Trying to get into a racing career - Where should I start?

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Bman
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Christhedude
I have been in professional motorsport racing since 2001, infact I am right now at the Nurburgring for this weekends first VLN race, racing the #99 Porsche GT3 Cup.

If you would like to talk about it, send a pm and ill give you a few tips, plus do's and don't in motorsport that are quit essential.

Regards

Chris
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May I ask if there's a stream?
 
I'll say it again. :P Karting.
Whether you're talking Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, or even Tony Stewart, they started their careeers with karting.

Though you may be out several grand for a competitive professional go-kart.

EDIT: Karting also teaches some stuff that may come in handy further down the road. Aaaand.. some stuff unique to karts. :O


I off-and-on do dirtbiking, though. But it's just for leisure. Don't think I could handle the pace of professional racing, going from city to city, hardly having any time of your own.
 
Sohvakettu
Not every pro driver is from a millionaire family so no, not really true. :p
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Maybe 15 years ago not so much, however karting then was completely different to today, 15 years ago the engines were 100cc aircooled and you could rebuild them yourself, now they are 125cc watercooled and have to be rebuilt buy an official engine sealer who charges and arm and a leg. Also higher level karting then adds more regulations to stop cheating all of which cost more money (in the uk for super 1 national series you have to have a unipro data logger (£350) a go pro camera mounted on the kart (£200) along with using their fuel and tyres which cost more than they do on the normal open market.

People have told me to be competitive at club events karting you have to spend £500 a day, this is untrue however lots of people spend that amount of money with hireing engines from tuners for many thousands, new tyres every meeting, new chassis every 3. It gets pretty crazy at national level, and if you want to get noticed you will have to go to international races and they are even worse for your wallet.
 
Sohvakettu
Not every pro driver is from a millionaire family so no, not really true. :p
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But you still need money, whether it comes from sponsorship, your hard earned money or maxing out your credit cards you need money! Lots of it if you want to make it into the big leagues!
 
It's all ride buying today. It sucks. I hate pay drivers because they usually aren't worth a 🤬. Look in F1, a lot of Bose guys driving for Williams and Marussia are pay drivers and by suck. Hey were jus brought up with money their whole careers.
 
^No one in F1 is what I'd call a true pay driver these days, all of them are there on merit, on actual talent. Obviously some have got seats with money...but its impossible to get any race seat in any motorsport without paying for it unless you are a WDC effectively.
A "pay driver" used to simply mean someone who was hired only for the money despite clearly lacking talent. But these days there are people that bring both money and some reasonable talent. So to write them off as "only being there because of their money" is not true at all.
Take Williams as an example, if they just wanted only money, they could have hired Rodolfo Gonzalez or Ricardo Teixeira - drivers which have money behind them but very little talent. Fortunately they can hire a GP2 champion and a GP2 runner-up who bring money to accompany the talent.

I don't agree that its something particular to "today" - motorsport has always been expensive and has always required money to compete. Ayrton Senna wasn't exactly a poor kid.....
 
Maldonaldo is a pay driver and he isn't good. It even happens to me in karting. Kids come in with 12 karts in the trailer with 3 or 4 mechanics per kart, and I'm faster than them with just me and my dad wrenching.
 
nitrorocks
Maldonaldo is a pay driver and he isn't good.
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He isn't good compared to what? To Vettel, Alonso, or Hamilton? That's basically saying that if you aren't quite on par with the top one percent, you suck. F1 drivers typically represent some of the most talented drivers on Earth, so even a relatively poor driver can still be awesome compared to drivers from motorsports in general, and that of course requires keeping in mind that most of the world's motorsports are at lower levels. In GP2, Maldonado had a respectable track record including winning the 2010 GP2 drivers championship. It's just that in F1 he 1) drives for a team that has been struggling lately and 2) has stiff competition. Maldonado could probably walk away from F1 today and pick up a career in another series and do just fine.
 
IceMan PJN
He isn't good compared to what? To Vettel, Alonso, or Hamilton? That's basically saying that if you aren't quite on par with the top one percent, you suck. F1 drivers typically represent some of the most talented drivers on Earth, so even a relatively poor driver can still be awesome compared to drivers from motorsports in general, and that of course requires keeping in mind that most of the world's motorsports are at lower levels. In GP2, Maldonado had a respectable track record including winning the 2010 GP2 drivers championship. It's just that in F1 he 1) drives for a team that has been struggling lately and 2) has stiff competition. Maldonado could probably walk away from F1 today and pick up a career in another series and do just fine.
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I give him credit for going to F1 yes, but I know he won't be very good. My hope for him, and for any driver is to do good, but some people just arent good when they get to the top sadly.
 

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