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Starting a team (and building a car)

Teams introduction | Starting a team | School and Scout teams

Before starting your car, please consult the rules & regulations of the sport

Put these bits together to make a race-winning car...
Pic: Jeremy Featherstone

So, you're interested - now all you need is a car and some equally interested mates, all prepared to forego sleep, comfort and cleanliness a few times a year. Oh, and every weekend between now and your first race as you build, test, crash, break and rebuild your car until you've got it right.

Pedal car racing is possibly the most demanding of team sports and potentially the most likely to prove the value of a team and the ability of its members. Unlike some sports, not only must the entire team support each other at all times, but everyone gets a turn on the "front line" - in the car. At this point, there is nowhere to hide - while the driver in the hot seat has the support of the rest of the team, for that stint he or she must battle it out with the rest of the cars on the track.

If your experiences of school sports are anything like mine, you may remember positioning yourself at the very end of the line in rugby, making a cunning last-second counter-run if there appeared to be any danger of the ball heading your way; or placing yourself on the furthest boundary rope of the cricket pitch. This is not an option here, but the difference, of course, is that pedal car racing is not compulsory - we do it because we love doing it!

Within your team, you do need a team manager. It's nice to say "We're all equally important" and yes, you probably are - but you still need a manager, to organise testing sessions, resources, travel to races, etc. (Obviously, for School and Scout groups, this job will normally be taken by the teacher / group leader). The manager has to be in control of the team at races too, which includes deciding who starts the race, what length each stint will be, what order your drivers race in, what your tactics will be, etc. It's a fairly easy job that anyone can do if you're beating all your competitors easily, the car's running fine and the sun's shining. However, when it starts to rain, a wheel falls off and you're on the same lap as two other teams at two-thirds distance, it's a wee bit more tricky. This is when it's nice if your manager knows what they're doing. Unfortunately, this is also the first time you'll be able to find out.

Racing itself is a fabulous experience, particularly when you get into a close battle with your nearest rivals. It's at this time when teamwork is most vital - the driver may need to know where the opponent is on the track and whether the gap is closing or widening. Often the pit crews are the only ones who can supply this information and a decision to change drivers or keep the same driver out for longer can rest on it.

Most importantly, pick your team mates carefully. Actually, just ask who wants in and find out whether you like each other later - you might even be pleasantly surprised. If you're in the enviable position of having more than half a dozen interested people straight away, well done. If not, don't worry, you can run a team with less than a full compliment, it just hurts more.

As a team-building exercise, a 24-hour race is the ultimate test anyone could face. An entire day and night of pain, stress, sleep deprivation and (frequently) heavy rain mingled with a lack of hot food. Forget building bridges over imaginary crocodile- infested swamps; if you want to test your management team, enter a 24. At the end of the race, if they're all still talking to each other nicely, you've got an unbeatable combination. If they're still just talking, you've got a respectable result. If they're all at least still on site, that's a good starting point. You'll know if the team thing didn't work out (every year at Bolton, at least one squad demonstrates this result).

If there's only you, or your group wants to get a taste for the sport before committing to building a car, try contacting an established team via our forum to see if they need any extra drivers. Even if they don't, they may be happy to let you visit a test session and try their car out for size.

When you have a team and a determination to build a car, check out the technical regulations governing pedalcar construction, where you'll find everything that you need to know. Again, arranging to visit an existing team or a race will give you some idea of good (and bad!) ways to apply the regulations to a race car. Have a look at existing designs and see which cars are the most reliable, fastest, quietest, best looking, etc.

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