Restarting

[Sailbad]

My first formula ford race was back in 1975 and at the time, in the UK, to get a license all you had to do was mail off to the RAC for it. I intended to go through a racing school and return home but the school was a badly run amusement ride and before I could head off to France to try an alternative a new acquaintance whom I had just met impressed me to talk to a local manufacturer (Elden) and hire a car, which I did.

My racing vacation became a four-year odyssey and with one thing leading to another, I ended up on starting grids with Nigel Mansell, Eddie Cheever, Derek Daily and several other equally talented drivers who most people never heard of. All good fun!

Anyway, it led to my quickly earning my FIA International license which became a lost artifact in my garage decades later. Even though they keep pretty good records, this was way before personal computing automated offices and I’m afraid there is not much hope of having it replaced.

I read today at an "arrive and drive" company's website that schools can issue a provisional license based on proof of experience and am hoping that someone can confirm if it is true. I would prefer to behave myself in a handful of regional races with a provisional license than to go through a school.

Thanks for any advice!

[EYERACE]

Some - repeat - some - as in....not all........

Divisional Chief Driving Instructors will, once you've obtained a Novice Permit and spent some time talking to them before the fact, sign it off so that you can go straight into a race weekend and skip the school thing. You would turn in your Permit at Registration so it then ends up in the Chief Steward's hands so they keep a watch on the Driver during that weekend......but you go straight to a race weekend. You could do maybe as many as four race weekends before you'll spend more money on a different license.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

[Purple Frog]

I know what we can do here in the SEDIV. It is basically, sort of, kind of, as simple as EYE said. Not sure which programs have been adopted in the SW. Those of us that are delegated the privilege to approve a potential driver to run a regional without passing through the traditional system take the responsibility fairly serious.

In my case... you may find someone different... with a 35 year gap out of formula cars, I would be asking to at the least see you do a monitored test day in a car. We would evaluate a selection of criteria, one being competitive lap time, before signing off to race a regional.

There might be a lot of rust built up.

YMMV