- 9,089
- Scotland
You might not care but if gives you an idea of the levels of cost and just make sure they fit a flat shift.
So, um, I want to race at Le Mans one day. (Please read the message throroughly before responding)
- Thread starter Galaxander96
- 87 comments
- 8,935 views
- 78
- Houston, TX
A flat shift? You know that not letting off the throttle when shifting is bad for engine, right? It's not good to spike the revs too high for obvious reasons.
- 17,332
- United Kingdom
Flat shifting =! a flat shift system.
The latter compensates for the potential drawbacks of the former.
...
At least, that's how I understand it.
- 78
- Houston, TX
Oh, you mean a sequential gearbox? Plenty of rally cars have that, and from what I can tell, the driver only depresses the clutch when downshifting. Also, most professional drivers go with a sequential gearbox anyways, because it shifts much faster.
- 9,089
- Scotland
Flat shift cuts the ignition so you can change gears without lifting or using the clutch.
We had one fitted to the Evo
My mates Vantage GT3 comes with it too
Only needs a clutch to pull away and to come to a stop.
- 78
- Houston, TX
That's a sequential gearbox, I've seen a bunch of those in world rally cars, they all have them. However Colin McRae used a traditional manual gearbox back in 1998 in the Impreza he used to drive. Those old McRae onboard videos were awe inspiring.
Also, poor Evo driver.
He totally lost grip coming out of that chicane at 0:41.
- 9,089
- Scotland
Also, poor Evo driver.
Didn't lose grip just forgot to turn the traction control off
The reason Colin used a H pattern in 1998 is because it was part of the regulations.
- 78
- Houston, TX
- 78
- Houston, TX
For some reason I feel rather lonely on this type of thing, because I'm almost certainly the only one dealing with this series of obstacles; having a deep rooted passion for motorsport, yet being 19 years old with no real circuit experience. Man, I'm over the hill.
However I am looking forward to interesting prospects in the months and years to come as my experience will start to grow then (on top of my lifetime worth of experience playing Gran Turismo on PS2/3)
However I am looking forward to interesting prospects in the months and years to come as my experience will start to grow then (on top of my lifetime worth of experience playing Gran Turismo on PS2/3)
LeGeNd-1
Premium
- 7,264
- Australia
- GTP_LeGeNd-1
Getting into motorsports is very though. Very tough. I don't want to scare you and destroy your dreams, but you have to be realistic here and willing to sacrifice everything. Especially (as you've already know) you're starting late and have no real experience yet. I am 24 and I have been obsessed about racing since I was 6. Despite having a good chance of getting into racing, I feel I'm not world champion material. Passion helps but it doesn't really do anything until you're actually racing in the first place. If you're not winning in racing there's no point, and that's what made me chose to pursue other options in life. Still love racing though 
Basically it comes down to 3 things:
1) Talent
2) Money
3) Connections
If you have talent, you might not need as much money. But even some talented drivers can get shafted by pay drivers these days. You have to be Senna like if you want to get noticed on talent alone.
If you have money, you can generally get by. Just be a safe consistent driver, no need to top the timesheets every session. However, it is unlikely that you will stay in motorsports for long because 1) money will run out without results eventually and 2) there are always other guys bringing in more money than you.
If you have both, you have a good chance. But let's face it if you do you won't be asking for help in a forum, right? If you don't have both, well forget it.
Connections is the final key that will get you through. Knowing people and teams in the business will give you opportunities that might just put you above the next guy when you're both evenly matched. Also having a mentor is invaluable. People that knows the ins and outs of racing, both on and off the track to guide you through the minefield.
Now in your case, if you really want to do it, you want to maximize the 3 factors above:
1) Practice. Practice. Practice. There's no substitute. You HAVE to be driving every single of your waking second, and even in your dreams. Race virtually, race in your head, analyzing your driving even when you're driving on the road, and get some track time. Start with gokarts or autocross, as they are the most accessible. Gran Turismo is an OK starting point, but it's not enough. Get a PC and get the latest simulators which are much more demanding. It's all about having a wide variety of experience in numerous conditions. Every kilometer driven helps.
2) Money you just gotta work, work, work. You might need to get multiple jobs. Get a loan if you have to. Ask as many family/friends as possible to support you. Make a website/facebook/blog/kickstarter or whatever to support your goals. Talk to local businesses and such to see if they are interested in sponsoring you.
