After getting my race licence it was time to choose an event. The best place to start is the Motor Sport Association, they have a full list of clubs in a directory on the website.
There are loads of club championship in the UK, so picking the right one can be daunting. After lots and lots of looking around I narrowed it down to 3 championships; the Porsche 924 Championship run by the Porsche Racing Drivers Club, the Hot Hatch Championship run by the 750 Motor Club and of course The Kumho BMW Championship run by BMWRDC and BARC
I chose the BMWRDC event because they had a car available to rent for a single race weekend. I had found cars to buy for the other two events, a race prepared 924 would have been £5-£7,000 and I found a Ford Fiesta XR2 for the Hot Hatch Championship for just £3,000.
The BMWRDC club car was available to rent for just £400 for the race weekend and £150 for the test day. As costs had gone well past the original budget this was the best option.
The BMWRDC club car is a Class D spec BMW 318is. This is a fairly new class and was set up to be a cost effective way of entering the championship. The rules are very rigid which helps keep cost under control.
So after a chat with Trevor Ford (trevorgeorgeford@hotmail.com) at the BMWRDC I confirmed my use of the car and signed up for the next event. The race would be in 3 weeks time at Oulton Park.
If you have read my previous posts you will be able to guess what happens next... yes it is time to pay out some more money.
I had to register with the BMWRDC: cost £225. I had to register with BARC: cost £110. I had to pay the race entry fees £290.
I also thought it would be good to do the test day on the Friday before the race for a bit of familiarisation. So £160 for a 1/2 day test, £150 to rent the car for the test day and a further £400 to rent the car for race day.
So total costs including ARDS test and race gear had reached a frankly scary £2,800... and at that point I still had sat in the car.
Next, the race... finally!
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