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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Blue Sky Motorsports Announcement

Posted by: Richard Casto Feb 4 2013, 02:19 PM

I wanted to announce some changes at Blue Sky Motorsports. In short, I am no longer going to be rebuilding Porsche transmissions for the general public. I haven’t updated my website to reflect this, but will do so in the near future.

Why am I stopping? In short, I have been hurt by my own success. BSM is not my day job, so any work I do ultimately has to take away time from my family and other things that are important to me. My wife was asking for me to either stop or significantly cut back due to spending too many nights and weekends working on transmissions and it finally got to the point that free “garage time” was not being spent working on my own 914.

On top of this, I am a perfectionist. So while it was fun, I was putting in more hours on each transmission than I should, based upon the flat rate labor charge I was charging. Customers were getting tenderloins at ground chuck prices. While great for them it was tough on my schedule. I could either reduce what I felt was the quality of my work (unacceptable), or charge significantly more. Charging more wouldn't solve the problem of taking too much time away from my family and I think it would have priced me out of the “ship me your transmission for a low cost rebuild” niche I have been living in and push me into direct competition with local Porsche shops (not where I wanted to go.)

I am not shutting down the business, selling off my specialized tools or inventory. I will likely do the odd transmission here and there for local folks and will likely do select sub-contract work for independent shops. I plan to keep the technical documents online and in fact may expand them. For the longest time I had wanted to create a “How to rebuild your transmission” set of free instructions including corresponding YouTube video(s). Maybe I will find the time now to do something like that? I also have dreams of moving into the “product” side of the 914 world in the future, but that is a discussion for another day.

Anyhow, I plan to continue to visit 914world.com and offer up transmission advice, etc. Feel free to email or PM me questions.

Richard
Owner, Blue Sky Motorsports

Posted by: bandjoey Feb 4 2013, 06:34 PM

Thanks for what you've done for members! It's a great decision to have more family time. Here's to Happiness.

Posted by: Jeff Hail Feb 5 2013, 08:12 AM

Many find themselves at that crossroads in life. Once upon a time we make a hobby or passion a career or just a side job. Then it takes on a life of its own. Thats when things get complicated and choices need to be made. As you said Richard you were hurt by your own success. No one can be in ten places at once nor can you put a family on the sideline. You are one of the lucky ones for making the right choice now before its too late. You will never regret your decision. The high road always has the better view.

Posted by: Richard Casto Feb 5 2013, 08:19 AM

Thanks guys!

On the up side, more free time is going to allow me and my wife to take a trip to Europe this summer. The main trigger is that one of the top items on my personal "Bucket List" has been to drive the Nurburgring Nordschleife. I expect to devote an entire day to that plus hopefully another day at the Porsche museum!

Richard

Posted by: jim_hoyland Feb 5 2013, 01:35 PM

Thanks for sharing your tranny knowledge; I've found very informative.

Posted by: Madswede Feb 5 2013, 06:14 PM

Good to hear you're moving back into family first stuff. I had no idea BSM was a side job/business for you. I consider myself fortunate to have one of your rebuilt 901 transmissions in my car. Thanks!

Posted by: Amphicar770 Nov 25 2015, 12:12 PM

It is never quite as rewarding when ones hobby or passion turns into a full time job. It goes with the old saying of, "never marry your mistress".

While many will miss the service you provide, sounds like you made the right choice for the right reasons.

Posted by: RobW Nov 26 2015, 07:32 AM

I completely understand. You're smart to make the call.

Everything we do in life has to make sense from a time / cost / benefit standpoint, then again, we own 914s!

Posted by: r_towle Nov 26 2015, 06:26 PM

Well done, and good to hear you get to spend more time with the family.