Less anyone think that ours is an inexpensive sport, I'm curious how much people have spent SO FAR this year. Feel free to ignore this thread, in case the wife checks the board....

adding up my total expenses this year (track days/AXs/karting fees/tires/gas/motels/maintenance/a trailer/some upgrades) attributed to my need to go fast, i've spent only $5450. which I'm actually quite pleased with! I figure i'll finish 2006 for less than $8k, unless I buy that 80 shifter kart I've had my eyes on....

can't buy more thrills and fun (legally) for the money!

I've only run one event this season and then took my car in for upgrades and maintenance. I will post to this thread next week after I pick my car up. I know I'll need to be sitting down for the "invoice reading" as I paid $5k downpayment already. What's the saying, How fast can you afford? I second the motion that this be a wife free thread!

Building cars and engines is expensive. I wish I could have gotten by on your yearly budget, year to date, but no way.

And if it wasn't from my 10 minutes in Bill's car, I'd have no racing in 2006. But 10 minutes is 10 minutes and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Track days, a/x's, tires and fuel so far is about $2500.

As much as another $3000 before the season's end if I suffer no mechanical's.

:money_flying_out_window:


KT

Yikes this one hurts! Between my six conversion, bodywork, paint, wheels, 5 lugs, tires, cage, entry fees, new tow vehicle I'm pushing $20K Now I'm looking for a trailer. Still have oil cooler to install. ...Holly crap!

No need to hide the $$$ spent on racing from Sheilah. I sent her and her mom to Paris and Southern France for three weeks as a bribe in May.

Bad thing about this is I have been working my butt off to pay for it all and not having any time to drive.

I got off cheep this year...maybe 1500 in parts.

I have had the car parked for ~4 years as I finished putting my sons thru college...wrote the last tuition check in February and decided 2006 was my year to come out and RUN AGAIN
OK here goes...if this was a therapy session I would start with..."Hello my name is Greg and I am a track junkie"...
3 PCA events with middle son (entry fees, hotel, meals, gas) ~ $2,600
1 PCA event me (me) $300
3 Non PCA track days (fees, gas) ~$900
4 new Hoosiers (after ~ 27 heat cycles) $900
Corner weight, align $ 200
Fuel Cell (not installed yet - can I amortize this ?) ~2,000
Rest of Season estimate $900
TOTAL $7,800 estimated - BUT I'm HAVING A BLAST spending every penny !
Greg

Heres the deal,

You have a file in your desk, and all the receipts go in the file.

Place a small hammer in the desk next to the file. If you ever think of tallying up the file, reach for the hammer, and give your calculator fingers a whack.

DO NOT EVER ADD THE RECEIPTS!

Some things it is better to be ignorant.


Think of this

Erik

yikes, just spent another $650 on safety gear....

Thank you Erik for those very sage words of wisdom!!!

Never total up the reciepts, it can never make you feel good...

And while I can recall how much this and that may have cost, I really don't wish to tally them all together...

-Josh2

Yea racing sucks money out a Discover card pretty quick
But not as fast as Lowes after a Hurricane

nonsense on the "not adding up" notion. i know i'm small potatoes at <$10k/year, but i want to know, budget, and make peace with the money i spend.

now, hiding it from the spouse makes sense!

It's not that I don't keep track of what is spent, but I have no desire to sum it all up in one place. Would just depress me I think.



Untill you're found out. Then you're toast...

-Josh2

I was thinking that race car part manufacturers need to make spousal reciepts and charges to credit cards. So when you buy 4 race tires its charged as say groceries or the trash bill.

I can't say, my wife might see it, but parts this year are only about $1000.00, and I haven't paid any entry fees, I've been instructing to pay the fees, and a couple hundred on race gas, plus food, gas for the thirsty 454 in the dually, and a new fridge for the camper, so I can camp at the track and not do the restaurant/motel thing. Too much even at the discount rates.

