Also the boredom factor of racing up the same strip of tarmac over & over can sometimes take the edge off things. The best remedy for this is a faster car & then when you have mastered that, an even faster one & so on.

Quote from Minimaxman :

I've always fancied a go at hillclimbing but like Tristan said I think after a while I'd get the urge to be racing bumper-to-bumper with 29 other cars again.

As it happens ive always fancied a go @ MR2 racing, fancy a trade? Obviously it will require a bit more financial outlay on my side. Either way you could run your MR2 @ a hillclimb no probs. Tell you what, I challenge you a shared drive.

I Cant wait to do my first hill climb.

Hopefully i can enter one this year.
Enter my little Saxo in it.