3) You need to immerse yourself in the world of motorsports. It's easy these days to just think everything can be done online, but there's no substitute for being actually present on the track and talking face-to-face to the people in the business. Go to your local kart/autocross track and talk to as many people as you can. Go to race meets. Go to car shows. Try marshalling or volunteering at one of those events. If your local University have a Formula SAE team, get involved. Put yourself out there and show that you're interested and damn serious about this.
If you do those things you *might* get somewhere, but you also might not. There are also lots of people wanting to do the same as you that are better. The pyramid of racing is very narrow at the top. If you are really good you might win something like GT Academy and get a shortcut, but recently even GTA winners have lost their seats. Nothing is a guarantee.
If you goal is just to race at Le Mans once, I think getting a ride with one of the gentleman teams are the best bet. Start gokarting/autocross, go to your local club touring car races, then build up to the big leagues (e.g. Blancpain GT3/Ferrari Challenge/Lamborghini Super Trofeo/911 Cup). If you're good hopefully you'll get noticed and one day you get offered a seat to start at Le Mans.
But it's a big IF If I were you, I'd get off this forum and start going out there right NOW.
Good luck!
Basically it comes down to 3 things:
1) Talent
2) Money
3) Connections
If you have talent, you might not need as much money. But even some talented drivers can get shafted by pay drivers these days. You have to be Senna like if you want to get noticed on talent alone.
If you have money, you can generally get by. Just be a safe consistent driver, no need to top the timesheets every session. However, it is unlikely that you will stay in motorsports for long because 1) money will run out without results eventually and 2) there are always other guys bringing in more money than you.
If you have both, you have a good chance. But let's face it if you do you won't be asking for help in a forum, right? If you don't have both, well forget it.
Connections is the final key that will get you through. Knowing people and teams in the business will give you opportunities that might just put you above the next guy when you're both evenly matched. Also having a mentor is invaluable. People that knows the ins and outs of racing, both on and off the track to guide you through the minefield.
Now in your case, if you really want to do it, you want to maximize the 3 factors above:
1) Practice. Practice. Practice. There's no substitute. You HAVE to be driving every single of your waking second, and even in your dreams. Race virtually, race in your head, analyzing your driving even when you're driving on the road, and get some track time. Start with gokarts or autocross, as they are the most accessible. Gran Turismo is an OK starting point, but it's not enough. Get a PC and get the latest simulators which are much more demanding. It's all about having a wide variety of experience in numerous conditions. Every kilometer driven helps.
2) Money you just gotta work, work, work. You might need to get multiple jobs. Get a loan if you have to. Ask as many family/friends as possible to support you. Make a website/facebook/blog/kickstarter or whatever to support your goals. Talk to local businesses and such to see if they are interested in sponsoring you.
3) You need to immerse yourself in the world of motorsports. It's easy these days to just think everything can be done online, but there's no substitute for being actually present on the track and talking face-to-face to the people in the business. Go to your local kart/autocross track and talk to as many people as you can. Go to race meets. Go to car shows. Try marshalling or volunteering at one of those events. If your local University have a Formula SAE team, get involved. Put yourself out there and show that you're interested and damn serious about this.
If you do those things you *might* get somewhere, but you also might not. There are also lots of people wanting to do the same as you that are better. The pyramid of racing is very narrow at the top. If you are really good you might win something like GT Academy and get a shortcut, but recently even GTA winners have lost their seats. Nothing is a guarantee.
If you goal is just to race at Le Mans once, I think getting a ride with one of the gentleman teams are the best bet. Start gokarting/autocross, go to your local club touring car races, then build up to the big leagues (e.g. Blancpain GT3/Ferrari Challenge/Lamborghini Super Trofeo/911 Cup). If you're good hopefully you'll get noticed and one day you get offered a seat to start at Le Mans.
But it's a big IF
If I were you, I'd get off this forum and start going out there right NOW.Good luck!
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- 78
- Houston, TX
LeGeNd-1
Premium
- 7,264
- Australia
- GTP_LeGeNd-1
As twitcher said, it's only if you want to rely on talent alone that you have to be Senna level. If you have the other stuff I mentioned then you don't need to be superhuman, but being as good as possible certainly helps. I amended my original post as well, sorry for being unclear.
Have you ever entered any of the GT Academy of previous years? Do you know around what rank and how many seconds off the top guys you usually are?
