Racing is expensive, isn't it? First you have to buy a car for thousands of pounds, then modify it to meet regulations; you have to pay for things like entry fees, fuel, tyres, and then for anything that might break or get damaged in the process. It quickly adds up.
This is where low-cost endurance series like MSVR's EnduroKa are becoming increasingly popular. The nature of an endurance series means the costs are spread across multiple drivers and the type of racing is typically gentler, given that drivers are more interested in reaching the end of the race than squeezing through an impossibly small gap on turn 1.
I'm one of the web developers here at PH and I followed last year's EnduroKa series team with great interest. I kept dropping hints in the office that I would be interested in participating next year should a seat become available, so I was over the moon when the offer finally came at the start of the year.
I don't have a racing pedigree, although I once beat Racing Pete in a karting grand prix at Sandown Park and I currently sit on the podium for all three race tracks in our office Sega Rally machine tournament. This, it seems, deems me worthy of a seat.
The team told me I would need to get a racing license, which instantly brought back teenage memories playing Gran Turismo and trying to shave off one thousandth of a second to get Gold on my B-License in whatever a Mazda DEMIO GL-X is. As it turns out, getting a race license in the UK isn't dissimilar to the structure in Gran Turismo - just don't expect a free MX-5 from your exam fee.
The governing and licensing body for motorsport in the UK is the, appropriately named, Motorsport UK (formerly MSA). To compete in a race series in the UK one needs a Race Interclub license. Keep in mind Motorsport UK simplified the license structure for 2020 so you may see Race Interclub also referred to as a National B license.
Motorsport UK makes the whole process of getting a race license very accessible by providing the Go Racing Pack. For £100 you get: an application form, a year of Motorsport UK membership, and a USB stick with two videos on it that will become very helpful in studying for the test.
When applying for a race license one must first pass an ARDS test. ARDS is The Association of Racing Driver Schools, though many people know it simply as "the race license test" and it can be done at most racing circuits in the UK. You can take your test at a number of different circuits across the UK, but we opted for Brands Hatch with MSV, which will cost you £270.
Before you take your test, you'll need to have a medical if you are over 60 and everyone needs to get an eye test. Motorsport UK has an arrangement with Specsavers for free eye tests so it's worth taking advantage of that.
There's a written and a practical element to the ARDS test. The written test is made up of three sections: General Motorsport UK knowledge, motorsport safety, and flags. The flags section is the most notorious of the three and is the only one requiring an all-or-nothing score of 100%. Fortunately, the video in the Go Racing Pack covers this in great detail but you will be expected to know the meaning of each flag and whether it would be waved or stationary.
I took my test back in February on a day organised for EnduroKa participants. This was in anticipation of the first race occurring in April, before all motorsport was halted. On the day there were around a dozen of us taking our test together. Our examiner, Jack, took us in and prepared us for the written exam by showing us the Go Racing Pack videos and answering any questions we might have.
The test doesn't throw up any surprises thanks to the excellent study materials, but I cannot stress studying the flags enough. I went through each section and finished in 10 minutes but spent a further 10 going back and staring at the flag section. The difference between a yellow flag and a double waved yellow flag may be readily apparent, but would you expect a Code 60 flag to be stationary or waved? I truly didn't know.
After the test was lunch and then it was straight onto the practical test. I still didn't know if I'd passed the written test but it was time to show Jack that racing pedigree I am so famous for in the office. He first took me around the circuit to show me the racing line and made it look incredibly easy. Then we swapped seats and I had my turn.
A lot of people told me that the practical test was difficult to fail and so I didn't put much preparation into this part. Jack had also previously said that he usually knew after two or three laps whether he would be comfortable to share a racetrack with one of his examinees. It was on my 6th lap that I became worried and it wasn't until my 8th lap that he asked me to pull into the pits.
It turns out it wasn't as easy as I had been led to believe. "You just need to be able to drive a manual transmission." they said. "It's as simple as getting around a lap of a track without hitting anything." Now, I can do both of those things just fine, but at this point Jack gave me a reality check and pointed out how inconsistent my driving had been. I would enter turns in arbitrary gears and my racing line that I had perfected years ago on Gran Turismo's Trial Mountain hadn't translated into the real-world racing line of the Brand Hatch Indy circuit. I passed the test, but was advised on the need to get a track day under my belt before entering into my first endurance race. Which I'd say is genuinely sound advice.
Passing my test meant I was able to get my freshly-stamped application form in the mail. My race license arrived a week later exactly one month before the first race at Donington Park. Of course that race never happened, nor did Cadwell Park, but government guidance has aligned perfectly in time for us to be able to participate in the 12 Heures du Norfolk at Snetterton Circuit on July 5th.
I'm really looking forward to my rookie season in the EnduroKa. The race results were great for the PistonHeads team last year, with two podiums from six events but never a first place finish. Here's hoping that I can help (rather than hinder) the results in 2020. Though of course it's worth noting that when you share the racing costs, you have to share the trophy, too. That's going to take a little more practice.
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