For what it costs to "RACE" a cup car the entire season just in club racing you could buy yourself a used 997.1 GT3

But it will cost you 2-3 times more to build a race car that will come close to what a cup feels like..

Just depends on each individuals cost to benefit ratio is.

Mine is currently to low for a cup car.. but im working on that !

 

Lord Jesus... that's great I know I can't afford it.

 

I'm trying to get my mind around this. Amazing.

 

Would love a cup, but figure that I can continue to try to chase down the cups and .2 RS' with my cheater 996 and A) get props for catching them, or B) have an excuse for "not" catching them

It's a win-win.

 

Meh. Talk with guys who actually own and race the car. If you are going Patron or Grand Am, yeah it will cost a ton. But Club Racing a Cup is not that outrageous. Lots of typical misinformation and gum flapping out there. Guess that's a good thing as in 4 or 5 years when I'm ready to sell my 6 and move to a 7, too many guys will be "afraid" of the cost.

 

I had the crazy priviledge of riding with Patrick Long at the wheel a couple of years ago in a Cup Car around Lowes Motorspeedway. I love my RS, but Holy Sh*t, those cars are amazing. Patrick ain't bad either

 

it will gassed up and ready for service

 

I agree lots of gum flapping but most of it talks about how affordable a 997 Cup is, not about how much more expensive it is than running a street based car.

I have 5+ race buddies that I race with that have 997 cups or had them at one point.

I have ACTUALLY seen their bills and discussed what it cost them to run a season or to of club racing. And I mean trying to win, not just coasting around the track.

Im not talking about a 996 cup, Im talking about a 997 Cup.

No gum flapping here. I'd like to speak to someone who has club raced there 997 Cup car all season (15-17+ sprint races) and has spent less than $65k doing it, and that number is without any tranny or engine refreshes.

And if you need to rebuild the motor or tranny because it blew or you waited to long to refresh, then that number can double.

The guys here that race and know what it costs just in tires (slicks) and consumables (brake pads, rotors, fluids, race gas,) knows that the number is conservative. (Cup cars only use 110 octane race gas, about $10/gallon here in Socal and the car will get about 3mpg)

If you are going to race Patron, you better be ready to dish out $200k+ and if you do the full season and try to win the championship, double that number.

Oh yeah and you have to actually buy a cup car first, and PMNA does not do lay away.

 

I was told to operate a cup if you save roughly $ 250/300 for every hour you run it that should cover operating costs? Wonder if this would include engine/tranny refresh??

 

The only way to drive a CUP is to rent one by the hour.

Like boats and well..

CUP cars come with staffed stacker big rigs, coaches / data analysers but don't go and skim on the catering and a umbrella girls..

Here for example: http://www.orbitracing.com/race-car-rentals

 

ha-ha. i had pretty much same experience. it is quite interesting to compare any street car, GTx or not to older track-prepped 964 rs america, 993 rsr clone or more modern 996/997 cup.
in the end it is all about money, but i got to say, i am hooked on 996 cup car idea...

 

i asked my mechanic who works on cup cars and has several customers with them - $20K or so annual budget will cover it just fine in case of a 996 cup car if it is not used in racing series, just for open track days, time attacks and so on recreational fun. parts are more expensive but not critically so. plus those 996 gt3 cup cars in reality require less work than street gt3 cars if they get equally beaten. all in all thare are plenty of people who own them and support them, it is just a car in the end. it is easier to maintain than any open wheeler racer, if we will look at that, and from what i was told, again, cheaper to maintain than equally beaten race prepped Z06 race car as i wa quite seriously considering the idea to build one. 996 cup car is quite a solid machine - if you disagree with that statement provide more details pls.

plus, when we speculate about costs here - it is one story to maintain 997 cup racer to the top of its condition on current year specs and totally othe story to maintain a cup car you use for recreation. like compare a 35ft boat you use once a month to a top rank volvo race rig.

it is same that Mo said above abot his friends - first one needs to understand how much does it cost to participate in racing series, how much on track support team costs and all related expenses. but i beleive most people here who ask questions about all those things are not racers otherwise they would already know all the answers. any car is just a car - it has bunch parts to be replaced after certain number of running hours and that`s all.

plus, again, it is one question - how much does it cost to meintain a pole position winner in a _xxx_ class in _yyy_ racing series and how much it costs to maintain a non-racer 996/997 cup car that does, say, 50 track hours per season top.