Come Sunday, my 16yo son may be a qualified racing driver...

TimmyO

Eldest son is taking his ARDS test at Silverstone on Sunday - if he passes he'll be a qualified racing driver 11 months before he can take a driving test   

We are NOT a wealthy family - so the next step will then be finding him something to race in - mostly on someone else's dime if we're being realistic - it's literally the only thing he wants in life (which annoys his teachers as he's a bit of a boffin) 

Sunday will also be my last day in public circulation before I shield before by heart surgery - good way to spend the day! 

proggy

All the best to you both.

not_the_dj

Best of luck to him, what an experience. 

...and best wishes for the surgery!

YellowLedBetterMan

Good luck to you both.

And good on the lad for giving it a go. Not enough people get to try and live their dream so he should be very proud. All the best to him and I hope to see him in a McLaren Orange or 'Rari Red one day.

spark240

Good luck dude ;-)

TTony

Well, congratulations, but ...

The "lad next door" (quite literally) where we used to live is/was a pro racing driver.  He started out, probably when 8/9yo, racing in karts, and then worked up through the various single seater formulae.

By all accounts - and the stats - he was a pretty good driver;
https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/josh-webster/

He managed to fund it through sponsorship, not least by the company that his dad worked for.  Handy!    You're talking a few £hundred-k for a season, assuming that you don't have any major bumps, to get started, but the cost goes up as you progress.    As well as the driving, he had to do a lot of media/sponsor and fitness work.  The family also had to put a huge effort into supporting him.

But, if you think that competition *on* the track is fierce, that was nothing compared to the competition *off* the track.    Ultimately there were too many well-funded (if not as good, arguably) drivers who could buy the drives that they needed to progress their careers.  Josh managed to get into Porsche, which eased some of the funding challenge, but it wasn't what he set out aiming to do.  That said, his company car (for a <25yo!) was none too shabby.

I'd say, treat it as a fun hobby, but make sure he's got a plan B ready for making a living ...

stickyfiddle

Awesome. I've been watching with great interest on the other fb  

TimmyO

YellowLedBetterMan said:

Good luck to you both.

And good on the lad for giving it a go. Not enough people get to try and live their dream so he should be very proud. All the best to him and I hope to see him in a McLaren Orange or 'Rari Red one day.

cheers - our household leans more Orange than Red but I'd be prepared to live with the shame should the opportunity arise lol 

Yeah - he kind of got some niggle from school careers folks for declaring "racing driver" as his career goal

TimmyO

TTony said:

Well, congratulations, but ...

The "lad next door" (quite literally) where we used to live is/was a pro racing driver.  He started out, probably when 8/9yo, racing in karts, and then worked up through the various single seater formulae.

By all accounts - and the stats - he was a pretty good driver;
https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/josh-webster/

He managed to fund it through sponsorship, not least by the company that his dad worked for.  Handy!    You're talking a few £hundred-k for a season, assuming that you don't have any major bumps, to get started, but the cost goes up as you progress.    As well as the driving, he had to do a lot of media/sponsor and fitness work.  The family also had to put a huge effort into supporting him.

But, if you think that competition *on* the track is fierce, that was nothing compared to the competition *off* the track.    Ultimately there were too many well-funded (if not as good, arguably) drivers who could buy the drives that they needed to progress their careers.  Josh managed to get into Porsche, which eased some of the funding challenge, but it wasn't what he set out aiming to do.  That said, his company car (for a <25yo!) was none too shabby.

I'd say, treat it as a fun hobby, but make sure he's got a plan B ready for making a living ...

yep - from what I can tell that's a very common story. 

Very likely to go similarly, or even less well, but what you gonna do, not bother? 

On the upside I can't waste a personal fortune because I don't have one. 

drofluf

Good luck to both of you!

Offset

Best of luck with your op.  And you must be really proud of your son.  Does he lean towards James Hunt or Lewis Hamilton in his approach to his chosen sport?!

Simonh

It is easy to make a small fortune out of racing, you just need to start with a huge one!

good luck but it is difficult area to succeed in.

mrkb

I live near silverstone and was at the museum this morning. Weather is good today but there’s likely to be thunder and rain on Sunday. Is he good in the wet?

VimFuego

Chap who was the local mechanic where I used to live used to run a car in saloon car racing with another chap who was the driver (I assume he had some sort of qualification). So he'd do the mechanic stuff and the other guy drove and both put in equally on the finance. Not sure if that's relevant to anything ever, but there you go.

ICBM

Best of luck to both of you .

Kittyfrisk

Well done to him for following his dreams & loads of good luck to you both  

TimmyO

Cheers all

Offset said:

Best of luck with your op.  And you must be really proud of your son.  Does he lean towards James Hunt or Lewis Hamilton in his approach to his chosen sport?!

I've told him some of the James Hunt stories and he just looks at me perplexed - he's far more LH than JH yes

TimmyO

mrkb said:

I live near silverstone and was at the museum this morning. Weather is good today but there’s likely to be thunder and rain on Sunday. Is he good in the wet?

We went a little while back - really enjoyed it. He did the sim they have there and beat the Aston Martin F2 works driver's time lol 

TimmyO

mrkb said:

I live near silverstone and was at the museum this morning. Weather is good today but there’s likely to be thunder and rain on Sunday. Is he good in the wet?

re weather - yeah saw that - not ideal (eve with insurance there's a £1000 damage excess lol) - thankfully it's not about setting best times, it's about showing he can handle a race car competently , know the procedures and rules etc - but he's miffed it won't be dry.

In his Kart series he's been good in the wet (less affected than almost everyone else)  but prefers the experience of the dry 

chillidoggy

Good lad!

Now open your wallet and be prepared for it to be hoovered clean, because it’ll cost. Sponsorship is vitalin a world where money will always outshine talent, Nikita Mazepin being a case in point.

RiftAmps

The practical ARDS test is all about safety, not lap times. The instructor wants to see that he can be safe on track and be aware of other traffic. He will be driving at about 90% of race pace.

The written exam is less forgiving, make sure he knows his flags inc waved/double waved whites and yellows, plus Code 60.

I budget around £6000 (plus damage) a year for racing, but I own my car and self-fund. Hiring is vastly more expensive but less hassle. Forty40 Racing have great deals on their BMW 116 Trophy cars, a great series to start in, and share costs with other drivers. Even though the Citroen C1s/City Car Cup/EnduroKa championships are 'cheap', they all come with massive repair bills, so factor that in.

Sponsorship - pretty non-existent in the way you'd want it to be. No one is gonna pay for him to go club racing. Most of my own sponsors simply offer discounts on parts/consumables etc but one does cover my fuel bill for the year, which helps.

Always happy to help if you need advice