SE entry in LoTRDC Elise Trophy

Post by **campbell** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:07 am

Neil,

Don't lose heart. My advice would be, spend the minimum you need to make the car SAFE and preferably reliable (!) and get on into the series and ENJOY YOURSELF.

It takes a long time to get really really good at most things, so if you do enjoy the experience from the point of view of time commitment, mental prep, the odd nice move on track against less able drivers etc etc, then you may find yourself in a position to move up the expenditure ranks for a future season. The better you get, the more sponsorship you may attract...or so the story goes I believe.

But even if you don't, this is your one opportunity to do something that many of us dream about, some of us talk about, but very very few of us actually DO anything about. Seize the day, and have a ball.

You will carry a great fan club who will at least buy your beers and dinner - if you finish a race that is, they'll be gone before you crawl into the pits on the lowloader otherwise

Only kidding, we truly had a lot of fun following Rossy around a few years back and I think there is an even bigger group of supporters available to you now. At last, we again have reasons to go and stand on the edge of windy tracks in Englandshire and not just KH

I'll chip away at some sponsorship routes for you as discussed earlier today, and who knows what you might land up with.

Keep the faith.

Campbell

Post by **campbell** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:15 am

And here is the original TSE Croft report from June 2004...

Just back from the TSE Croft DoubleHeader racing & camping weekend.

Phew, what a laugh!

Pics and race reports will appear at http://www.team-scottish-elises.co.uk/, and if you want the full stories and early updates then be sure to sign up to the free non-spam newsletter. It's really rather good.

Anyways, legged it away from work on Friday night and had a fine run down to Witton Castle campsite via A703, A72, A6088 and A68. The 6088 remains a belter, from Hawick to Carter Bar via Bonchester Bridge. Drive it today.

Arrived at Witton Castle to find a few of the crew already established.
Cracked open the tinnies, wine and disposable BBQs, and marvelled at wall to wall burberry and the local cruise neds =8-o

Race day dawned sunny then clouded over, spent most of it feeling a bit off colour, not hangover related I am certain, but enjoyed the action
nevertheless. Shug however was certainly the worse for wear and slept most of the day. Been there done that though. Poor soul suffered some kind of involuntary reflux incident and decided to head back home on Saturday night. Hope you are on the mend, mate! Lawrence brought the new TSE bus (aka pretty blue Landy Discovery) with Robin and Cameron on board, so we had a great posse to support our very own James Hunt through the day. Thanks also to Jonathan and Elaine for popping in en route to London.

See the TSE site for Ross' exploits.

Saturday night was more subdued (on our part at least). Ross kindly offered me a drive of his Se7en from Croft back to Witton Castle, and Paul and I cunningly devised a backroad route to help try it out

What a machine. Anyways, a quieter and more civilised evening ensued - at least, after we'd been to the campsites's "redneck bar from hell" and collected our "Fosters lager crate sized" pizzas ! Abed by midnight, sadly the Geordie and local neds had other plans and fighting, donuts and visits from local fuzz continued into the wee small hours. All quiet by morning and the place looked no worse than Baghdad did a few months ago so that's a bonus I guess.

Lots of attention from a bunch of jovial youngsters before we departed on
Sunday morning (again see pics on TSE site once uploaded). Then off to the circuit for 12 noon via too many wrong-turns to mention (hey, I'd packed my map away, what can I say). Blagged in all five cars for free, got Rossy Boy settled for his race and returned to the TSE vantage point between Sunny and the hairpin.

Suffice to say the boy dun good.

Watched a further Legends race (highly recommended) then packed up and headed for home via A1 to Newcastle, A696 past Newcy Airport to A68, then on to Carter Bar and retraced our steps along A6088 etc. This is a fast and enjoyable route to/from Croft, highly recommended.

Roll on the 18 July - TSE returns to Knockhill. Why not come along and join in the fun of our very own racing team

Sadly I think the TSE website has had some redesign and archiving so race reports and pics are no longer there, but you get the idea. We also did something similar - but more luxurious - with a meet at Brands Hatch a couple of years back, and we'd never have bothered to head down there if it wasn't for TSE. Get on board folks.

Campbell

mac · Post by **mac** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:06 am

mckeann wrote:2K to get on the grid and have a good race with people like Kell and Jez (who i used to have a play with on trackdays. 7K upto an obscene amount of money to be competitive against the few proper race cars who fit the rules perfectly.

That's motorsport for you though. Short of "closed" series races (which can still require a fair investment in sealed engines) then you will always find this. You can either be a Ron Dennis or a Tom Walkinshaw.

So, either you find a the cash to fund a huge racing budget (and you'll be looking at closer to 12k in reallity (if they see you spending 8k then they will up their spend accordingly) and go looking for the wins

OR

You spend what you need to spend, get the car on the grid and go racing for the love of it.

Remember that this is your rookie year and at this late stage it doesn't look like you'll be competing in the full season so silverware isn't on the cards. Personally - I'd do the cheap and cheerful then in the closed season if your still wanting to race use the results etc to track down some proper sponsorship.

I know the latter isn't what you want to hear/read.

2p

Mac

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:12 am

campbell wrote:And here is the original TSE Croft report from June 2004...

Shug however was certainly the worse for wear and slept most of the day. Been there done that though.

Nice to see some things never change

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:35 am

mckeann wrote:not looking for charity here, although i have aproached a few people/companies about sponsorship.

