/o/ - Auto » Thread #13757528

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Talk me out of racing

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 18:59:08 No.13757528 View Reply Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13757544 >>13757607 >>13759367 >>13759394 >>13759543 >>13760967

I need your help guys. I turned 22 and I truly want to realize my childhood dream of becoming a semi-pro/professionnal racing driver. Anything. Open-wheel, rally, touring. I have around 25k CAD, have an okay job and part time student. My choice is totally irrationnal. I have a close friend that has close ties with professionnal drivers so it might help.I want to blow all my money into a dream. Talk me out of it. Tell me what would be the challenges, sacrifices and risks of it.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:01:08 No.13757543 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13757551

do it. it will be hard and probably impossible but you have to try. dont let your dream be dreams.

Stolen Recaros !!VOa3fboOrek

Stolen Recaros !!VOa3fboOrek Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:01:10 No.13757544 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13757707

>>13757528
Skip Barber Racing School
http://skipbarber.com/
BonDurant School of High Performance Driving.
http://www.bondurant.com/

Look them up.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:02:46 No.13757551 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757543
Just do it, OP

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:03:12 No.13757552 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13757707

Do it anon. Its even better cause you have a friend who has connections

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:10:39 No.13757607 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13757614 >>13759457

>>13757528
You can do it, but I think it would be hard to do as a profession, in formula 1 they choose kids that have been racing since a really young age, then teams pick them up at age 10 and they're trained by big companies, like Lewis Hamilton got picked up from kart racing at a really young age and mclaren basically crafted him into what he is today, there was someone aged 19 racing in the recent formula 1 and that's like the top series in terms of racing, he must of been racing real cars at age 10, I'm pretty sure it's the same with other big racing series like rallying, nascar etc. But who am I to say how good of a driver you are? Bernie ecclestone started off driving then bought a team then progressed all the way to own formula 1 and now he's a billionaire, so maybe racing could jump start you into a career that involves cars/ racing if your passionate about it, who knows where it could take you

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:12:11 No.13757614 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13757707

>>13757607
This, unless you've been kart racing from a young age you're fucked.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 19:28:01 No.13757707 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757614
I raced karts since I was 5 but couldn't continue because my family had no money. We are now in a better financial situation and I have been actively thinking about racing since I was 18 but never knew where to start, if it will be worth it, where to learn...

>>13757552
Forgot to mention that my friend is way older than me and some of his friends are in professionnal racing (NASCAR/Indy car). I don't know how it can help me though.

>>13757544
Ok will do mate.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 23:34:17 No.13759318 Report Delete

Quoted By:

tfw 22 and want to be a racer but cant even powerslide

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 23:40:32 No.13759367 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757528
You won't make it. Don't mean to sound like a dick or something, but you just won't. Not professionally.

There's 2 types of race car drivers. The ones that do it professionally and have been driving things with engines since they could walk and worked their way up with a lot of luck, time, support, and money spent. And the second type, the semi-professional, who didn't decided to be a 'race car driver' until he was 20 something or 30 something and has an enormous amount of money to spend in order to make it "happen".

Unfortunately, you're neither and this isn't the 20th century anymore.

Just do what makes you happy and wherever it goes it goes, but don't put all your eggs into a basket with a hole ya dig.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 23:44:49 No.13759394 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757528
>did racing
>car got taken out
>6k down the drain

its not worth it fam

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 23:46:38 No.13759404 Report Delete

Quoted By:

Scholarships and driver searches is the only way unless you're hella rich. The best karters in the US even have an extremely hard time getting out of karts.

If I was going to do it all over again I'd honestly spend all my money on 1 full season of F2000 and try to win the Star Mazda scholarship.

Bottom line is it all costs an extreme amount of money and you not only have to be good you have to be lucky. Cause the only way to ride a full f2000 and star mazda season and get noticed is just straight up luck.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 23:54:54 No.13759457 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757607

what if I want to be like the Driver from Drive, Ryan Gosling or Takumi then?

I got a 2000 honda at the moment

Anonymous

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Anonymous Thu 29 Oct 2015 23:55:08 No.13759459 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13759562 >>13759576

Not going to lie....you have a huge hill to climb. The problem is that you're going to have to be faster than kids that have been racing since the age of 5. Kids with rich parents and no budget to worry about. They have been through karts, winning at every level, a lot of them raced SCCA, won at that level, and are known in racing circles at a very early age. There was a 16 year old at LeMans this year. Let that sink in. This kid was 16 years old and racing professionally at LeMans. You are WAY behind the lead pack and it's going to be VERY difficult to close the gap at your age. Skip Barber or Bondurant is your best bet but 25K is not going to get you very far with either.

Auto racing is a sport populated by the very rich. The old saying about how to make a million dollars racing.....is to start with 5 million is true. To have any chance at getting paid by someone else to drive a race car, you are going to have to dominate against all other drivers in a spec class like Skip Barber. You can't run mid pack at your age. If you're not winning, you're not getting noticed.

I hate to be negative, but I spent 6 years and a LOT of hard earned money racing formula ford in SCCA. Made it to the Run-Offs twice. I was a back marker at that level after winning in my region. Your best hope is to make a shit ton of money and buy your way into upper level SCCA competition, run a successful team, and maybe graduate to some professional series if you can line up enough deep pocket sponsors.

But in all honesty...I wish you well.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:08:53 No.13759543 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757528
Go drive spec miata.

Unless you are very fast already and have a ton (read $200k USD ) of money to burn through annually, you are not going anywhere. Seriously, go look at what a season of Formula Mazda, Formula Atlantic or Indy Lights costs.

This isn't about wanting to live your dream, trying really hard to be good. This is about there are 10,000 people who want every paid seat. So either you bring oodles of your own cash and fame to pay the bills, or out-compete all those guys. There are very, very good club drivers that have never been offered a seat and never will be. It is a very exclusive club you have to fight your way into.

