Update on BBC Top Gear/Johnny Herbert Racing school Search for a Star

[Mad Man Dan]

Yeah I saw that too!

Had a thought watching the other presenter rag that BMW Z4 around...HE might be the Stig! For three reasons:

1) He looks to be the same size as the Stig, and even had the same driving position behind the wheel as him.

2) He looked like he could drive a bit in the BMW.

3) At the end, Clarkson only had a go at him for the Stig driving his car... not the other sizable presenter, or the producer or anyone else. Just a thought...

Having said that, I may be able to find out who the Stig really is in the next week or so. To cut a long story short I entered the BBC Top Gear/Johnny Herbert Racing school search for a star a while ago. It's a competition to find the next great motorsport talent in this country. Basically, I have somehow managed to make it through to the final, which is taking place at Rockingham this Friday (29th). Top Gear are going to be there, as is Johnny Herbert himself... and it's quite possible that I am going to have to take Mr Herbert round the track in a Lotus Exige, which is one of the cars we are using in the final.

I dunno how I've managed to get to the final (I'm so modest! ;) :o ). I've managed to beat people who are racing already. I was one of the only people to turn up for the final without my own helmet/race overalls/sponsors caps/jackets! Still, of the 25 or so in my Semi I managed to be one of about six people who made it through to the final!

If I win I'll get a year's racing in Avon Junior Formula Ford, 18 test days, driver training, technical training, personal fitness training, PR, etc, etc. They want the winner to go on from Formula Ford all the way to Formula 1. It's a possibility that the winner will be asked to appear on the Top Gear tv program and try and go round the track in that Suzuki Liana thingy, in an attempt to beat the Stig's time!

Still, having been assessed in cars like the Seat Leon Cuprasport R's (2.0 20v turbo), V5 skid cars, and single seaters I'm really getting a taste for this motorsport malarkey... tho if I do win it will probs mean that I will have to sell the 180 :( Still, I s'pose it's not every day that you get to spin a Formula Ford at about 70mph (oops.. yes, I did do that, but I managed to collect it... somehow! :) )

Anyway, the final is in a weeks time like I said, so erm.... keep watching Top Gear and (hopefully) you'll see my ugly mug on there! ;)

Wish me luck guys! :)

[Jezz_S13]

Dan, you bast@rd, in the nicest possible way, :D:D, and good luck mate. :)

[Mad Man Dan]

Cheers mate!

I have a backup plan if I don't win. I'm gonna keep the 180 and then kick ass on the drifting circuit!

..that's bound to upset someone! :D

[Keith_C]

There you go Dan - moved the posts for you :)

[Keith_C]

Doh - and of course, good luck, and well done already!

If you get on Top Gear, give us a good plug :D

[Mad Man Dan]

Cheers Keith. Thing is, if I do win the comp and go on Top Gear I will DEFFO mention the sxoc. :)

BTW - cheer for the post movement. :o :)

[Tenman]

lucky git ;)

good luck :D . Don't tell all the boy racers about the secret of the SX though.

[dunc]

Good luck Dan, my boss won the "search for a rally driver" top gear did before and got a year with a rally team. He said it was pretty good.

Dunc.

[Lenagh]

Gluck in winning. If you do don't forget to say that it was all due to experience gained whilst driving an elite japanese car called the 200 the bestest car evar :) !

[TAS]

Well Done Mate;)

[Dave_S]

Congratularions. Good luck.

Dave

[Mad Man Dan]

Cheers guys! :)

I'm just about to leave for Rockingham (staying overnight).

Cheers for the support, not too sure about the boy racer comment though....

Dan. :)

[yeager]

Good luck mate and plug the sxoc !!!

[Mad Man Dan]

Hi guys,

unfortunately I didn't win :( However, I'm not too dissapointed. The prize went to two guys who are going to have to return next week for a 1 hour shootout as it was just too close to call.

There were about thirty or forty of us in the final, and I only met 1 other guy who hadn't done any racing in the past. We were split into four groups, and the people in my group included about four National karting racers, one of which was also a competitor in a European Karting series. Others were club racers, and I was about the only person who didn't have their own overalls/helmets/boots, etc.

Despite my lack of racing experience I did pretty feckin' well! It was foggy and slippery as fcuk all day long! We began the day with an Autosprint in a 175bhp single-seater... which had no wings on it whatsoever. The instructor said to me that I was only here once, so I may as well go for it...so I did. I was going to post the fastest time for the course (five laps of a 'mini-course'), but managed to spin on about my third lap! :( Still, the guy after me was all 'suited and booted', I dunno what he raced though, but he posted a time of 1min 39, my time, with a spin and then some reversing to avoid cones getting back on the track, was 1min 42, so I would probably have posted a 1min 20-odd second time if I hadn't spun! :(

Then we each had an interview, which went very well. The examiners told me that they were extremely impressed that I had got to the final without any previous racing experience, so I very happy about that. :)

Next were the single-seaters. We were told that these were the most important cars of the day. Anyway, picture the scene: it's foggy, wet and slippery and I'm sat in a 175bhp single-seater which will do 150mph and 0-60 in just over four seconds (straight-cut box, the works), on hard-compound road tyres, and we have to post the quickest, most consistent times we can. Feck me! Anyway, my time in the sx really helped here, as I was able to control the MASSIVE amounts of oversteer, even when powershifting in a straight line the car was trying to throw itself sideways! Anyway, no-one overtook me and I overtook the one and only chap who was in front of me. Apparently he tried to stay with me and ended up spinning off! :) I was at least second-quickest in the single-seaters, which amazed me, as one of the guys in particular had spent £3,000 on a five-day course at Silverstone, which was based around almost identical cars.

