How much are you guys spending in total per season between maintenance, travel, entry costs, etc? I'm trying to figure out roughly what I would be getting myself into.
Average cost per season?
How much are you guys spending in total per season between maintenance, travel, entry costs, etc? I'm trying to figure out roughly what I would be getting myself into.
I'm just starting myself, but I asked that same question, and the answers I got were almost uniformly, "I don't track it, that takes all the fun out of it".
Or similar.
I look at events individually right now.
That determines if I'm doing it or not...
Repairs costs in between are ignored..
What do you call a season?Originally Posted by eremoy
"Engines are forever".....name that tune but they last a long time.
Tires are a weekend but you can rotate older sets in for morning warmups
and I have gotten reasonable life from the 470's over two weekends. And if your with not so racey groups then you can run old tires. tire set $1100
Gearbox wear is dependent on the driver but will require dogs/gears periodically and they are getting pricey. TBD
Every moving part wears out so it depends on where you begin on the wear curve, start With all new heims and you will go a few seasons. TBD
Don't hit things, don't go off course, don't get run into. TBD
Start at $2000 a weekend give or take 20% (including entry fees, but 400 for a weekend may be cheap around here)
Still the best value open wheel open cockpit wings and slicks car going IMO.
I think JS Crossle has the right range. I was going to say about $1500/weekend. That covers entry costs, hotel, meals, gas for tow and race, some tire wear, brakes.
I had a stint where the transmission took a significant hit two years in a row. That alone cost me about $3000/year. If you do your preventive maintenance yourself, add about $2000 in parts/year for cycling out heims and other stuff. It will also depends on how many weekends you race each year as the service is often based on hours of service.
Steve
I'm with the "per weekend" concept...
Everyone does things differently. Some run a new set of tires each weekend. Some run 2 or 3 sets. The new tire rule helps so I think it would be fair to say 1 set per weekend. Here is what I estimate:
1) Tires = $1000ish
2) Entry Fees = $300
3) Fuel/Oil/other fluids = $200
4) Estimated wear and tear and other goodies (if you are good with transmissions, which I am not) for an average joe (mufflers, heims, nuts/bolts/belts/hoses/trans gears/body work/wheel bends/helmet tear offs/etc.) = $200(?)
5) Travel and meal expense are all up to you. Stay in a hotel? How many days total? Drive 4 hours to and from the event? Food - bring your own or eat out? These are all up to you and will vary greatly. I'll say average is a two day weekend with one day or travel for both to and from.... I'll say $500 and no hotel.
My grand total estimate would be $2200 using the numbers above. All of this assumes you are good with transmissions and are ok with not winning ever weekend. I think I just talked myself into not racing any more
And just remember. It's not real money, it's "race" money.
You can reduce this cost by running used tires from Berget. 1 to 3 heat cycles tires for about $285 a set of four delivered to your front door. Mostly two heat cycles.
They are good for a complete race weekend plus one test day.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Rebuild engine,eh?
I haven't seen anybody amortize engine use. That could be a pretty healthy check every 3-4 years, depending on how many races per year you attend.
I see this is FM and I've only raced F5 and FS. We certainly don't spend $1500-$2000 a weekend. However, we reuse tires for many, many races and (fingers crossed) don't require much maintenance with the motorcycle and snowmobile engines.
You run BOTH F5 and FS on the weekend for $1,500 to $2,000?? That's not bad at all. A lot of guys shooting to run the run-offs with one car (i.e. running Majors) will spend $2,000 to $3,000 per event. New tires every practice and race session, one or a couple of paid mechanics, MINIMUM time between engine over hauls and all sorts of the usual 'best prep'd stuff'.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
It makes me dizzy just thinking about what we spend per year!!!!
NEVER add it up.!
Who is Berget?
1.
John Berget Race tires - tires would be great for one weekend - hint: use prior weekend's tires for early practice sessions of your weekend, put on the Bergets for qualy / race
262 740 0180
google : john berget used race tires
also find him in the small ads in back of SportsCar
2.
This was posted somewhere here long ago.....a racer replied that by his going into detail about costs of racing weekends [to be nice and answer your sort of question here in the past].....his soon-to-be-Ex-Wife's-Attorney used every word posted here against him and helped him be gutted in Court. I think his post included that he couldn't afford to race any longer.
I have to, its not my money!!! However I really wish it was!!!
when my friends with kids ask me how much I spend on racing, I reply "about 2 kids worth".
At $15K/yr/kid and my rough estimate of $30K a year playing with the race car, it seems about right.
I can afford racing, but not kids.
While doing some archive work for a friend, I started totaling all the prize money he had won.
He got very upset and was not happy to know the figure. From what I was able to detract from the conversation was it would amount to a tiny less than one percent of what he spent to go racing. And it was not something he wanted to visit again.
Buy an FC
aaron
cost of racing
How you add it up makes a difference in your "able to afford it" perspective. Raced 8 weekends in 2012. cost per weekend including tires, car prep and repair, entry fees, transportation costs getting to and fro, having one guy on a pit crew and hiring a driving instructor 3 times plus hotel costs averaged 1450 per weekend with the purchase of two sets of new tires and 4 sets of used tires from Berget. The trips were all within 400 miles of my home. so total cost was $11,600.
Distractions from work, family time, church involvement...engine and transmission and bearing wear, along with trailer maintenance and tow vehicle maintenance not included....
Needless to say, my sponsor (wife) has limited me to 4 weekends per year within 250 miles...So far those expenses have been on the average 950 per weekend with one set of new tires and three sets from Berget, no driving instructor or pit crew. So 3800. per year
My engine needs a rebuild but can make it through this year. Tranny being rebuilt now. Shocks will need it next year as well.
Try all this with an FC and let us know how it works out. This car is still the best bang for the buck and will get you around the track faster than any tin top...
Good luck with your justification process.
Good (great?) value, robust, pig ugly
aaron
Rough figures comes to well over 2 million!!!!
Aaron,
You are a troll......
Go post on the FE forum and talk about issues surrounding that tub....
True - maybe if there was anything good going on over in the FC forum this kind of thing wouldn't happen?
aaron
You are a funny guy...
We prefer "classic look" to "pig ugly"
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