If you want to do rally, nobody gets paid to do rally in the US. Touring cars is full of open wheel washouts that you will not be good enough to compete against. For every paid seat there are 10,000 men who want it.

Something else to keep in mind, you are about 3 years away from loosing some of your risk appetite and about 6 years away from noticing the very first signs of aging.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:11:01 No.13759562 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13759713

>>13759459
>Skip Barber or Bondurant is your best bet but 25K is not going to get you very far with either.

Those programs are a complete waste of money. Nobody important is watching or cares about them. The only reason Skip Barber and the like exist is because of stupid people that think you can go to school to be a race car driver like you can go to school to be a physicist.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:14:00 No.13759573 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13759621 >>13759643

go back to college, mechanical engineering, and join the FSAE team

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:14:16 No.13759576 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759459
The sad thing is even if you had won the scca run offs it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. (unless youre a girl)

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:22:01 No.13759621 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13759634

>>13759573
Good idea

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:23:50 No.13759634 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759621
best to find a school with a small team. UTA for example has one of the most extensive american fsae teams to date and it would be damn near impossible to ever get a chance to drive the car.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:24:59 No.13759643 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13759819

>>13759573
that way you can end up working on the things you wish you could be driving.

Instead of being in the porno, or really ever getting laid you get to manage the accounting for the studio. BUT AT LEAST YOU CLOSE TO WHAT YOU LOVE.

sounds fucking great anon /sarc

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:33:29 No.13759713 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759562
Bondurant yes, but skip barber not as much. Not if you enter the scholarship program through karting and move up through the mazdaspeed driver program or team usa. but you have to win your way into the scholarship shootout. it used to be CART stars of tomorrow, extremely competitive karting series in the early 2000's. not sure how it works these days.

if you look at the skip barber (formula dodge) champion list basically everyone from 2008 and below I grew up karting with at the national level. In the US the current best way, without being rich, to get to cars as far as i know is as follows

a) karting scholarship into skip barber shootout, win shootout, win skip barber season, mazdaspeed or team usa into formula cars (star mazda, mx5, etc)

b) pony up for a F2000 season (~$100,000), win championship, scholarship into star mazda

c) move to europe and try to scholarship into carrera cup, formula 3, etc. ($$$)

d) accept your fate and race as a hobby only.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:41:06 No.13759765 Report Delete

Quoted By:

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:51:17 No.13759819 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759643
I drive at competition every year

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 00:53:03 No.13759828 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13759885 >>13760663 >>13760734 >>13760901 >>13760963

OP here. I appreciate for taking some of your time to get me back to reality. People always say if you keep trying, you'll have it some day but sometimes, it's just outside of your control. Surely in a parallel universe I would have succeeded but not in this one. I am not destined to race.

I loved the smell of gasoline, oil and burnt rubber every time I went karting with my father. I always thought that race drivers were cool and mysterious with their racing suit and helmet. I have been exposed to a high that cannot be replicated. I have tried to pursue many other hobbies/careers in my life including climbing, shooting, boxing, yoga, woodcutting, fishing, surfing, scuba diving, football, hockey, piano and now firefighting. Nothing comes close to racing. I even bought a used 2011 Camaro SS, thinking I could somehow soothe my pain from never have a chance to race but to no avail.

I'll keep the money and use it for more "important" things like investing, cash down on my first house and all that shit.

Pic related my car

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 01:06:14 No.13759885 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759828
I can't tell if you're being facetious, but I actually live with that exact pain you describe every day of my life.

I spend every spare dollar that isn't used to survive on cars, racing, things related in some way to racing and cars. I wouldn't be happy any other way. Use your money for whatever you want, if you want to go race fucking go race. Don't let anyone else tell you how to be happy m8.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 04:13:09 No.13760663 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759828
Nothing stopping you going out on track days and having a good time man. It's just that racing costs money far beyond the average man's ability to spend.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 04:30:46 No.13760734 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759828
I posted some of the more pessimistic stuff in this thread because I didn't want you to blow your hopes out of proportion then have them crushed.

But if you like cars, that doesn't mean you can't have fun with cars. A lot of the spec series can be a hell of a lot of fun and affordable. Or if you just want to see how fast you can go there is time trial.

Yeah pro racing has gone the way of NASA, and it's cool and all but it's also as difficult to get into it as being an astronaut. But club level racing is still very easy to get into. And club racing will spare you the politics, the huge money interests, and the fame.

It's not all bad anon.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 05:26:59 No.13760901 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>13760942

>>13759828
If you still want to race and extract the most enjoyments for the least monies, you really should get into spec 250 racing
If you play your cards well you'll be racetrack ready for 4k

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 05:43:14 No.13760942 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13760901
>Be me
>Milkbagfag
>Check if spec racing near me
>SpecNinja300 series starting
Thanks Anon.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 05:54:06 No.13760963 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13759828

I'm also 22, and I know that feel. I think a lot of people on /o/ know that feel.

Since the day that I stepped into a go-Kart for the first time (I was 8) and instantly everything made sense. I had never driven anything before and I just drove it perfectly around a tight track and even made my first counter steer! All of this without any prior knowledge or experience of driving... I just felt at home.

My family is poor and I live in shitty south of Europe. So racing is just a thing sons of rich kids whose dads have big car/tuning/repair shops do in the weekends.

My achievable dream is to buy a cheap FR beater car with some m8s and build a cheap track car that can go to some local hill climb events and track days just for fun.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 30 Oct 2015 05:55:20 No.13760967 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>13757528
If you realize you could be potentially throwing everything away, yet still want to do it, fucking do it OP. It's the determination to risk it all that makes the best drivers.

Best of luck OP.

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