Looking for affordable Motorsport?

Resident Columnists

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 09:22

Have you ever watched motorsport and thought you’d like to get involved by competing?

I’m guessing the answer is probably yes! But I’m also guessing there is a good chance you’ve also thought it’s too expensive?

A lot of series are introduced as affordable, you get some that offer a season of racing for £20,000 and while that’s cheap in motorsport terms, it’s still beyond many people’s reach. Even the really cheap series tend to be in the thousands of pound region for a season. But how about a series that’s just £25 to enter a round? No there’s no catch, the entry fees for each round are just £25, so a full season of 6 events will cost you just £150. Okay so obviously they aren’t the only costs but it still won’t set you back very much.

Of course even with the entry fees made you still need a car to enter in. Well, if you drive, then chances are you already own it! Yes, you can compete in your own road car that you drive around in every day. Also due to the nature of the event, no special safety gear is needed, not even a crash helmet. What is this amazingly low cost series? The answer is the Fueltopia Barrel Sprint series.

This is a new concept in motorsport that’s a cross between drag racing, drifting with some similarities to some parts of auto testing too. Drivers line up against their opponent at the start of a one hundred metre strip, along the strip are three barrels, each set thirty metres apart, these must all be circumnavigated 360 degrees, without hitting the barrel and the aim is to be fastest across the line after completing the course. The first four hours of the event are a qualifying session where you can take as many runs up the course as you like within the time limit in an attempt to be one of the sixteen fastest drivers. These sixteen then go head to head in knock out events, the fastest going through to the next round until the winner is decided in the final. Prizes are available for podium places and points are up for grabs for all participants to make their way up the championship leader board with final winners being announced at the last event at Santa Pods Flame and Thunder. There are points allocated for front wheel drive as well as rear wheel drive so having a front wheel drive car is not a disadvantage. People have competed in just about every car you can think of from basic supermini’s, through an old MG midget right up to specialist drift cars. The emphasis is on the driver more than the car so a quick driver will be able to win in anything and small cars have an advantage in size for fitting through the gaps!

Dates at Santa pod for 2012 are;
Saturday 18th February
Sunday 11th March
Saturday 21st April
Sunday 20th May
Sunday 19th August
Saturday 27th October

There is also a single track time sprint round at the Ace Cafe's and Fueltopia's InCarNation event at Brighton on Madeira Drive on Sunday 29th April.
This looks to be an ideal entry into competing in cars for people who would never normally afford it. It’s cheap, emphasises driver skill and doesn’t take up a huge amount of time. It could be the first step to something bigger or you could just compete for fun.