Thing is, the original regs for my car stated 220bhp and 775kg in class B. Regs changed to allow the high power NA's in class C to drop into class B, and the limits changed to 250bhp max, and 715kg.

So either i prep the car and go race for the fun of it, and hopefully take a few scalps, or i go full hog and spend 7K minimum to get competitive.

I would be really wary of the rules changing for future years. Car clubs / MSA have a habit of moving the goal posts (so to speak). I know of a few folk who have spent fortunes keeping up with the rule book. IMHO. Go enjoy, & see what you can do with the car as it is, before making any radical / expensive choices.

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:08 am

Now do you want to race OR do you want to race an elise

If you want to race something then go look at the cateringvans as the graduates are reasonably cheap to get into and a pretty level playing field. Also they are a good bunch as i have encountered them a few times both through rossini and when they have been up to knockhill. There is the academy but that is always over subscribed and because you have buy a brand new 7 a bit pricey to enter but still going to cost you in the long run less then 7k needed to get competitive and the extra for race fees etc.

If you haven't driven then 7 then come to the alfa trackday and you can have a shot in the banana which is close in spec to a megagrad and damn near identical to a roadsportA

Other options would be to enter the elise into scottish sports and saloons at knockhill but they move the goal posts so often they have rollerskates on the bottom. There is also the legends who are nuts totally nuts or the XR2s.

As to the elise series i have a feeling they might turn into cheque book racing and sadly unless you have a big wedge or first class sponsorship you ain't going to be competitive

Also have you talked to Malcolm (greyrigg) as he has been racing for years.

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:36 am

thinfourth wrote:Now do you want to race OR do you want to race an elise

If you want to race something then go look at the cateringvans as the graduates are reasonably cheap to get into and a pretty level playing field. Also they are a good bunch as i have encountered them a few times both through rossini and when they have been up to knockhill. There is the academy but that is always over subscribed and because you have buy a brand new 7 a bit pricey to enter but still going to cost you in the long run less then 7k needed to get competitive and the extra for race fees etc.

If you haven't driven then 7 then come to the alfa trackday and you can have a shot in the banana which is close in spec to a megagrad and damn near identical to a roadsportA

Other options would be to enter the elise into scottish sports and saloons at knockhill but they move the goal posts so often they have rollerskates on the bottom. There is also the legends who are nuts totally nuts or the XR2s.

As to the elise series i have a feeling they might turn into cheque book racing and sadly unless you have a big wedge or first class sponsorship you ain't going to be competitive

Also have you talked to Malcolm (greyrigg) as he has been racing for years.

Well said!

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:45 am

Spare bed and floor space here

(Just need to persuade SWMBO to allow it....

)

Uldis · Post by **Uldis** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:38 am

Iâ€™m on a similar situation: I too want to race but donâ€™t have the money.
To make matters worse, Iâ€™m in the limbo, as want to start modding my car but havenâ€™t finished the garage and frankly am not pushing hard enough to finish it (kind of lost my drive). Electricity is on as of yesterday at least.

But in my case I reckon Iâ€™d need about 4K â€œonlyâ€

Post by ed » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:40 am

Nice one Uldis,

Would be great to have two SE on the grid!
I take it you would be in class B?!

Scotty C · Post by **Scotty C** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:13 am

Neil

I think most of us had the money we would have been on the grid last weekend.

I would go with mac on this one. Do what you have to get the car on the grid, I am sure you will love it and be competative.

Scotty C

Uldis · Post by **Uldis** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:39 am

ed wrote:Nice one Uldis,

Would be great to have two SE on the grid!
I take it you would be in class B?!

Even better, two SE's with opposing views!

Yes, class B, but wouldn't want to put the so much money on the car (like 4 pot brakes and other top end bits).
The 4K would just be to do simple thing like gearbox work, rollcage, plumbed in fire extinguisher, electrical cut off, MOG seat, and some lother bits and bobs.

Now, Neil has been speaking with some sponsors, I haven't, so yes, I'll be looking for help

Gareth · Post by **Gareth** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:47 am

Scotty C wrote:Neil

I think most of us had the money we would have been on the grid last weekend.

I would go with mac on this one. Do what you have to get the car on the grid, I am sure you will love it and be competative.

Scotty C

That's how I see it. If I had the spare cash that's where I would be.
I also think getting the car prep'd to just get on the grid would be great but how long would it take to pi55 you off that you were not competitive? No one likes to loose and I guess it will be the same for you. Winning numbs the pain of the expense.

Post by **campbell** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:04 am

Gareth wrote: I also think getting the car prep'd to just get on the grid would be great but how long would it take to pi55 you off that you were not competitive? No one likes to loose and I guess it will be the same for you. Winning numbs the pain of the expense.

Even Fernando Alonso had to start somewhere, and he didn't win much initially. Then in time he got competitive, and the rest, as they say, is history...

One step at a time can numb the pain too

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:15 am

campbell wrote: One step at a time can numb the pain too

100% agree Campbell!

Also if you impress sponsorship may find you in the future. Worst case you'll learn loads, and have a great time. I'm sure there will be a fair amount of comradary in the pits which may also help you learn where to shave a few pounds of the Elise.

If you want to go on a driver weight reduction programme, i can help with that (PM).

And if you want a copy of Toca 3 to learn the tracks PM.

Andy