How could you ask such a question. OOOHHHH THE HUMILITY. If you really want to ruin a good day add those magic numbers.

Or shown as a donation to the Children of St. Hoosiers Fund.
I'm lucky that I have my own business, so I pay for race related expenses through the business and have parts delivered direct to a mechanic friend. Works for me.

How do you make a small fortune?


Take a large one and go racing.

This is a painful one when you analyze it. My wife calls me Mr. Spreadsheet since I keep receipts and document everything I do. I keep tabs on track fees, maintenance items such as brake pads, oil, etc., hotels, race car gas, tow vehicle gas and maintenance and the like. Here are a few numbers my spreadsheet back at me:

If I break it down my cost per minute as defined by minutes on the track or an AX run (I used 1 minute AX runs as a plug figure) I get these numbers to operate my race car:

AX = $32.40 per minute based on 9 AX days
Track = $7.18 per minute based on 18 Track days

Some other nice tidbits:

*I will consume 5 sets of slicks. Cost = $5000

*I will travel 5400 miles to events in my tow vehicle and trailer

*I will spend $1780 in pump fuel in my tow vehicle getting to these events

*I will spend $1310 in 100 octane race fuel at the track

*I will spend $1775 in hotels. (Motel 6, Amerihost, Willows Inn, Days Inn, etc.)

*I will spend $380 in food at these events

*I will run 74 AX minutes in the car

*I will run 1765 track minutes in the car

*My tow vehicle (1999 Suburban) pulling a 19 foot enclosed trailer gets 10 MPG

*My race car gets 8 MPG on the track

Looking at the expense breakdown, track fees and tires take up 61% of the budget. When my wife starts driving again next year the track fees will double.... No getting around it other than maybe running only one series instead of playing in the multiple car clubs I'm in, and therefore keeping track fees flat, year to year.

AX especially is a tire killer. I need to conserve tire expense by either changing the way I drive or giving it up. Perhaps better tire management of cycling through my old track tires.

On the track, I know where the slicks fall off in times by the number of heat cycles. I will have to rethink how I manage the heat cycles as well. I may need to get used to the idea of running the heat cycled rubber longer to get more total laps out of the investment. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to sticky rubber.

What a sport...

Bill P.

Okay I did the quick math the new tire trailer and helmet killed my auto-x budget this year.

I have 4 events under my belt, total cost has been $585 dollars, or $20.89 a minute.
With out the trailer or the new snell 2005 it is $6.60 per minute.

Now what none of us have tallied is what it cost for our time, I bill out @ $110 per hour conservatively. I have not even tallied the amount of time I have spent this year alone getting ready to run the event, let alone the last 13 years I have owned this particular 914. Of course over that 13 years my bill rate has changed from $75 to the current $110 per hour.

Grant,
The committee has decided that the money you spent on sending Sheilah and her mom to Paris and Southern France counts toward money spent on racing. It is all in the intent it seems!

Ack! There is a reason why I dont add up my reciepts. I dont need to validate that this is crazy.

$35 for one AX and some change for the gas ...


and AX isn't even racing ...
Andy

Agreed Andy, Autocross is not racing. it is intended to be a cheaper sort of motorsport. Not that you can't spend a ton on Autocross car to become competative.

August is a busy month for me. 4 days of Autocross this month. Still does not add up to one road course lapping day however.

Just as open track days and club time trials are a cheaper sort of motorsport compared to wheel to wheel racing. I guess real "racing" is reserved for those in true wheel to wheel competition.

W2W doesn't have to be expensive.
I ran a production 914 in PCA for 8 years of W2W without that kind of budget.

I'm serious..
its soo fun..
why don't more people on this board make the attempt?
Its equivalent to the difference between track and street. Its amazingly fun.

brant

Too much red mist...


KT

you're already there.
its in your email voice... the passion.

take the leap.
you'll regret it later if you don't try

brant

Trekkor's going to come over eventually, he's just stubborn.

God.. you can say that again!
but lets call it "determined" for now.
brant