How old were you when you started?

I started Karts when I was 11, but with all of the teaching opportunities now 17 is still young enough. I raced something virtually every weekend from April to October for 15 years.

 

I started when i was 7, stopped when i was 16 and now i'm looking to get a test drive in a Formula Renault sometime nearish Christmas of this year (which some of you know). I wouldn't worry about it being to late, Damon Hill became F1 World Champion in 1996 and he never eve raced a go-kart. So my advice would be stick in at karting race your socks off every race, and if worst comes to worst, then you only get a race licence and race know and again. Which is still a pretty good achievement to be honest and thats what i'm going to do if i get know further.

 

Too late in life. Started when I was 21 and been working on it every since.

 

Same here.

 

started karting at about 6 every other weekend or so. never went to serious because of lack of funds...

Got my first quad at 11 which I drove every day, mostly on tarmac though lol. Then moved to the caribbean where there werent any race tracks about (bar one stupid drag strip). Was there for just under 2 years and then moved to england where I got a new quad which I drove a lot too but it kept breaking. Grew out of porportions to even remotely consider racing full time so its just for entertaining me.

I hope to just make enough money in life to fund my love for racing, probably something like the Dutch Supercar Challenge as its fairly inexpensive to do...

 

I picked up a kart last weekend for 2 of my nephews (guess they are 10 and 14 years old). Am taking them to karting school Saturday. They've grown up going to ProRallies, drifting, dragracing and roadracing events.

My little one is only 3 but eats, drinks and poops racing. Every night he get his DVD player and watches either Herbie Fully Loaded, Disney's/Pixtel CARS, Speed Racer the movie or Speed Racer cartoon or Faster and Furiouser. Races his peddalcart and tricycle while imitating engine sounds complete with BOV sounds. Have taken him on the familycarts at the gocart track at the beach. He was waving 'bye, bye' to everyone we passed and laughing his diaper off.

 

He sounds like my twin brothers, also 3. More often than not when they wake up and the TV is turned on, stuff that i watched in the evening is what they watch. Thing is, thats normally motorsTV or eurosport. If my mom turns the channel to cartoons they start crying because they want to see racing. .
They've got hundreds of toys but they only ever play with my toy cars which i played with when i was younger. Pretty funny.

 

not at all! you didn't read his post carefully.

17 is plenty early enough.

 

Did some karts early on for a few years when about 14. Got into drag racing when 17 and the karts went on the back burner. Many, many drag cars over the years. At 23 I began MXing seriously along with the drag cars. The mechanic who worked on my bike had been a former kart national champ. Raced MX until I kinda got myself hurt bad enough to have to retire from it.............10 days in hospital, three months rehab and off work for almost six months........Raced one more race (two motos) finishing 7th and 2nd. Could not get off the bike after the race and had to lean the bike against the side of the truck and have someone lift me off and sit me in a chair. Have not raced anymore competitively since then. Many years ago......

And I did get the chance to work for FoH, Risi Competizione, FoDallas for a few years.....no, not a driver. I worked up front in sales.......
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$ > talent

With $, you can afford seattime or matter how good or terrible a driver which leads to experience. Practice does make perfect to a degree. My advise: concentrate on studying hard to obtain a job that'll allow you to afford to race in the future.

Wanna know how to make a small fortune racing?..........Start with a big fortune.

 

James, REALLY cool pics! Thanks for posting.

 

I love this quote. Giuseppe Risi used to quote it to me......"You want to know how to end the season with $1M in road racing. Start the year with $2M and win........"

 

Peter, thanks,

If you will look under motorcycles, boats I have a lot of photos there and also in the Texas section under Green Valley Raceway and vintage drag racing. It was a real passion when I could afford to do it. Unfortunately, now..............well, you know how it goes. I encourage anyone who has a desire to do it to go with it.......

 

maybe he should try spec miata?

 

That might work but I do not believe Miata will do much to represent Ferrari like Risi Competizione does.......

You just cannot does these things in Spec Miata........;>)
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http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145020&highlight=Green+Valley+racewayhttp://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149646&highlight=Green+Valley+raceway

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=189631&highlight=Green+Valley+raceway

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147892&highlight=Green+Valley+raceway
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171002&highlight=Green+Valley+raceway

Peter, you might want to check out these photos from over the years.........did not want to highjack the thread so I will turn it back to you guys now.......

 

it was a joke from another thread. sorry to interrupt. fantastic pictures though, i mean, wow.

 

Probably too late if he wants to be F1 world champion, but that is not his ambition. If I won the lottery tomorrow I'd start my racing 'career' and I'm 40.

 

I started in my mid 20s and had a great time! Never talk yourself out of anything, other than debt.

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86899&highlight=Le+Mans

says it all.

 

Good plan! It's worth every penny and you'll learn the right way the first time. The collective wisdom of the instructor corps is remarkable and in this day and age, the arrive and drive really makes sense. Have fun and tell us all about it afterwards!

"You're never too old to have a second childhood..."

 

Kyle, my friend, that will be the best spring break you will ever have. I promise you. I cannot recommend Skip Barber highly enough. I did the 3 day course at Laguna Seca 5 years ago and loved it. I went back the following year to take the advanced course, and got my SCCA license. I started racing right away in Spec Ford, which is one of the most competitive of all SCCA classes, and got a top ten finish in the first race of my life. While I have not won (again, very tough competition) I have qualified on the front row twice (one pole). And as for the age deal, when I took that first Skip Barber course I was 55 years old! I only wish I could have started at your age. Have fun and LISTEN to what they teach you!!

 

Kyle,
I was around high peformance automobiles from age 10 or so,but didn't start racing until age 26.I drove regularly for 10 years,at the amateur level and then moved into pro racing at the managerial level and worked in that feild for several years.The fact is,if you are really good as a driver,and have ONLY that goal in life,you will succeed at some level.It is probably too late for F1 and it may be too late for NASCAR,but there are "working" drivers(in pro road racing) right now that are old enough to be your father so don't worry about it.....keep your dream alive and pursue it.There are two undeniable realities which will help you with reagrd to pursuing this career.1)It will help you a great deal if you have alot of money.With money you will be able to "buy" or "rent" a driving position with an established team.That is exactly what established teams do,they sell driving positions to those that have the money.That is how they stay in business.If you can rent a ride for a season-or more- you will be able to showcase your talents.2)It will help a great deal if you are "always there",in other words,stick with it,be at as many events as you can afford,network with as many people as you can,try to become recognized around the paddock,get to know the right people.This way you might find yourself "at the right pl;ace at the right time".These connections might pay off some day.

Good luck and don't concern yourself with others' preconceptions about what YOU want to do.Go for it.

-raptr

 

I just completed the 3 day Skippy school in mid December thanks to Peter's (procoach) advice. I had high expectations going in. It exceeded my expectations and was an absolute blast.

I did the spec Miata school, because I thought it would be easier for my dad who joined me. I am glad I chose that for 2 reasons: 1) antilock brakes and 2) easy to use gear box. When learning to drive I think there is an advantage to just learning car placement. Adding perfect touch with both feet simultaneously while scaring yourself at times is not particularly helpful IMHO. I am absolutely no expert, but I am glad I was not adding too much to soon.

Best specific advice I got was- do not try to go too fast too soon, because speed will come naturally. Concentrate on putting the car where you want, so that you are driving it, not simply reacting to the car/ recovering. It is pretty tempting to "prove" you have a pair by going too fast too soon. I tried to live by that advice, and by the 3rd day I was moving at a pretty good clip.

Christian