Autotesting

I've not done if before, but it looks like a really easy entry into motorsport for little outlay. Skill is way more important than outright power.

As you can see from that vid, there's a real mix of vehicles. I don't think there's the same requirement for safety equipment as with circuit racing, so easy to get started. Competitions are run in various classes for vehicle types, FWD, RWD, cc .....

And for some inspiration, from the same event, a year earlier, how to be sideways before even leaving the start line ;D

This is called Motorkhana in Australia, and I've done a fair few motorkhanas in my old Beetle, on both concrete and dirt. Front-wheel drive cars are ideally suited, and are actually a lot quicker than the rear-wheel drives. You just put it in first, hold the throttle pinned and work the steering wheel and handbrake.

Motorkhana classes are based on wheelbase alone, as it's the most important factor on how quick you are. Class A is the shortest, populated only by Minis and Mokes, although I think a kei car would also fit in the class. A completely stock Moke is pretty much the fastest car available for motorkhana. You can compete in any size car, and stock, road-registered versions work great.

Some blokes build motorkhana specials, which generally consist of a front-wheel drive engine and gearbox with a seat welded to the back. The traditional ones generally have a column shift for quick access to first and reverse. Also, they have a pedal for the rear brake, instead of a handbrake.

A hot tip for motorkhanas: the only modification you need to your car is a roll of duct tape. Wrap the tape around the end of your handbrake a couple of times, push the button down and then tape it down. Electrical tape will also work, but you need a couple of layers. This lets you rip the handbrake up quickly without having to worry about the button, and saves you massive amounts of time. At the end of the day, take the tape off and you're ready to drive home!

Here's some pics of my old 1500cc Beetle doing dirt motorkhanas with the Volkswagen Club of South Australia.



Note the numbers on the window, "1/4/7". Because motorkhanas are run one car at a time, you can enter more than one driver per car! This is great for bringing mates along and sharing a car. On this day, I shared the car with my dad and my mate Rex.



If you're even slightly interested, get out and do it! It's cheap, you can use any car that runs and it's great fun.

I enquired about how to be a stunt driver, I spoke to various stunt drivers and they all recommended I started out with autotesting..
I've had perfect cars for this in the past but just never got round to it.

I've found a club really close by who do all sorts of stuff including AT, but there doesn't seem to be much on at the moment

Autotesting in northern& southern Ireland is very comptitive, these guys are the ones at the top of the game.