So this is where I've got to so far...

Having spent most of my adult life as a car-obsessed tool, I've always hankered after competing in some kind of motorsport. For years the itch was scratched by karting, but this has petered out over the last couple of years as other commitments have got in the way. I have also been fortunate enough to own, first a Caterham 7 and then a Lotus Elise in which I have thrown myself around various racetracks, non-competitively, on trackdays.

Obviously, being a bloke, the need for competition always rears its head so, having finally finished paying for the Elise, I started to look for ways to compete in it. Not having infinite resources, and Elises being expensive things to fix, I wanted to minimise the chance of smashing my pride-and-joy into tiny pieces. I also wanted to avoid the need for expensive modifications such as a roll-cage etc.

Sprinting seemed the obvious choice. For those of you who don't know, sprinting is an inexpensive form of motorsport, held on racing circuits, special sprint courses, hillclimb tracks or closed public roads. The surface is always tarmac. You are purely ‘on your own’, driving yourself and your car from a standing start to the finish line, timed to the 100th of a second as quick as possible.

Beacuse of the lack of cars on the track simultaneously, you are excused the sort of modifications that can make motorsport so expensive. There is also no-one to crash into, hopefully improving the chance of finishing the day with a car the same shape as the one you started in.

So, sprinting it is. How on earth do I get started then?...