Paying a Driver

[zefarelly]

good question, the mortgage company and the bank manager keep me on my toes !

[Redneck Rocket]

Originally Posted by Robin_D

I'm looking to get into Historics. I'm 22 and finding the right car for a tight budget is hard. I've never had the chance to seriously compete in karting or single seaters and I know I wouldnt be able to make a career from it.
I wish I had the background to be able to get a decent historic to race myself but I don't. I would be happy just taking someone's pride and joy out and hand it back to them in one piece.

27 myself and trying to get my MkIV Spitfire race ready. I've been fortunate enough to get a lot of free/cheap parts because of my job, but I've come to the conclusion that buying an already built car is the cheapest option. MGBs seem to be plentiful? I agree with you though - just the chance to have a go in some of these cars would be a dream come true. I had the good fortune of meeting Jackie Stewart and asking him about the subject and he was of the opinion that if you can get out there and show that you are a responsible, sympathetic driver and a genuine enthusiast that opportunities will present themselves. Its getting over that first hurdle of getting your own car going that is the tough part (especially when you have to build it in the street!)

[terence]

They are extremely good at though,I personally think THOSE sort of people should be made to give it all back!. Banker,s especially.

[GBRM]

Originally Posted by Redneck Rocket

I've come to the conclusion that buying an already built car is the cheapest option.

That depends really, if you can do the work yourslf then definitely cheaper to build it yourself, you can manage your budget and not have to splash out everything straight away plus it depends what sort of car you want, I couldn't have bought a Droop Snoot Vauxhall Firenza anywhere, trust me, I tried!! If you want an MGB you could do one cheap as there are so many 2nd hand bits out there and when it comes to the safety/race stuff for an MGB someone has done all the hard work and mass produced them for you already.

Originally Posted by Redneck Rocket

I had the good fortune of meeting Jackie Stewart and asking him about the subject and he was of the opinion that if you can get out there and show that you are a responsible, sympathetic driver and a genuine enthusiast that opportunities will present themselves. Its getting over that first hurdle of getting your own car going that is the tough part (especially when you have to build it in the street!)

I hope that's true, race opportuniteis haven't presented themselves yet but then I'm still learning so best do it in my own equipment first really!!
Building your own car certainly is a huge hurdle and I wouldn;t recommend doing it on the street, luckily I've managed with a cheap workshop, maybe that was an opportunity presenting itself??

Don' get dis-heartened though, if I can do it with a bit of pointing in the right direction then anyone can!!

[zefarelly]

Likewise I built my own car, very satisfying.

I started with a single lock up, moved house, built a workshop, bought 3 cars before I got one good enough to race, so its been a long winded process

BEfore I did that I spannered for a few people for a few years, learnt a lot and saved my self more hassle/embarassment before I actually did my first race.

what historic motorsport needs is a hark back a few years so we have more owner/prepper/drivers out there, it promotes safer more respectful racing for a start, and no less competitive!

[davyboy]

Back on topic here... how much are these people getting paid to race the cars... and under what conditions ?

I had a long chat with David Leslie a couple of years ago and he told me that he was getting paid to do most of his racing - Britcar and some historic Group C I think at the time. It surprised me at the time because I didn't realize people at that level were paying drivers to pedal the cars... but they were.

[Al Weyman]

what historic motorsport needs is a hark back a few years so we have more owner/prepper/drivers out there, it promotes safer more respectful racing for a start, and no less competitive!

I consider myself a respectful (to other people) and syphathetic (to my cars) driver so much so that I had the choice of T-boneing a beautiful CSL BMW that lost it in front of me last time out at Silverstone or throwing my car into the litter never to get out again and that was on the first ruddy lap. Now back to Zef's point, and I totaly agree because one of the reasons I will hold back in a situation like that is and take massive evasive action to avoid a ding because apart from wrecking a beautiful BMW I would have had a whole lot of work to do myself on my car and believe me that makes you very sympathetic especially when you have wrecked one or two. I lent a mate an engine once because he had hired a drive to someone and was having problems, as the dick left the pits fr the warm up it threw a belt, did he stop, no way just drove it till it cried enough and even split the block. When I asked hm did he not look at the temp guage he replied I was too busy driving for any of that, pratt. And did I get a rebuilt engine, oh no , just a relined block and a pile of old bits, never again.

[zefarelly]

thats why I'm aiming high for my co driver . . .and If I get offered a numbskull I'll stay at home! . . . .








possibly

[rogerwills]

As you can tell from my earlier post, I've never paid a driver to share my cars. I did my licence at the 5 day race school at Silverstone several years ago and Joe Twyman was one of the young kids on the course. Most were ASBO qualified and out to prove they were the next up and coming star but Joe was mature, smart and a nice kid - and quick as well. I have shared my Elva with him (in the 3 hour at Snetterton and at Brands) and he was kind on the car, quick and good value. He will share the Corvette at Spa in the 6 hour as well.

I'm also a bit worried about who will share the car at Goodwood Zef. Hope I get someone with their head together! When do we find out?

[john ruston]

Do not confuse Group C with us normal Historic racers .They actualy Think its real with their Large Transporters and Motorhomes etc.Thats why there are paid drivers and unusual ideas.Its really twenty years old stuff and they are as daft as the rest of us .They are doing the Le Mans support race next year so all you drivers who want paying start crawling now!

[terence]

No Chance.

[terence]

The Drive and a couple of beers would suffice,the whole point of the thread.