Racing Newbie!

Hi Everyone !

I've recently purchased a race prepared 1983 (W) reg Mk1 Golf GTi in red. I will be running it in the 2005 Stock Hatch championship organised by the 750MC.

The car was prepared by a young chap, only 24, who himself is a racing driver and ARDS instructor at Silverstone. He originally build the car for the Stock Hatch series to race himself, after hearing that Mk1 Golfs were uncompetative in the series. it motivated him to build a car that would be able to mount a serious challenge! No attention to detail was spared in its preparation and, having been a junior mechanic in the BTCC, a considerable amount of know how has gone into it.

I tested the car for the first time last week at Brands Hatch on a trackday, and it performed extremely well! I was running lap times of around 1:03. The lap record for Brands in a stock hatch car is around 0:69 and cars averaged 1:01 last year in similar conditions. I'm slightly off the pace, but given it was my first time at Brands and the first time in the car, I'm not too worried.

Please feel free to browse my website http://keith.grone.co.uk. There's pictures of the Golf and a little about myself on there. I look forward in sharing the hi's and low's of my season with you all.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or advice, it would be much appreciated!

Keith

Good luck fella,

just been having a look at your 'site hopefully the old girl does you proud.

Wish i had the funds to do the same as you, itching to get on track!

Nice one Keith! Aside from a similar passion to do racing having owned a MK1 Gti always wanted to put one on a track! That was a pretty impressive time I think for your first time out and a car that as you say is not competitive with the front runners.

Good luck for the season and keep us posted

Cheers
Andy

Hi Kieth - nice little site!

That car looks too god to race  :cry:

I too would love to get involved in something like that. I am dying to take my car out on a track!

Did you hold that Porsche off???  :twisted:

AL_Mk1 said

Did you hold that Porsche off???  :twisted:

It's funny, I was actually surprised at how well the Golf held its own out there, given some of the other machinery on track!

The 911s obviously roar away on the straights, but things evened out considerably on the corners, particularly Druids, Graham Hill, and Surtees. The feedback and handling is so good it gives you this confidence to really push hard, beyond what you would normally do!

The car didn't feel stressed at all throughout the day and was extremely reliable. I did well over 50 laps of flat out driving. I'm really happy with it and think it will do well!

Cheers for your comments guys!

Keith, its really impressive for me to see someone actually DO what i've been considering for a few years.
Very best of luck to you !

I tested the car for the first time last week at Brands Hatch on a trackday, and it performed extremely well! I was running lap times of around 1:03.

Wow. I went around Brands hatch in my stock Mk1 three years and only managed a 1:10 !! Nice one!

Definitely keep us informed. If we get a lot of interested folks, we could open a 'motorsport' forum on here.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew said

I tested the car for the first time last week at Brands Hatch on a trackday, and it performed extremely well! I was running lap times of around 1:03.

Wow. I went around Brands hatch in my stock Mk1 three years and only managed a 1:10 !! Nice one!

Definitely keep us informed. If we get a lot of interested folks, we could open a 'motorsport' forum on here.

Cheers,

Drew.

I'll update everyone after each race. Updates will also be on my website. I hope to get a digital camera installed in the car so, hopefully, I can post some video clips aswell.

If you do open a motorsport forum, I can help give advice to people wishing to start motor racing in terms of who to contact, how to get your licence, the costs involved etc.

I'm now on the hunt for sponsorship, so the more people know about what I'm doing, the better. The fact I'm running the only Golf in the Stock Hatch series is a godsend really, because I'll  stick out like a red sore thumb! Golf Mk1s are known not to be competitive among the Stock Hatch community, but our test at Brands proved this wrong, so it's all looking good!