Clio Cup Costs and Competitors

[McKay]

I was wondering what the costs of running a car in the clio cup for a whole season are. Also where do most of the drivers come from (as in past experience, how experienced). This is all to do with my wanting to be a racer. Any help would be great

[Kicking-back]

Rick is your man for this information - he's here often and I'm sure will answer fully.

[McKay]

Is Rick his Username? Hope he can help.

[Ian Sowman]

Looking at the Renault Sport website would be a start - it gives you an idea of the drivers involved.

[RickP:Clio51]

You called???
What country do you wanna run in, and how you going to do it? Yourself or with a good team? Will you own the car or want to rent one?
Rick

[McKay]

In the Uk, Myself with an owned car.

[RickP:Clio51]

Then your biggest cost is your entry fees which I think are around £15k (includes all your test and entry fees). The cars aren't going to have too many years left although the European ones have just been updated so maybe 2 more seasons? (New clio out soon may well replace them earlier) so plan for some depreciation on the car. If you pay £18k for it which is where they were trading last year, and the series only runs next year, you may struggle to get £10k afterwards. Tyres are limited in Europe (and I think UK) to 1 set a weekend, work on £800 a set. If you can take 2 extra fronts, given there's 2 races most weekends, you'll need to budget for that.
The Clio handles very differently if you bolt fresh fronts onto hot rears... you'll need to test for this if you want to qualify at the front so the good teams are taking 2 new fronts at each test.
Pad wear is pretty significant, you'll need a new set each weekend to be competitive (safe?), the fuel is going to cost around £100/ weekend and then you have the damage...
This is key. With a team such as Mark Fish, you'll pay prob £40k plus damage... so you prob need to assume the following:
13 weekends * 6 tyres = 78
5 sets at tests = 20
2 sets wets? = 8
106 tyres *£200 = £20k
or
10 weekends * 4 tyres = 40
2 sets wets = 8
48 tyres * £150 = £7200

So it makes a big difference how many tyres they let you take and how many meetings there are and what they're charging for them (think £200 is worse case, prob £150 is nearer), sorry I'm not fully up on the UK, I've raced Europe for the past 3 seasons.
I used to work on about £500 of consumables a weekend:
pads, discs/fuel, £700 for tyres, £1500 for the team and then entries and damage.
It's possible therefore to run yourself for about £1200 a weekend if you do NO damage, run on the same 4 tyres all weekend, the team require no payment, accomodation or food and plus entries.
I have known guys do £30k of damage in a year... clios roll easily and a reshell is £8-10k... so you will need deep pockets.
The engine will run all year if it's resonably fresh, else I think a rebuild is £4k. The gearbox requires some serious looking after and you will need any left over from the consumables budget to take care of it. Wheel bearings also used to be a major problem but I think they've upraded them.
So assume:
£15k entries (you'll need to check this)
£4k car depreciation (assuming 2yrs, 18k purchase, 10k sell)
£4k engine rebuild (car won't come pristine...)
£1k for the gearbox (ditto)
£10k for tyres (prob low)
£500 for consumables (prob low)
Gives a budget of around £35k to run it yourself... before damage for which you really need to allow £15k minimum.
And we haven't allowed for your tow costs/ accomodation etc.
Call it £50k?

Hope that helps
Rick.

[Truckosaurus]

Rick,

Can I be bold enough to ask how the Clio costs you've listed (excellently, may I add) above compare with the budget needed for your racing with the Lola?

Is it another order of magnitude greater or a similar amount on a mile-for-mile basis?

[RickP:Clio51]

The Lola costs about £1 per second to run...
Yes, £1 per second... which is why we don't get to go testing...
A clio season is the equivalent of about 2/3rds of an LMES weekend.
Cheers
Rick

[McKay]

Thank you very much Rick. Thats certainly alot of money. But how much experience do the guys racing in it have? Where did they start racing.

[RickP:Clio51]

They're pretty good. Used to be some instructors from Palmers racing that were driving the clios almost daily...
Not as good as the European championship though... they were really good...