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- 78
- Houston, TX
No I haven't entered GTA in previous years, as I was busy trying to get through High School first, but now I can make the push and go for it this year. (I graduated HS in 2015, btw)
I've been prepping for this year's GT Academy. Every day, I'm checking for updates on the threads here on GTP, their facebook page and even the official website. Right now they just have posts on previous winners of GTA racing at Blancpain, which is very appealing to me, I really want to go for Blancpain someday. But for now, I need to get some sleep and get ready for my bike ride tomorrow, gotta make sure I'm fit by the time I make it to race camp. (I hope I do make it, I see it as an a golden opportunity I can't stand missing.)
Now if you excuse, I better get off this forum and get going on my quest. It's time for me to kick it in gear and floor it now. I will report back here for substantial updates, though.
Until then, bye for now!
LeGeNd-1
Premium
- 7,264
- Australia
- GTP_LeGeNd-1
No I haven't entered GTA in previous years, as I was busy trying to get through High School first, but now I can make the push and go for it this year. (I graduated HS in 2015, btw)
I've been prepping for this year's GT Academy. Every day, I'm checking for updates on the threads here on GTP, their facebook page and even the official website. Right now they just have posts on previous winners of GTA racing at Blancpain, which is very appealing to me, I really want to go for Blancpain someday. But for now, I need to get some sleep and get ready for my bike ride tomorrow, gotta make sure I'm fit by the time I make it to race camp. (I hope I do make it, I see it as an a golden opportunity I can't stand missing.)
Now if you excuse, I better get off this forum and get going on my quest. It's time for me to kick it in gear and floor it now. I will report back here for substantial updates, though.
Well good luck. I don't even know if GTA will be running this year, with GT Sport and the FIA Championship incoming. Or whether it might be on PS3 or PS4, so you better save up if you haven't already gotten the new console.
Certainly don't forget your fitness. Also you need to train hard with GT6. I'd suggest going on youtube and finding previous year's winners laptimes and practice using the same car and track combo to get as close as possible. I couldn't find the winning lap, but this lap is second so it's pretty close. Car is GT-R LM NISMO at La Sarthe:
Also join one of the leagues here and practice racing side by side, because you need to do that for the national finals.
- 20,681
- TenEightyOne
- TenEightyOne
What's your Plan B? You should be working towards that too; there's a far greater chance of you making it in racing outside GT Academy, remember. You need to prepare at the same time as creating the opportunities. Hopefully you'll be getting down to the local racetracks and getting in with teams there, make some contacts, get the feel, get your face and name known a little.
You can do this. If you're motivated enough (which you seem to be) and you're keen enough (which you definitely seem to be) then you will get there. There's no use in listening to anybody who tells you otherwise.
What you shouldn't rely on is a plan where you go from your bike training into a car at Le Mans, any more than you should rely on the first song you ever write going multi-platinum across the world or your first painting winning the Turner Prize. I think you'll get what I'm saying; there's some real dog-work in between. Good luck
- 1,837
- Connecticut
- FutureF1
Hey man, I dunno why but I've held off from posting here but this is more or less the situation I'm in. My family never had enough money to go karting full time so I've only ever won one race.
Money is do damn important even in the lowest class racing. The likes of Formula 4 and MX5 Cup will cost you upwards of 150k while s drive in a GS Cayman(the cheapest GS car) will cost upwards of 350k.
If you're funding yourself, you must be damn wealthy for a 19 year old. Otherwise you're going to need sponsors, which are impossible to get without a racing resume. Most of the guys my age who are racing are racing because their parents support them to a point where they can get these drives. These guys are typically second generation racers so if you don't have the bloodline, there's more reason for a team not to look at you.
I hate to sound so negative but I've been going after a ride for about 6 months now and haven't had much luck without sponsorship to get me through.
What I've done to compensate is really race competitively on sims to see where I stack up. Along with that I'm pursuing other ways to get into Motorsport. I'm personally passionate about designing race cars so it works out alright.
I'm an optimist, I think everyone will achieve their dreams when that's rarely the case. I think you might need to lower some of your expectations and to just get a job in a big team would allow you to be a part of that race weekend.
Money is do damn important even in the lowest class racing. The likes of Formula 4 and MX5 Cup will cost you upwards of 150k while s drive in a GS Cayman(the cheapest GS car) will cost upwards of 350k.
