Some new guy questions

You know, karting is a great option, come to think of it. My dad has started it recently and I'm surprised by how much cheaper those little things are. He keeps trying to get me into it, and the more I work on my car, the more tempting it is!!

I also second the whole "Go to the track and volunteer" thing. Since I've started racing, I've learned more by volunteering than I have on track.

Don't let us "old guys" scare you away. We just want to make sure that, when you do get into it, you can do it comfortably and enjoy it.
 
Actually at your age Karting would be the best way to tune your skills...I dont know about cheaper though...Last year I bought a CRG Rotax Kart and did a few races and I had about 6 grand into it...the young 'uns had at least that plus...but at your age you may get more recognition and possible sponsorship if you end up being fast...people are looking for drivers of your age now more than any of us old folks...just a thought.
 
well you dont have to get into Karting at that cost. I know others who got in with full gear for about 4 total. It is a good way to start out and get some driving skill. Otherwise, like others said, at your age and unless you have lots of money in the bank, worry about school, college and career before you go full on racing. Start with PDE events, something you can do with a street car to hone yoru driving skills.
 
yes but I found the entry fees to be close to regionals and tires/sprockets/axles/steering columns etc to be about the same cost per weekend as a regional when you spread it out over time...the best deal i ever had was my ITB GTI (Rabbit) I bought for 2500 at the ARRC in 99. I just raced the wheels off of it and the replacement/maintenance costs were minimal...Toyos last almost indefinitely on that car!! I reccomend hondas for their competitiveness out of the box as a street car but a well used Rabbit GTI someone already did the hard things to would be a great option for a new racer too. And they seem to still do well in regionals
 
Here's another idea...
You could do what I did to help you along the way. While in college I went to work for local racer, Leitzinger Racing. Learned more in 2 years of IMSA racing that I would have in a decade at SCCA races. I swept floors, cleaned transporters and worked my way up to fabricating, machinist and regular tire guy/fueler on the road. I even got be Butch's "crewchief" during test days with his IMSA Int'l sedan (like World Challenge).

... anyway the point is that there are plenty of race teams around that can always use cheap help. You can usually use the shop resources after hours to cheaply build your car and you may even get the other crew guys interested in your project. We had guys in the shop who built cages in their sleep and could port heads with their eyes closed :D It doesn't matter what kind of racing team it is either... a circle track team can teach you as much as a road race team. And they all have great shop resources.

I will agree strongly with one thing... don't be tempted to build a car on a credit card. I did this once a long time ago and it was dumb. I was fortunate that I was able to dig out by renting the car in enduros but I've seen others do this and crash the car in the first season.... bad bad idea.
 
You've received, what I consider to be lots of great advice!

This next part isn't going to be too popular on this site but here it goes anyway. Don't get involved in IT racing if you have any desire to do this for a living. Yes, once in a while someone makes it, but once in a while a man bites a dog. IT is a GREAT place for hobbyists who love the sport and the competition, but should not be part of your game plan.

Get in a KART to get good seat time and racing lessons...cheap(er). Unless the shifter classes are still big up there, don't do it. Yes they are fast and sexy but you need to race in a class where you can afford to have great equipment and the field/tallent pool is deep. The TaG classes are almost as fast. I have a buddy with a 2005 Margay Rotax, it is a lot of kart and it is probably too much $$$ and kart for a novice. If you are not sure the kart thing is the route for you go to a karting school such as JHR and try it first. If you think it is too slow, you have only 'wasted' less than $500. If you come away thinking I could do this you will be miles ahead.

While you are karting and going to school, volunteer at a shop somewhere. The experience you gain will be very valuable!
 
Geez so much new advice! :023:


The more you talk about karts the more I think I should look into it. That would be pretty fine because my dad also wants to get into karts. I've heard of the Rotax carts or w/e they are and the shifter karts, but I'm not sure which would be better. There's a local kart club around here, so I'll have to check them out for info. I'd like to find a race shop to volunteer at around here like you guys were saying, but I don't really know of any. Maybe I'll just have to open up the phone book and get off my ass? :o
 
Pops would support the karting and would also like to get involved?!?!?!

What in the heck are you waiting for? Wish I didn't wait until I was 21 to start racing....

You and Pops go check out a kart race. While there talk to a couple of kart shop owners. Ask if you can help out with menial tasksat the shop after school, on race weekends, test days for a break on parts/tires/labor and get your butt out there.
 
I don’t think that Raymond is so far off with his estimate of a car that could win with a good driver with some experience. Maybe not for $5,000 but $8,000 yes – I’d take that bet any day. Do choose your car carefully because no matter how good you are, you are not going to win ITS with a Yugo.

