A few rookie questions

Ccmamba

I'm 16 and would love to start some type of competitive racing. Am I old enough to do so? if so which type of racing should I go for?

Charlie-Bravo

Aim high - super license to start, defo. In all seriousness, have you got a budget? Formula Vee seems to be a good starting point.

Ccmamba

Is there any tracks near north county dublin?

ScumLord

Ccmamba wrote: »

Is there any tracks near north county dublin?

Mondello is about it as far as I know. It's not in north Dublin but it's close enough to not make a difference for all the time you'd spend on it.

I'm going to go and say that racing simulators on PC have gotten to the stage where they're a real alternative to real life racing when it comes to learning driving theory.

The latest sims all come with laser scanned tracks so they're as close as possible to the real thing and car handling has come on a long way. I know one real race would probably be the same excitement as a years worth of sim racing but the ongoing costs of real racing is really prohibitive.

Although a decent sim racing rig is going to cost you the guts of 2 grand (at least, especially if you don't already have a PC) which isn't cheap either but it's pretty much a one off cost. You can spend thousands on sim gear and get near identical wheels and pedals to the real cars.

There are official leagues, some sims like iRacing have actual pros involved in the races and there has even been young lads that started in iRacing and then got an offer to test real cars based on their online performance. your also instantly on a world stage with online racing so you'll have a good challenge.

You'll learn how to set up a car, you'll get to race drivers from all over the world, if you father is going to be paying for all your racing, maybe because he loves racing himself, he'd be able to join you.

The best racing sim at the moment is also the cheapest (assetto corsa) because it hasn't been fully released yet but it looks like it will be the standard for a few years.

Sim racing allows you to get in the kind of track time that very rich people get to put in. It's not the same thing as real racing, it is essentially theory but that's very important too.

At my age I'd be saying to myself I'd like to buy a car to try it out before I get to far past 30 but I know I wouldn't get to the track more than once a year. At 16 you have far more options open to you but I don't see you being able to put in serious track time in the real world unless daddies very, very rich.

SouperComputer

Map out what your budget is, initial outlay/savings and ongoing.