If you're funding yourself, you must be damn wealthy for a 19 year old. Otherwise you're going to need sponsors, which are impossible to get without a racing resume. Most of the guys my age who are racing are racing because their parents support them to a point where they can get these drives. These guys are typically second generation racers so if you don't have the bloodline, there's more reason for a team not to look at you.
I hate to sound so negative but I've been going after a ride for about 6 months now and haven't had much luck without sponsorship to get me through.
What I've done to compensate is really race competitively on sims to see where I stack up. Along with that I'm pursuing other ways to get into Motorsport. I'm personally passionate about designing race cars so it works out alright.
I'm an optimist, I think everyone will achieve their dreams when that's rarely the case. I think you might need to lower some of your expectations and to just get a job in a big team would allow you to be a part of that race weekend.
- 78
- Houston, TX
I've been feeling very nauseated in my stomach every since hearing about the recent EPA proposals about "motor vehicles used for competition", I'm wondering if I'm even going to be able to gain racing experience in my own country! It's been making me worried as it seems to be a foothold into outlawing motorsports in general. It's been scaring me for several days and sleepless nights, but I'm still trying my best to keep focused.
- 20,681
- TenEightyOne
- TenEightyOne
It's nonsense. The new rules were mis-reported by a number of outlets. They were well-covered at this forum. Don't lose any sleep over it.
- 78
- Houston, TX
Oh ok! So, no legal barriers to fulfilling my racing dream? That's a relief. Ok, onwards!
- 78
- Houston, TX
OK, I have a bit of an update here. In the 3 years that transpired since I first posted this thread, I've been autocrossing for 3 years, and in 2018 (my second full season of AutoX) I won my regional AutoX championship in the G-Street class in my 2013 MK6 GTI.
I have recently moved to Houston, I am going to an automotive tech school here, and I've been down to MSR Houston and went karting a couple of times. I am now looking to get my SCCA competition license for club racing, hopefully early next year, depending on the dates for that. I am looking into continuing competing in AutoX events in my area, and look into a cheap, affordable base car that I can build to go club racing in.
As for the fitness side, I've been doing a lot of cycling, and my stamina has dramatically increased over the last 2 years. Since I just moved to Houston, I am looking at local gyms for weight training, and continuing my cycling regiment as usual. Someone who has a good racing driver fitness routine/regiment should send me a message with a weekly routine that I can follow closely, I would really appreciate that.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I am taking the next step(s) in my journey, and the best is still yet to come. Ever upward and onward!!
I have recently moved to Houston, I am going to an automotive tech school here, and I've been down to MSR Houston and went karting a couple of times. I am now looking to get my SCCA competition license for club racing, hopefully early next year, depending on the dates for that. I am looking into continuing competing in AutoX events in my area, and look into a cheap, affordable base car that I can build to go club racing in.
As for the fitness side, I've been doing a lot of cycling, and my stamina has dramatically increased over the last 2 years. Since I just moved to Houston, I am looking at local gyms for weight training, and continuing my cycling regiment as usual. Someone who has a good racing driver fitness routine/regiment should send me a message with a weekly routine that I can follow closely, I would really appreciate that.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I am taking the next step(s) in my journey, and the best is still yet to come. Ever upward and onward!!
- 2,461
- South Auckland, New Zealand
- Nismonath5
Since the goal is Le Mans, why not come do the 24hr Lemons next year with the Hooncorp x GTPlanet team 
- 3,990
- Chicago
- fortbo
- fortbo
If you’re looking for a good program to start out with that’s affordable, I would actually check out Gridlife events. I’ve been running their time attack series for the past three years. The series goes to legendary tracks like Road America and Road Atlanta. Professional drivers regularly compete in it from series such as IMSA, Formula Drift, and other touring car series around the world as well as some of the fastest time attack drivers in the world. If you want to get your feet wet and see how you stack up against some exceptional driving this is the place. There is also a new wheel to wheel touring cup series that has proved to be very competitive and affordable since they are all sprint races.
- 78
- Houston, TX
Ok I understand this was posted in October, but if your serious about giving me a drive for the 24H of Lemons next year, send me a PM and I'll give you my contact info so we can discuss this.Since the goal is Le Mans, why not come do the 24hr Lemons next year with the Hooncorp x GTPlanet team
Thank you in advance! (Hopefully XD)
- 2,461
- South Auckland, New Zealand
- Nismonath5
Flicked you a message 👍
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