A montage of autograss cars racing at Hunmanby Raceway

Hunmanby Raceway Autograss

10^th October 2021 - An afternoon at the Autograss

I've just got back from an afternoon of Autograss racing at Hunmanby Raceway, which is less than ¾ of a mile away from my parents' home, as the crow flies. It's so close you can hear the roar of the engines.

It's been many years since I went to an Autograss meeting, but everything about it reminded me of all the good things about the sport. It was well attended, it had a great family atmosphere, and the racing was fast and furious. On top of that, ten of our good old English pounds, was enough to pay for me to watch several hours of almost non-stop racing.

Autograss

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Autograss, it's an entry level motor sport here in the UK, which races on simple 400m dirt ovals, usually laid out with cones in a farmer's field. The races are usually just a few laps long, and often hectic, with four, six, or even eight cars vying for position.

But the popularity of the sport is remarkable, with the number of competitors and tracks far outweighing any other motorsport, and judging by the attendance at the Raceway today, it's popular with spectators too.

But just because it's an entry level sport, it should not be mistaken for a crude and simple crash and bash, because it is a very well organised, non contact sport which has national championships, and some very tasty machinery.

In fact you'll see a huge range of competitors and cars at an Autograss meeting. It begins with the juniors racing their lightened and modified, small, family hatchbacks, in Class 1. In fact you'll often find whole families driving these less expensive machines, with Mum, Dad, son or daughter racing them in their own events.

But there are ten classes in all, and as you work up through the classes there are some very serious racing cars. As we get to the upper classes there are open wheel, single seater specials, custom built for the job, lightweight machines with hugely powerful engines, and high quality components.

Autograss Special

So Autograss might be an entry level motorsport, but their is a ladder you can climb, and it goes quite a way up.

I heard a phrase, which I think sums Autograss up...

In drag racing the cars do wheelies.
In drift racing they go sideways.
In rallying they race on mud.
But in Autograss they do all three.

Cars

Almost any car could race in Autograss, but small, inexpensive hatchbacks are the usual choice for many of the classes. So the Nissan Micra, Vauxhall Nova, Peugeot 106 and such like were popular choices at the meeting in Hunmanby. But it was nice to see a couple of classic minis still being run too.

Whatever the choice of car, the shells are all stripped of glass, interiors and anything else that isn't strictly necessary, and the doors, and boots often welded in place. They are then fitted with an obligatory roll cage, and possibly performance parts.

Racing at Hunmanby

Three Nissan Micras, and a mini race down the start straight

Small hatchbacks race toward the first corner

Six Autograss specials tear round the final corner

Four specials accelerate away fron the starting line

I'm not sure if many of the typical, modern cars have been made as slot cars, but in any case I will be looking at getting a field of classic minis first. These are timeless in Autograss terms, having always been involved in the sport. But I won't be buying new, or pristine examples. In the spirit of autograss, I will probably be looking for some beaten up old bangers with bits missing, and adding my own chassis.

I've often wondered why Scalextric haven't done any Autograss cars. They'd be quite cheap to make, with no need for windows, chrome, or wing mirrors, and they've already got several cars that would have been used through the years.

Specials

I would also like to make up some specials. Since they are mainly made up of a tubular, one piece chassis and roll cage, I've considered the possibility of reproducing that in brass rod, and have even drawn up some 3d designs.

The biggest problem would be squeezing a motor into such a tiny body, but I'll be looking into that, and perhaps there are smaller motors which I could use. I will also need to learn how to solder brass.