As you would expect, the governing body – Motorsport UK – has all the official information on everything motorsport, but because it has to cover everything it can be a bit daunting to read through and understand what is important as a ‘newbie’: so we have lifted only the relevant information to give you an insight into your first look, and coupled with our own experiences of getting involved at this basic level here are some answers you may be looking for:
Q Will I need a Motorsport UK licence to compete?
Yes – The Basic level is called an RS Clubman Licence
Q Will this type of Motorsport UK Licence cost?
No (it’s free!)
Do I need to qualify or take a test for this type of Motorsport UK licence?
No – just complete the application form which can be found on the Motorsport UK web site.
Q So what can I do with a free Motorsport UK licence, with no training or tests?
You can compete in Autotests, All trials, Navigation rallies, Road rallies, Safaris, Time trials, team recoveries, challenge events, Most Hill rallies, Clubcross, Autocross.
Q Which of these can I use my normal street car?
Touring Assembly, Treasure Hunt, 12 Car Rally, Navigational rally, Road & Historic Rally, Targa Rally, Autotest, Production Car Autotest, Cross Country.
Q Too expensive?
We do not have data on every club, but we have found that to join a local motor club will cost around £15-£20, with just a few £ more to add in partners or make it a family membership. These will all be one day events and we would expect that there are enough local events to avoid you needing to stay away and to enter an event will likely fall into the £20-£200 bracket (although some of the fees will include meals etc).
So just to reconfirm, that all these types of events are run under authorised permits issued by Motorsport UK, but do not need anything apart from applying for your free of charge RS clubman licence. Which is available using the forms on their website www.motorsportuk.org.
To join in at one of these events you will most often need to join a recognised motorsport club; a full list of these can be found on the www.motorsportuk.org website but again this list has so many entries covering every discipline that our advise would be to use a local Social media search or attend local car shows and exhibitions to find your first contact and speak to them, or just turn up at one of their events to speak to them. We learnt very quickly that these local contacts are extremely enthusiastic in making you welcome, and even if you are speaking to the wrong person/club, they will share details of other local contacts, many of which will not have a website.
With no knowledge, we found a local motor club on Facebook, and with just a few messages, the next day we took our standard road cars to a local event, Joined the club for an annual fee of £15 and paid an entrance fee to the event of £20 which gave us a full days driving and comradery just 15 miles from our home!
What other excuse do you have? – within days and with little effort you could have already enjoyed completing in your first motorsport event for less than £50!
This is with no training, your existing everyday road car (whatever it is), and very likely within a few miles of your home!
If you would like to view more details on line first, then Motorsport UK have an initiative called ‘street car’ for this exact reason; here are a couple of their introductory videos, with more information available by going directly to www.streetcarmotorsportuk.com
Enjoy it! – and if we have influenced you, then please let us know how you got on.