Ever Wanted To Set Up A Racing Team? This Guide Shows You How!

As you’re reading this blog post, I will assume you have more than a passing interest in car racing. In fact, you will doubtless have a strong passion for the sport! Motor racing is something that millions of people enjoy participating in each year.

It’s a pastime enjoyed by many since the world’s first automobiles got mass-produced. Car racing events aren’t just about proving who is the best driver out there. It’s also a way of showing off the technical abilities of a car’s engine, handling, and braking.

As you’re a car racing fan, it’s likely you’ve been to a few events in your lifetime. Perhaps this has given you the idea to set up a racing team yourself? If that’s the case, today’s blog post is just for you!

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Deciding what class of car racing to join

As you know, there are various events on the racing calendar each year. From Formula One to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, there’s an event out there with your name on it!

Unless you are a millionaire, it’s always wise to start out competing in smaller local events first. When you do well, you’ll soon catch the attention of interested backers. At that point, you can then start to enter your team in more prominent events in the racing calendar each year.

The best thing to do is spend some time researching what class of car racing you want to join. There are plenty to choose, both from a national and international level. The one you select will depend on your level of commitment (i.e. how much money you’ve got to spend).

If you’re well-known in racing circles, you could ask for sponsorship from major companies. Businesses are keen to promote racing events, especially if they are in the automotive industry.

For them, one of the best ways to increase brand awareness is to sponsor a racing team. Using their money and your expert knowledge, you can build a strong and powerful racing car.

However, if you’re new to car racing, it’s important to spend some time networking with industry experts. That way, you can gain insight into this passionate pastime and learn more about the best ways of joining an event.

Building your vehicle

Once you’ve decided which event and category you’d like to join, the next stage of the process is to build your racing car. Obviously without a car you can’t participate in an event! So, it makes sense to choose the best model for the job.

You don’t need me to tell you there are plenty of vehicles out there that can get used as the perfect base. As you’re starting small, I recommend using a used or classic car as the basis for your racing chassis.

It’s only when you have a big budget that you could use brand new cars. For instance, Volkswagen Motorsport is using a brand new mk7 Golf to take part in touring car events. The chassis is based on a Golf R and features the same 330 horsepower 2.0-turbo petrol engine but with some minor tweaks.

Still, such an idea will most likely be a world away from what you and your racing team can afford right now. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t use a decent used base car for your needs!

Transporting your car for test sessions

Once you’ve finished building your car according to the required spec, the next step is to try it out on the track and see how it fares. As you can imagine, no-one enters a race event without first checking their car performs and handles well.

The thing about race cars is that they aren’t legal for driving on the road. They have many modifications and use special “slick” tyres for extra traction. Of course, such tyres are useless on standard roads, especially in poor weather conditions!

You will also need to transport the parts, tools and machines from your workshop so that you can carry out any repairs or changes “on the field” as it were. The answer to such a conundrum is to buy a truck!

Again, you should look to get a used model to keep your costs down. The truck you select must be big enough to transport your car and everything else you need. Sites like Plant Trader are a good place to start your search but don’t just limit yourself to the Internet.

Be sure to ask people you know if there are any suitable trucks for sale that you can afford to buy. However, make sure you avoid the temptation of buying a new one. If things don’t work out for your racing team, you’ll be stuck making finance payments on it for a long time!

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Publicity

When you’re entering a racing car event, it’s crucial that you have plenty of publicity for your team. As you are new to such events, spreading awareness of your team will help to boost sponsorship deals. Especially if you do well and win more events than you lose!

There are many ways you can promote your team. If you’re wondering how to do so, the best thing to do is think of your racing team as a business. How would you advertise a new company and encourage brand awareness?

Here are a few examples of what you could do:

• Set up social networking accounts on websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn;
• Speak to local newspapers and get a story or two written about your team;
• Set up a website and submit some press releases to journalists via your site; and
• Sponsor local charities.

If you’re trying to raise funding for your racing team, one thing you could do is set up a crowdfunding page. The way they work is simple; you write a sales pitch and explain why people should give you money.

Those people then decide how much to give you. In return, you can offer them various incentives depending on their contributions.

Now that you know what to do, it’s time to get busy!