ARDS test and Racing

[dj choc ice]

Hello,

Ive finally taken the plunge and ive booked my self an ARDS test with an hour's extra tuition as well at Oulton Park, ive been revising the MSA Blue Book, however im just wondering are there any other things i should revise, any advice etc etc?

also, im trying to get sponsorship/money together to race in next year's Ginetta G20 championship, im just wondering out of curiosity if there is anyone on here who is racing in or has raced in the championship or has any experience with the championship? how much should i aim to budget for etc etc?

Thanks

[BrendanM]

There are other threads here re: ARDS so check those out, but if you know the flags and basic procedures you will be OK. Driving part is OK as long as you dont lose control.

Re: joining a championship my best advise is get yourself down to the paddock and talk to those in it racing now. That way you will understand what is going on and it can prove a good source for a car (assuming you dont have one) as people move on at the end of the season.

As for sponsorship, (a) good luck (b) goog luck

But really, go and meet the guys and the coordinator, its the best source of information.

Enjoy !

[JamesH]

Learn the pit start boards (2 mins 1 min, 30s, 5s or something like that - they do not mean those particular times! I was asked and hadn't a clue)

I think G20's can be quite expensive, but as Brendan says, get down to a paddock on a race day (preferably with lots of other classes racing) and have a chat with people.

As for sponsorship - (a) Good luck (b) Good luck. (Or was that what Brendan said!)

James

[terence]

Or,As for sponsorship-----------

[dj choc ice]

Thanks for the help guys, or not so in the case of Terence. I have just under two weeks until my ARDS now at Oulton Park and the excitement is really starting to build up, do Oulton still use Clio 197's or have they now completely switched over to BMW M3's?

[Stuart H]

Think they've got the clio's still...............

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by dj choc ice

Thanks for the help guys, or not so in the case of Terence.

May not be what you want to hear but it's all the response you will get.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by dj choc ice

Thanks for the help guys, or not so in the case of Terence. I have just under two weeks until my ARDS now at Oulton Park and the excitement is really starting to build up, do Oulton still use Clio 197's or have they now completely switched over to BMW M3's?

I had instruction booked in one of the Clio 197's in April, but it ended up being in a VX220 Turbo. Apparently MSV had to give them back to Renault, or something along those lines...The VX220 was the replacement 'racemaster' car, there were 4 or 5 in the pitlane. What is this about M3's? Talking of M3's, i'm driving one tomorrow on the International circuit, woo!

[Alex Hodgkinson]

You have nothing to worry about as long as you have some common sense, remain calm and know all your flags.

I had to complete an ARDS written test last Saturday for instruction work, easy as a watsit

[dj choc ice]

did my ARDS today, flew through the written test and breezed through the driving side of things, those VX220 Turbo's are brilliant, such great handling but when they go, my god they get away quickly from ya, so now i just need to send the form off with money and its time to sort something out, thanks for the help guys, its been much appreciated

[terence]

I'll bet your instructor was impressed,had he fallen asleep? Well done for passing though.

[dj choc ice]

actually, she fell asleep :P

[Stuart H]

Well done on passings the ARDS
You still planning to race in the G20's at all?

Who was your instructor?

[dj choc ice]

the plan is still G20's, although im now a bit tempted to do MX5's, my instructor was Kelly Wells, fantastic instructor and i reccomend her highly.

However, it all depends on money unfortunately,stock hatch is a route i wouldnt mind going down if you could pay a team to prepare a car for you as i cant maintain my own car for a while.

[runshaw]

I passed my ARDS at Oulton today, it is the only exam I will ever take in life which is actually fun to do! There were several Porsche GT3 cars out on track, 2 of them shunted (one with a hefty whack at Druids), they should have been the ones doing the ards!

[Chris Y]

Congratulations!

[Stacy]

One of my two regular partners in motorsport crime (Brian) worked with Spencer McCarthy (G20 Champion) until recently and saw him again the other day. Difficult to say how much you need to budget for - are you allowing for the car purchase or not? You can buy a used one for c£10k, a season assuming no damage would likely be the same again.

If you're rent a drive then I'd get onto the series coordinators (http://www.ginetta.co.uk/championshi...tails.php?id=6) and ask for a recommendation. There are a number of teams preparing cars professionally (Optimum, Reflex etc). It will not however be cheap..

MX5's is the cheaper option by a factor. The cars are usually £5-6k. Full season same again I guess, but suspect you could get by with £4k. I'm guessing all in figures here (staying away, fuel, tyres, oil, etc). Ma5da series has been reformed as they had previously split and has the full grids. Max5 seems to have single digit.

As for sponsorship, most of it isn't sponsorship at all it's either patronage, contra deals, or backhanders. By definition you have no results either, so that leaves the final 3 I guess.

Don't get hung up on it, just get out there and welcome to the drug.

Stacy.

[Speedblood]

Hi All

I've decided to throw my saving habits away and take the dive into racing! (Though how much I actually do remains to be seen!)
Have got the gomotorsport pack, bluebook etc and hopefully in the coming couple of weeks will be able to get my medical report done.

To save starting a new thread, I was wondering if anyone here has any advice on recommending where is the best place to do the ARDS test?

Closest track to me is Silverstone but have heard that they are not the easiest people to please and as a COMPLETE novice I am not sure whether to trust that. Whether anyone can tell me if this is true or not would be most helpful.

Other options for me are Brands or with a further drive Thruxton/Rockingham.

As a complete novice I would like to book some 1 to 1 with an instructor before the test (either on the day/ or plenty of time before)
If anyone has any ideas for instructor/time needed etc advice too, it would be extremely helpful also.

Cheers

Ben

[Tim Falce]

I'd say go for Mallory Park.

[andrew1988]

I did mine at Goodwood after being advised to go there. It shouldnt be tooo far for you go depending which side of Silverstone you are.

There was only me and one other guy doing our ARDS so it was really personal and relaxed, he was even asking me questions about Carpentry during my official test laps!

Awesome circuit aswell!

[Stuart H]

Originally Posted by falcemob

I'd say go for Mallory Park.

I done mine at Silverstone. The instructor was relaxed!! Mallory Park is another good track to to the ards test.
The instructors are a friendly bunch!!

[PTRACER]

The people at Brands were very nice to me when I did my ARDS test there, so...that is who I would recommend.

[pete21]

I can recomend Mallory park to do your ARDS test, friendly staff, calming influence, willing to help you and an hours tuition available before your test. Advisable if you are a compleete novice, you can contact them on 01455 841670 or info@everymanracing.co.uk you wont be dissapointed.

[Stacy]

Hi,
I did mine at silverstone, as did a couple of others more recently. No issues.
S.

[Speedblood]

Cheers for all the ideas guys.
Though I feel a bit spoiled for choice now!