[McKay]

So there arent any novices or anything. Do you think a few seasons or so racing hot hatchs in the 750 Motor Club would be enough experience, along with going to the silverstone 5-Day-Race-Intensive racing school course?

[RickP:Clio51]

You're either good or you're not...
Clio cup is an expensive place to be learning though.

[McKay]

OK. Thanks for all your help

[Triple J Motorsport]

Is it national B then?

John

[JLFC]

Hi McKay, Are you in Scotland? If you are you might consider contacting Barry Sime at SRE motorsport. Their website is www.sremotorsport.co.uk It might be a good idea to try before you buy a car as I know Barry has a spare car.

Jim

[McKay]

No, im not in Scotland, but thanks anyway.

[Spinner]

The cars definately only have 1 year left.There are novices in the champinship, Jonathon Adam springs to mind and he is a strong contender for the championship. As Rick said, you either take to it or you dont but they do require a certain driving technique. What experience do you have, are you a karter?

[McKay]

I have no experience. I was planning on going to a race school and doing club racing and then if im any good do Clios, maybe then the Seat Cupra then hope for a BTCC drive, but thats all very long term and mostly a dream. But its certainly something I want to do. Im only 16 By the way...

[kickstart]

Mckay, as you can see racing is not cheap and most of us who go racing end up racing a car which is not exactly the type we might wish. But it is far better to race a FF1600 or prod saloon that simply wish that you could race an F3000 or touring car.
If money is really tight, which it is for most people, I would do a day or two at a decent racing school - I always like the good people at Castle Combe and then do your ARDS test - this should cost you maybe £500 ish but then you will have some experience and have your license.
Probably one of the best and cheapest saloon/hatch racing is run by the 750MC (google for website) and I think that you could get a car for under £1000. I would imagine that you also could rent one for a race/test for a few hundred quid. The 750MC is out at mallory this sunday and then at Silverstone on the 28/29 August why not come down, have a look and speak to some of the drivers - they are a very friendly bunch.
Good luck

[McKay]

Yes, i was thinking about the 750mc once school was done. I cant get to either of those meetings. I was gonna go to the meeting a brands but i didnt. I might go next time. I think its important to get qualifications and stuff so if my racing doesnt work out, or i need money i can do a "real" job as it were. I wasnt sure how much the 750 mc cost but now I know, im defo going to join it when i can! Thanks kickstart

[bbr73]

I did the 5-day race intensive course at Silverstone back in Feb last year and found it very useful. You get loads of seat time and can push to limit without the worry of hitting anything - it built my confidence up, which is what racing is all about really - having the confidnce to go quick. Also, while you still are learning if you were to have a shunt during the course, the school picks up the bill - nice hey? If you call them they will send you a DVD of the course. I'm taking part in a race with them on the 28th August on the Stowe Circuit, so if you are at Silverstone pop down and have a look. I got 2 practice sessions, 1 qualifying and 2 races, using there Formula Firts for £650 all in - mega deal!

[acf8181]

i'm another SRS 5-day intensive course graduate. totally recommend it, and why not do a few BRDC single seater races afterwards as well.

[McKay]

I have to rake up £2000 first, but i certainly want to go. In my dream career i want to be a touring car driver, but ill certainly try to make it single seaters. I dont really want to be in F1, as its boring. But thats all a dream, i need money and to be good in the first place

[Pete Fenelon]

Something that's concerned me about the Clios in the UK lately is the amount of bumping and general paint-trading that goes on almost every time I see them - the paddock's always full of bits of bodywork....

While it's arguable that that's good preparation for "robust" series like the BTCC, I'd wonder if it's not only jumping in at the deep end but also jumping into the lion's mouth!

Starting off in a series where there's less contact and better track manners might not let only you get more incident-free mileage in, it'll also be cheaper to race in anyway, and save you money on damage - I think the guys who are talking 750MC hatches are onto the right sort of idea!