Anyway, the rest of the day included Skid cars and Seat Leons again, which both went well.

At the end of the day I didn't win, but I was definitely in the top three of my group of about 10 which impressed the hell out of me. I realised that I was beating people who have won different series and championships, and this was the one and only competition like this I had entered!

I don't want to sound like I'm showing off. I'm just genuinely amazed at how easily I was beating some of these people who had involved in Motorsport for years!

I am thinking about looking for sponsorship and entering something like Monoposto or even Stock/Hot Hatch for a year. I always thought I had the talent, but now I know I have, which is really strange. I honestly think that this competition may change my life. With a bit more experience and training I'm sure I could have won the competition.

Anyway, if anyone knows of any of the following can they mail me please at goodyerdan@aol.com :

1) Does anyone know of a race-series where I could drive my 180 SX?

2) Does anyone own/know of a company which would like to get involved in sponsorship, at any level?

3) Is anyone selling/know anyone that is selling any kind of race car? Preferably a single-seater such as a Van-diemen (spelt that wrong I think).

Many thanks.

Dan.

[Martin T]

Sounds like you're pretty good at racing on the track, but I would suggest that you enter the CCC Stock hatch, or do some kart racing - Kart racing starts with costs of about £1200 per year for pretty slow karts, Stock hatch works out at about £2400 per year (I think) Including damage to car etc. Just get an XR2/ Pug 205 GTI 1.6 or something with an enging no bigger than 1.6 litres (8v) or 1.4 Litres (16V). Only modifications allowed are tyres - yoko's of some sort and suspension - most of the cars there have fully adjustable suspension. That keeps the costs down. The championship is limited to 70 entries per season. From there, hope that you win or something and get noticed by some rich sponsors, and you can afford some more expensive racing.

When you mentioned the Van Diemen chassis, I assumed you wanted to race formula fords, but I have been told by numerous sources that it costs about £90,000 per season! You'll need sponsorship for that, hence starting off in something like stock hatch.

Hope this is useful and accurate!

[Mad Man Dan]

Cheers for the info Martin. :)

Yeah, apparently the costs of a season in Formula Ford are set to double this year, going from around £60,000 to around the £100,000 mark as you mentioned.

I was actually thinking about something like Monoposto so that I could use a Formula Renault/Vauxhall or something like that. One of the examiners at Rockingham mentioned that when he started he managed a full season on just one regular set of tyres so that he could afford the full season! I'm seriously thinking of looking for sponsorship as my 'success' in the competition, and the praise from the examiners who were all champions in their own classes, has really inspired me.

With regard to karting, I've done a few endurance races in the past. Nothing spectacular, mainly twin-engined pro-karts, and one race in a faster single-engined kart, at Lydd, Buckmore Park, Daytona (The Raceway?!), etc. Without wanting to sound like a boy-racer who thinks he's it, nobody has come close to me. In all of the kart races I have been involved in I have NEVER been overtaken! With one exception, I have posted the fastest time of the day.

I've got to have a long think about things now. I've spent most of the day looking at single-seaters for sale on the net, and then looking at regs, etc, to see which single-seaters can be used in which series.

Dunno what to do now, particularly as the 180 is halfway through a complete transformation?! :o I think I'd be stupid to not give it a real go?...

[Billy]

Well done mate! :)

There's no substitute for raw talent, and you obviously have it! They say wet weather shows the real class, so you should be feeling pretty smug.....

There's quite a few competitions with a seasons drive as a prize. Most of them involve buying a race-car from the organisers/manufacturers though. I think Caterham do something along those lines, though I'm not very up-to-date on all that gubbins.

Whatever you choose to do, may I be the first to offer any help you may need? Pit-crew springs to mind (shortly after co-driver, heh heh!), but anything at all really. (Well, anything but sponsorship that is...:( )

CCC has race-cars for sale, as does Autosport, but I'd get a race license sorted first and try and plot some sort of career path before deciding on a particular series (unless you've already done it!)


We have a star in our midst!!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D

[Mad Man Dan]

BTW - I thought about Stock/Hot Hatch, but I would much prefer to race a RWD car. This is for two reasons:

1) My car-control in a rwd car is one of my greatest strengths (as proved in the rain yesterday!)

2) RWD cars are just sooooo much more fun to drive!

;)

[Mad Man Dan]

Billy> Cheers mate! :) Actually, pit crew help would be fantastic if you're serious?

I think I'm gonna get in touch with some people 'in-the-know' for some advice, but at the mo I'm thinking about Monoposto. Particularly as I have a friend who works for Ford, and he can get heavily discounted parts, so a 1600 cvh or 1800 zetec-engined reynard, etc.

If anyone is as generous as Billy and wants to get involved, in any way, just let me know.

I'm glad someone has faith in the Mad Man! ;)

:D

[Billy]

Originally posted by Mad Man Dan
Billy> Cheers mate! :) Actually, pit crew help would be fantastic if you're serious?


Dead serious! Babs says she'll do the catering too, which saves me making excuses for disappearing at odd weekends!

I always fancied doing something similar myself, but I was relying on a career in music to finance it, so, er, here I am...:(