Who is up for racing their Atom?

[John H]

I spoke to Simon and Tom about my desire to race my Atom next year in the UK. Originally was thinking about Euro GT4, but it's not looking possible due to restrictions on power and weight.
We are however going to be meeting with the MSA soon to discuss the possibility of an Atom only race series, and to look at wherever else we can place the car for racing.
Just as a general guide, how many people would be up for entering the race series, should we manage to pull it off?
Obviously the cars will have to become compliant, but if there is enough interest, I can then go and talk to Alan Gow about potentially trying to get on the undercard of BTCC, or one of the other larger meetings. Would be great to get some TV coverage, rather than limiting it to a club meeting etc etc.
I think the Atom is so unusual, that there would be interest from TV in a single race series.

[ragezx14r]

What's the cost to enter per race not Inc tyres, fuel etc?

Darren

[morgy]

I like the idea of it but would need to know what would we have to do to the car's to make them fit for track use?

[John H]

[quote="ragezx14r"]
What's the cost to enter per race not Inc tyres, fuel etc?

Darren
[/quote]
no idea at this stage, just sounding out potentials??????

[John H]

[quote="morgy"]
I like the idea of it but would need to know what would we have to do to the car's to make them fit for track use?
[/quote]
defo cage, fire ext and probably some mods on the bulkhead to cover the fluid reservoirs. Not entirely sure at this stage as we will have to take a car to the MSA for a butchers.

[wisp]

Why doesn't the factory just replicate the US SRA series in the UK? That would seem to make the most sense as developements could be shared and the class expanded globaly. A country like Australia, where the cars are not road legal, may be interseted in track only cars if they saw an identical series successfully running in both US and UK.

[Richard Marler]

Potentially I would be interested, but as things stand today, the Mazda looks a much cheaper bet, with an already established, big field.

[Atom120]

I'm still up for a bit of Atom racing - providing it doesn't require too many mods to the car.

The BTCC package is probably a bit ambitous - you need to guarantee 15-20 cars to get Gow interested, or he'll throw paper cups at you. Entry fees will be a minimum of £10k a year on a BTCC package - the MSVR package would probably be a quarter of that.

[John H]

[quote="Atom120"]
I'm still up for a bit of Atom racing - providing it doesn't require too many mods to the car.

The BTCC package is probably a bit ambitous - you need to guarantee 15-20 cars to get Gow interested, or he'll throw paper cups at you. Entry fees will be a minimum of £10k a year on a BTCC package - the MSVR package would probably be a quarter of that.
[/quote]
yep, have done my research since I started thinking about this. MSVR racing is really well organised and run. They also have the MSVR website, which really helps increase the profile of the cars and drivers.
I'll have a chat with them, in conjunction with speaking to the MSA about the car.

[FlyingTrotter]

Do you think an Atom is robust enough to cope with the inevitable car on car contact/wheel interlocking that you are "enjoying" in your Clio

I sense the costs to address the wear and tear would be a fair bit higher than say the guys racing their caterhams accrue especially connected with suspension damage

[Trigger]

Wouldnt there be issues over the open nature ? All single seaters have bodywork to stop anything coming into the cockpit. I assume some sort of side panels may be needed ?

[Atom120]

Yeah, side panels are one of the bits that would be needed - but they can be added pretty easily even if your chassis doesn't have the lugs on.

[John H]

[quote="Atom120"]
Yeah, side panels are one of the bits that would be needed - but they can be added pretty easily even if your chassis doesn't have the lugs on.
[/quote]
There's no way I am setting foot in any Atom with side panels, unless it is also fitted with a stairlift and has a blue badge on the dash.
The worst invention since HIV!
Show me an Atom with side panels and a windscreen and I'll show you a potential mass murderer, rugby fan and Eddie Stobart spotter.

[jpswift]

fair comment........except the rugby bit

[John Scherrer]

"Show me an Atom with side panels and a windscreen and ...."

A special treat for John H ... ?

On sale at PH - A bit of one-off (hopefully) imo ..

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3013929.htm