siliconfury wrote:I know the custom made ones ain't cheap though! £3-4k I've seen
My suit and helmet came to around £5k or so.
siliconfury wrote:The series I'm looking to get into (Swift Rallycross in Suzuki Swifts) you're looking at around £14k for the first year's competition (hence saving now for next year), and much, much less after that if you own your own car - probably £4k for a season, and a chunk of that you could seek sponsorship for, though Tet will tell you all about how tricky that is.
One of the things that initially attracted me to drag racing is that it's among the cheapest forms of recognised competitive motorsport that you can do. Initial setup costs are around 500 quid for a licence, suit and helmet and you can then do a full season for not much over a grand, using your daily drive road car. Of course, you can spend much, much more than that, and if you get a dedicated car for racing, the costs can quickly spiral out of control. But I've probably spent less than 1500 quid/year for several years.
Of course, in the last few years, I've stepped up to the big time, and it's costing me vastly more than that (5 figures per meeting). I couldn't do that without sponsorship, but it's very, very hard to come by. To the point where I'd go as far as to say it's essentially impossible without knowing someone on the inside. It's very much a case of who you know, and I don't move in the right circles to be in a position to know those people. I'm having to do this year with much less sponsor money than I've had in the past, so it's going to be tough.
