I have several Datsun race cars that are part of a "Foster Car" program. The basic idea is that I give you the car for the season, you maintain and race it (FREE of any rent), and just return it in as good a condition as you received it. 90% of the time the cars come back in better condition.

WHAT if you wanted to come over and race in the US? I know you cannot come over here for a month and prepare a car, but....

If you have racing experience and a race license in your home country, we would have NO PROBLEM finding you a very inexpensive rental Datsun race car for some of the better race events here. The better subscribed events start in January in the warm weather of Florida. [Sebring and Homestead.]

Email me if you want to come over here and race a Datsun on the cheap. [Some day I would like to race in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, but I too would have to do it on the cheap.] Peter

PeterZekert [at] Juno.com

Wow, what a concept! PM sent.

I race in the SCCA [Sports Car Club of America] National Championship series. We race to get an invitation to the amateur club championships, the "Runoffs".

MOST of the racers, maybe 90%, do it for the fun. Some do it as a stepping stone to the pros, although that has changed much over the 37+ yrs I've been in it. Some race for a living, making their money preparing a bunch of cars. MOST of the racers are very good people who will respect your racing space on the track. SOME will even loan you their best race engine and then race you to the last lap trying to beat you. Good guys.

[When I first went to driver's school, racers like Mario Andretti's son Michael were racing Formula Fords.]

Our races are about 45 minute sprint races. Race weekends are either Friday-Saturday-Sunday or just Saturday-Sunday.

Costs: It usually costs me $400 to enter a race, but can be as low as $225 and as high as $600 for a "double" race weekend. We can find a visiting driver some good used slick tires, so that can be from $0 to $800 if you want to race on a new set. Fuel might cost $50 for a weekend. Other than that, your living expenses will decide if you spend a lot of money or not. I've slept in many a race trailer at the race track, and with nice showers at most race tracks, camping is an option.

Peter

How many race weekends in the season?

When work is VERY busy, I do the 4 January races and race the championship in September.

In 2008 I raced 16 race weekends. I spent my entire life either racing, preparing the car for racing, or traveling to the races.

For 2013 I expect to race 6 race weekends, but that is just an estimate. Peter

What a fantastic concept! If I had the spare capital (and a free year), not to mention no ties, I would seriously consider this.
For the punters that can possibly take you up on your generous offer, what would be the visa requirements for entering the U.S. Peter? Is (potential) prize money won during sport participation classified as income and even if potential prize money wasn't part of the agenda, would a foreigner entering the U.S. to participate in a season of sporting events require visa sponsorship?
Cheers,
Alan.

geez peter i spoke about this a while back [joking].We would like to see you here in south africa [with your car]only thing is the most datsuns here race in historics ---the other group is clubmans.In cape town the Richards bros race datsuns & racetech [on this site] has to do with the witzenberg club and in east london rezlo [also on this site]I'm sure they will look after you here.Richards bros also have a site the Mighty Datsuns.Maybe you should compete in the USA and the top two come over and the aussies do the same --maybe collect at the races and ask the other countries to help --thats if our disneyland money helps ---great idea anyway

We have Datsuns racing in both the SCCA and in Historics (or what we call Vintage Racing). Since the tube chassis cars were being built in 1984, some Historics groups will let 1984 tube chassis Datsuns race and some will not. In the SCCA, both tube chassis and tub based cars are welcome.

Don't worry about prize money.

We are all probably racing on a budget. If we had tons of money we'd be racing Ferraris, not Datsuns!
Peter

What would the licence requirements be?

Would we need a full international licence?

No, a full FIA license would not be needed.

A copy of your racing license and a letter or endorsement from your licensing body should be all that is needed. Peter