one week to go so time to spend some money

The first race is nearly here... 1 week from now I will be at the Friday test session at Silverstone Race Circuit ready for the races on Saturday and Sunday... I can't wait!

After all the frustration of not managing to get enough spondoliks to do a full season of racing it is just nice to know I will finally be getting in the car and can just enjoy a race.

Because I am only doing 3 races now the cost per race has risen considerably. When I was hoping to pay for everything up front for the year I had managed to get some tasty discounts, as soon as I went to a race-by-race basis all the prices went back up.

It was going to cost roughly £900 per race... it is now a fair bit more.


Costs for Silverstone:

• Race Day Car Hire: £400


• Race Car Test Day Hire: £150


• Race Fees: £330


• Insurance: £250


• Travel Costs: £100

Total for the race: £1,230



I have also had to pay for my annual fees to the BMWRDC, BARC and the MSA. This little lot have relieved me of a further £500.

Not a cheap week!!!

Full season is off - Damn it!

The last month has been a challenge! I have been trying to raise some sponsorship to help fund the season but it has all come unstuck at the last minute!

I knew from the outset that I would have to sink a lot of my own money in, but I was hoping to raise around 25-50% of the money from sponsorship.

At the start of the year it was looking positive I had a couple of loose promises, but most of these came to nothing. Then unfortunately I lost my one and only big sponsor on bloody April Fools day!

This has meant that I have had to scale back my plans considerably for 2010. The full season is totally out of the question. I have bills to pay and a family to feed so I just couldn't take the risk as there was no way I could pay for a full season myself.

I have signed up to do 3 races, if things go well I will do more.

The First race of the season took place at Brands Hatch in April. I wasn't at the race and it was hard knowing it was happening without me but I will be at Silverstone on 8th & 9th May.

Not quite the grand season I hoped for but I am still racing! .

Race #2 - Oulton Park - September 2009

After all the excitement of race one I was understandably nervous about race two. I would be starting from 3rd this time after my slightly better qualifying.

Thankfully I concentrated on the start and managed a clean get away. Unfortunately so did John Jones in the white car and he nipped in front of me at the first corner, so there I was in 4th place... again!



The two drivers in 1st and 2nd place went off in to the distance while John and I started to battle.
There were two or three points on the circuit I knew I was quicker than him but every time I had a chance to get along side in a corner he would either block me (all's fair in love and war) or I would bottle the move and drop a few car lengths behind him.

This ebb and flow went on for 7 or 8 laps but as my confidence grew so did my kahunas. I knew I was quicker on to the main straight and into the first two corners... so I planned a move.
I put myself along side him around the outside of the first corner which gave me the racing line into the big down hill left hander (the one I nearly crash on during race 1). We both flew around the corner side by side (I could have shaken his hand we were that close) and it paid off. I managed to pull a couple of car lengths on John and then it was my turn to block him... what is good for the goose is good for the gander!

Thankfully I managed to keep my place in front of him, even though I had a slight expedition across the grass on that bloody down hill left.
Unfortunately after I had bumped back on to the circuit the car started making a horrible banging sound, the knocking started getting louder and louder. I wasn't sure if I should stop or keep going, it wasn't my car after all. I also had no idea how much of the race was left.

There was no way I was going to give up a 3rd place and a spot on the podium so I just kept on going hoping that the poor car would do the same. Thankfully there was only 2 laps left so I crossed the line in third. I felt like I had won a world championship!




As I nursed the car back to our pit and was worried that the guys would be furious with me for keeping going with a damaged car. I needn't have been as they were as chuffed as me and had been listening to the car getting worse each lap and were praying I would make the finish.

After all the problems of the first race, coming third and pulling (if I do say so myself) a great overtaking manoeuvre I was hooked.





So that is the history of how I end up here desperately trying to gather enough money to do a full season which I have, maybe foolhardily, committed to doing.

From now on I will update this blog with what I am doing to get me to and through the 2010 season in the Kumho BMW Championship.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Race #1 - Oulton Park - September 2009

So there I was ready for my first ever race!

Nerves still hadn’t kicked in as we waited in the holding area to come round to the gird. Even on the warm up lap I was very relaxed... however once I was lined up on the grid spot, surrounded by other cars the reality kicked in.

Nerves actually got the better of me and I missed the start lights, so my start was rubbish and I lost three places. However this was a blessing in disguise, as even before we reached the first corner the two cars in front of me collided. If I had had a decent start it would have been a three car accident not a two car accident!

I tip-toed through the carnage and found myself back in 4th. I managed to catch up with the three cars in front with in a couple of laps and was blessed by the 3rd place car spinning in front of me.

By this point we were about two-thirds of the way through the race, I was out all on my own, 1st and 2nd were way off and I had no one behind. I was secretly very happy to be finishing my first race in 3rd place, even if it had been due to other peoples mistakes.

Then it all then went very wrong!

As I started to go round one of the long, fast corners the car started to cut out, as soon as I was straight again it burst into life... I am embarrassed to admit it but I was running out of petrol, I had forgotten to fill up!

