mooty

that includes amortized hourly sinking fund for eventual engine/tranny/suspension rebuilds? i dont have a cup, but i am GUESSING it's higher than that?

pls correct me if i am too pessimistic.

analogmike

Cost per hour is hard to say, easier to figure out cost per 2 day weekend. For me that worked out much more than $1500 per hour with support and travel. There are plenty of threads where we listed all the costs. Brakes are one of the larger cost items on a cup car, the 4 front pads are $100 each and last just a few races, front rotors just a few more races.

p.s. you can't autocross a 996 GT3 cup car, they have the turning radius of a battleship

JimB

I raced a 996 in C (now a B car) for four years before switching to a 996 cup in 2007. The cup car is much more expensive and time consuming to run.

I think if I were you I'd run in a stock class for a year or two and then switch. I doubt it would make sense to convert your GT3. You'd be way better off buying one that's already built. (Did I mention I have a B car for sale? )
Jim

kgorman

It's an interesting point. I have been thinking about a 'baby cup' for a bit now. Essentially what you did Jim but less extreme. I think that car is in B because of X51 right? A baby cup would essentially be a 996 stripped out like a cup car, cage, and with many cup car parts at say 2/3 or less of the initial cost, but a lot less expensive in terms of running costs. I have basically convinced myself this is the route I want to take. I was thinking '99 3.4L to start. Sounds just like your route Jim. I am surprised your car is not sold, it's an awesome bang/buck.

Sorry if this is hijack-ish. But it's an interesting topic.

JimB

kgorman,
In reality I mention my old car on here every now and then but I really haven't tried very hard to sell it. I plan to get serious about it after the new rules come out. The car has been in rule limbo for the last year.

You can build a very fun track car out of a 3.4l 996 but don't expect it to be the bargin it might look like on the surface. The go fast parts are plentiful but not cheap. I'm pretty sure I have more money in my 996 than I have in my cup car. A 996 is much easier and cheaper to maintain.
Jim

NJ-GT

One point I have considered is depreciation. The street cars used on the track depreciate a lot, and they require plenty of upgrades to be competitive in their Club Race class.

Initially, I have been looking for a 2007 GT3 RS (almost three months on the search), but even at the imaginary MSRP ($142k on my specs), it needs around $35k more on upgrades to be a fun track car (short gears, race seats, exhaust, wheels, Moton, bushings, monoball bearings, rollbar, harnesses, etc).

I realize that an used well sorted GT3 Cup could be around $100k, leaving $77k (using the 997 RS example) for maintenance. In around 3 years, the tracked RS won't be worth MSRP, probably something around $90k with 20,000 track miles, from the initial $177k cost.

NJ-GT

Hello Bob,

I'm still a happy member of the NNJR-PCA, and that will not change. I will just join another chapter.

I hope that I'm able to find a car for next season, and join the wonderful group of Porsche Club Racers, to share my experiences as well.

38D

The cup will be better in every way than a street GT3, except operating cost. One of the main deltas will be tire costs, as you'll go thru slicks like water (need one new set per weekend, two is even better).

Bull

Excellent! Good luck with your car search and entry into CR!

Sean F

Dan Jacobs has a couple of cups for sale if you decide to look for one

4 Kurves

Wow, two new sets a weekend would be like a pro racing program for me. I can make it work on one with careful tire management (have 3 sets of wheels helps). In the POC we do two sprint races per weekend. I start qualifying on Saturday with a new set of tires and use these for the race then again for qualifying on Sunday and the race.

These tires then become the practice sets (starting with 4 heat cycles) for the next event.

Having the extra set of wheels allows you to use a really old set (let's stay 7 or 8 heat cycles) for Fridya practice if there is one. As long as the sessions are not too long they should have plenty of rubber on them by the end of the day.

Some tracks are really hard on certain wheels (like Willow Springs on the left rear) so it helps to demount and flip some tires around for extra life.


With careful planning you should be able to get through a full POC season (11 weekends) on 11 or 12 sets of tires - let's say $22,000 for the season.

jrgordonsenior

Well thanks for that cheery outlook. Thankfully my last kid finishes grad school in December since I'm now into his tuition fund....

4 Kurves

See - that's exactly why I didn't have kids. Do you think I would be doing this if I had to put my dogs through grad school?

Although....

DrJupeman

Why?

Isn't the GT3's motor the same thing as the GT3 Cup?

kgorman

Well, I am not the expert, but talking to some of the guys out west here, I was under the impression that running the race motor in a cup and running it up near the rev limit (aka, racing), it would require a rebuild after somewhere near 80 hours. Clearly the street motor does not require that kind of maintenance. And no they are not the same motors (as I understand it).

Please correct me if I am wrong guys.