Ryan, racing does take a lot of work and time. When you’re pushing an older car to its limits and sometimes beyond, stuff happens. It isn’t a matter of if something will brake but when. The good news is it is your racecar and you don’t need to fix it to get to work/school for the next day. This comes up quite often – “You really do have to put a value on time.” Well, that’s true up to a point. Like I said, racing will consume a good amount of time working on the car as well as yourself. But at the same point, what hobby doesn’t? I used to be really into basketball in part because it is cheap. That is until you consider the hours I used to spend practicing free throws and other various shots. I also used to read books on basketball and watched games on t.v. to learn as much as I could. Based on some people’s beliefs, basketball would have been a very expensive sport for me. Yeah, I get the general idea of what they’re saying but hopefully you’d be spending your time on the racing hobby because you enjoy it.

With the Rabbit, bring the car to some high performance driving events. Spending money on yourself will reduce your lap times then spending it on the car. Take you time finding a racecar. The best finds are often ones you hear about from talking to people at the track. Many times these cars are not even advertised.

My advice is don’t wait too long before you start getting involved. Even if that simply means doing a couple of autocrosses, two HPDEs the first year, and attending as many races as you can. Take advantage of the carting opportunity! You’re crazy if you don’t esp. with your father being interested. I used to have a go cart and raced it around the woods in my parents back yard with some friends. We had friendly competition on who could get the best lap times. That was a blast!
 
Ryan,

There's a lot of good advice on here and I'm probably echoing what most folks have said. I got into the racing world like Bill (Bildon), I went to college in Daytona Beach and there were 2 race shops right near where I lived. They both moved into their building about my sophmore year. 1 build VWs for IT racing and the other was a Grand-Am team. I used to stop in and bull shit with Stu and buy parts for my Scirocco that was set-up for Auto-X and I was trying to resurect. I quickly learned any Racing is Expensive! I eventually went to work for Stu Full Time after I graduated college and couldn't find a real job, I also got to know Troy and the guys over at Flis (Grand-Am spirit of daytona) pretty well too. I learned A LOT about racing, and eventually was doing just about everything in the shop except for Suspension Set-ups (Geoff Thompson the master) and Building the Motors (all Stu) I did dissassmble clean, a lot of them though.

Through hard work and enthusiasm I eventually got some seat time behind the wheel of one of the Miatas which was awesome. I was able to use the shop to do any work on my car (VW at the time) and got parts for cost. This was a nice help. I realized though that car racing was expensive and even if I found a tired old IT car on eBay or here, it might be a headache chasing down problems etc, and building one would probably be between 6-$8,000 (now that doing everything myself and getting good deals etc). Now I couldn't even afford a Kart on the salary I was paid there. But I now work for Lockheed Martin and bought my self a Kart. My Kart is an HPV 100cc on a BRM Chassis. This is a great class to get started in, KT100 is also really popular and cheap. The HPV motor is more powerful, and goes longer between rebuilds than the KT100. Rotax or Tag classes are expensive and not generally a beginners class. And a competitive shifter Kart is going to cost you as much as an ITC car if not more (Price of the Kart, and running it). Check out a website called http://www.ekartingnews.com/ it's about the best place to get info on Karting.

I also have a Miata that's set up to run Auto-X and track days, but isn't a full on dedicated Road Racing car. I picked it up for $2950 with KONI Yellows, RB Sway Bars, BBS wheels, SoloII rated Roll Bar and a Hard top. Lapping days are more fun than an Auto-X, and a lot cheaper than IT. Track Days and Karting also don't have nearly as high of an entry fee as a Club race weekend.
 
Yeah I ended up gettin that Rabbit and autocrossed it the weekend after I got it. Right now it's a little rough though. The motor's running on 60 PSI of compression on two cylinders and 40 in the other two. Managed to get it on 3 wheels a few times according to my dad watching. That was my goal for the day because the kid I got it from said it couldn't be done. Anyways I'm looking for a motor for it now, and I might have one lined up. After that I'm thinking about some new wheels/tires, suspension mods, exhaust, and maybe stripping some of it out. I'll probably use it for autocross and track days (if I can find any..) The only place I know of that does track days is Pacific Raceways I think, but to be honest I haven't looked much. I think you need to be 18 anyways.

I haven't even thought about the karting lately. Right now it's probably not really worth it to mention it because I know we couldn't afford one now. And besides, if we had enough money to buy a kart, I'd rather that money goes into the car. :023: I go to Traxx in Mukilteo and race quite a bit though. Fun stuff and relatively cheap. Other than that, racing games keep me occupied.
 
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