Revhead Ramblings: Is Cheap Motor Racing the Answer?

 I’ve spoken a lot about racing over the past few weeks, F1 and Formula E are the Premier League of motor racing; what we really need is the National League though.

No, that doesn’t mean watching teams like Port Vale next season, just a place where money hasn’t completely taken over, in most cases that is, and there are no armchair fans, just a collection of enthusiasts and competitors who want to get stuck in!

Cheap Racing

I’ve recently been reading about the Citroen C1 Club Series and I want in. A group of tiny French cars, nearly identical in spec, racing around some of the best tracks in Europe.

By motorsport standards it’s cheap and it’s very fair too. This is achieved by keeping engines standard and only allowing one supplier for consumables, you put the emphasis on the driver’s skill, not the team’s wallet.

Gaining Attention

Another article on Jalopnik highlighted to me that this isn’t just an English or European thing anymore, teams from all over the world are flocking to Europe to compete in 67 bhp Euro hatchback.

The appeal of buying and entering a car for less than £5000 is obviously too much for these international racers. For now, the Brits dominate though, from a race with 70 C1’s on the grid, 40 came from the UK-based C1 Racing Club.

We Need to be Careful

By having some tight restrictions money hasn’t yet been able to penetrate this humble series, but how long can this really last? This race epitomises everything we love about motor racing, minus the money and theatre.

The C1 racers were able to take advantage of a 24-hour race at Spa recently, they were on track with Citroen 2CVs, cars that had been racing here for over 30 years. However, these were no longer 2CVs, they’ve been corrupted by money, each car was worth into the £80,000 region. A series started for fun, ruined by a budgetary arms race.

Putting Their Skills to the Test

The money is around the C1 Series already, many drivers have experience in GT3 and GTE, yet they choose to drop to this level purely to test their skills. Yes, they’re incredibly accomplished drivers, but much of their success in those higher tiers comes from their sponsors’ generosity.

With the C1 though, there’s nowhere to hide, your success comes down to your racing line and your braking points and in the end, the bravest will win!

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