There was then an accident which left a car stranded on the circuit and the red flag came out which means the race is being stopped. This was music to my ears. If a race is more than three-quarters run when it is stopped that is the end of the race, so the 3rd place was mine, or so I thought.

We weren't at three-quarter distance, the race would be restarted and the last laps run. So there I was sitting on the grid with no petrol and with no choice than to pull off the circuit.
I asked a marshall if I would get to rejoin the race if I went and got some petrol, he said it was unlikely but would be the decision of the race director.


So I shot to the on circuit petrol station, topped the car up, drove down to the pits and started pleading with another marshall. She spoke to the race director who said I couldn't restart.
I gave her the full sob story, my first ever race, running in 3rd etc. etc. She radioed the race director back and to her credit got me back in the race.

I never got your name, but who ever you are thank you so very much.


I had to wait in the pit lane until the race restarted and everyone had past the slip road on to the track. Because two of the class D cars had crashed and there were only six cars in the class for the first race, I would join the back of the pack but technically be in 4th place.

What I hadn't considered was that everyone else had done a warm up lap and I hadn't! My tyres were stone cold so when I reached the first proper corner, I had bugger all grip. I just managed to avoid leaving the circuit and having an accident but it was a tense moment.

Once I had regained my composure I attempted to catch up with everyone else; unfortunately this wasn’t to be. I started in 4th and finished in 4th.

I messed up the start, just avoided a big accident, the race was red flagged, I ran out of petrol and had to start from the pit lane.

I do hope they aren't all like this.

Oulton Park - 26th Sept 2009

Qualifying

The Oulton Park event was held on a Saturday only, most race weekends for this championship are held over two days. As it was a one day event I would be racing twice on a single day. That was the full extent of my knowledge of what lay ahead. So I arrived at the circuit having little idea of what the day would entail...

I soon found out that tea is the most important thing! With a warm cuppa in hand (the first of many) I was briefed on what lay ahead. I would need to get signed-on for the race & go through scrutineering. There would be two qualifying sessions in the morning one for each race. The races would be at 2pm and 5pm.



Signing on and scrutineering have one thing in common, queuing. The signing on only takes a few minutes. They check the forms, licences and membership bumpf. You hand over you MSA licence upgrade card and give them a cheque for the race fees and you're done.

You have to hand in the MSA licence upgrade card so it can be signed at the end of each race. Once you have completed 6 races (without incident!) you get to remove the big yellow cross sticker that all newbies are required to display on the back of the car. This is to warn the other competitors that this car is driven by someone with little or no experience.

Scrutineering involved queuing up with all the others cars to go down to the scrutineers bay. Once you make it in, the officials check the car over and make sure it is safe to race. They also check all the tags and labels on the racewear and helmet to make sure they all comply to current regulations... as I had only bought them the day before I was sure they would be fine.

Once out of scrutineering nothing to do but to drive the car back to the paddock and have another cup of tea!

Qualifying will be fairly familiar to anyone who has done trackdays. You are allocated a time on track and your best lap time determines your grid slot for the races later in the day. I did alright in first qualifying, posting a time of 2m 9s which put me a respectable 4th in class for race 1. I managed a slightly quicker time in second qualifying and would line up 3rd in class.


So far so good; I was happy and the team seemed happy.
Nothing to do but have a cup of tea and wait for the race.

The first test

Test Day Oulton Park - 25th September 2009.

As mentioned before, it had been a hectic journey to get to Oulton park. Because of my last minute dash to demon tweeks to get the equipment, I arrived without having given any thought to what I was about to do, so I was relaxed. I was sure a test day would be like a trackday.

Getting to drive straight into the paddock and park next to the car I knew I was driving was pretty good. At last it started to feel a bit real.

I met up with Trevor Ford, owner of the car and organiser of the championship and the rest of the team. Big thanks go to them for their help. After a quick hello it was time to see the car.

We spent 10 mins getting the seat sorted out for me and making sure I was comfortable in car.

Then it was time to get into my far too shiny race gear. I have never felt so self conscious, with all the seasoned drivers in battle-worn race suits and helmets, I stood out like a sore thumb. I was glad to get into the car and get out on to the circuit.

If you have done trackdays, a test day will be pretty familiar. Different types of cars get given different windows to get out on track. The tin tops like us don't run at the same time as the open wheel cars. However, there are some very fast cars out on track at the same time, from different championships.

The “everyone is here to have a good time” rules of trackdays go out the window. Some of the drivers are taking it very seriously and you had better be ready to have someone chop you at 100mph into a corner... it will happen and the first time it does you'll jump out of your skin.

Tim Sweet, eventual class D champion of 2009, was kind enough to let me follow him round for half a dozen laps to familiarise myself with the car and circuit. Big thanks go to him for taking time out of his own test day to babysit me.

I spent the rest of the afternoon pounding round learning the track and gaining confidence in the car. By the end of the day I felt relaxed and was sure I wouldn't make a tit of myself. The guys from BMWRDC who were looking after the car seemed happy enough with me too, which put me at ease.

It was well worth doing the test day, it gave me confidence in myself, the car, and that the race the next day would be OK.

After that there was little for it but to head back to the hotel for some grub and an early night ready for race day.

Choosing where to race and what car to drive

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!