There was actually a pretty good convo on our facebook page discussing regional Rotax and cars (modified) Miata. But alas… those insights will disappear into facebook oblivion 
I just did the two day intro school. Didn’t sign up for series. Plenty of track time in the school, however. Basically brief class in am and rest is behind wheel.
1 Like
How did you enjoy the cars?
I really did enjoy them a lot. Couple caveats: at the time the sum total of my driving experience was 2 sessions at the porsche school in AL. Which is lovely, but not a racing school. It’s more a bunch of old guys getting to drive nice Porsches around a race track in a safe and supervised atmosphere. N00b quotient: 100%. The staff are fantastic - all real racecar drivers (Pippa Mann was instructor for example).
Lucas is more like our kart race weekends. Nothing fancy, just lots of laps, feedback etc. great instructors as well, all racecar drivers. It’s just more “real” and doesn’t focus on being pretty and fancy.
The cars themselves were, for me, perfect. Low power, no aero, street tires, but around 1k lbs. in short, they took the grip out so you don’t get in over your head.
At the time I hadn’t started karting yet so I was extremely n00bish, so the cars were perfect for my lack of skill. But there were folks there that raced cars and they seemed happy too.
End of big straight I was doing 115 to the 125 of the guy who raced SCCA regularly. So not super fast, but fast enough.
1 Like
So @SupremeTaco, how did this turn out for you?
Did you find a kart for this season and what decisions did you end up making?
1 Like
Also @SupremeTaco if you need any help I currently go to school in Indianapolis so if you’re ever out at New Castle and I can come by and help you out at practice or raceday. Ohio is a couple hours away so that’d be a little more difficult but I know someone who races Yamaha and 206 that lives out there.
1 Like
I see that this is an old thread but I just had a couple questions regarding your posts.
IF you do quite a bit of karting and do well at regional and national races and try to move into F4 or USF2000 do you basically just have to hand the teams a check for a couple hundred thousand dollars to run for a season or even a couple races? How rare is it that you test with a team and get a seat for a race weekend so they can see you drive?
Spending $200,000 outright for a year of racing for a normal person with no sponsorship is damn near impossible.
I think one way is saloon cars. Gentlemen racers looking for hot shoes for their team.
1 Like
It’s uncommon for a team to just give you a free test. It’s going to cost you money basically any time you get into a car. It doesn’t have to be a 6-figure check out of the gate, plenty of teams will let you do a one-off weekend if they have a spot and you have the money.
The “teams scouting talent and putting them in cars based on skill” days are long gone.
3 Likes
Pretty rare. It’s about who you know and how much money you have.
This is true. I know of one NASCAR Truck team that helped a driver do a race for only $6000. It was a very minimalist run of course, used tires etc. But nonetheless on the scheme of things he got some seat time in the truck series for a low price.
It pays to be connected.
If you are offered a test, you need to be very clear on what your financial burden for the test is. Including any “What If” like crash damage.
One of the guys I raced against in the rentals was offered a test. He was shocked by the bill afterward. My questions are who jumps in a car without knowing what the deal is. The other funny thing about the situation is why did the car owner let him get into the car without getting the money up front.
2 Likes