pdxmotorhead

The race venue makes a big difference, and how its managed, some clubs have it dialed in some ,, dont.
If the club is good at scheduling you have at least a couple hours between sessions, race weekends
your lucky to get 4 sessions all weekend. not like the 4 to 5 a day at a DE.

I am pretty much a reformed track rat,, I traded seat time for helping keep a half dozen cars on track for
about 12 years, Prep and check time I average 30 to 40 minutes on a car after every session, check the brakes,
the underside, oil, temps, fuel, tires, torque wheel lugs YES EVERY SESSION!!!

Cars doing over 150 shake things loose constantly.. Sometimes stuff you don't want coming loose.

I also warm up the gear box on cooler days ,, if your track has some free area where you can run a race car.
I've seen many transmissions broken/burnt up due to failed lubrication on sub 45 degree mornings. Especially Dog
boxes. I've resorted to putting the car on jack stands and putting a dry sump tank heater on the transmission.

Every race weekend the oil gets dumped, filter gets inspected. Race wheels come off and rollers go on.
car gets washed. Air filter cleaned or replaced as needed. Cover goes on the car especially if it has plastic windows.

Races are won and lost in the prep routine. And reading the rule book. <lol> One of my big things was
a DNF is unacceptable,, in twelve years I never had a car DNF on a customer because of missed setup or prep.
Bad shifting/driving/decisions yep had a few. But I never wanted the fail to be on me.. Too much wasted money.
And I don't like losing.

jdistefa

^ THIS

We also generally string every car, sometimes more than once a weekend. Depends how much curbing is involved and/or if any, ahem, field trips. Transport and tie down technique can also 'adjust' alignment.

jdistefa

One more thing to add:

tt's nice to have some crew if it rains, particularly if you are making a relatively last minute decision on setup.

It's pretty challenging to adjust your camber, toe, sways, shocks, and mount your rains while you're getting ready yourself. Oh, and bleed the brakes from the last session. And fuel. And clean the car. And eyeball every corner.

If you want to hustle you can do lots of stuff on your own. I still do about once a year but man it's a tiring weekend, and I'm sure not gonna change a clutch on my own with jackstands.

fatbillybob

I DIY when I race locally. I hire racecar transport with crew car when I race "away." I like both methods for different reasons.

C4 Pazzo

I used shop support for three years PCA Club Racing after several years diy with the help of my NorCal Spec Boxster buddies. Shop support was great and made for a much more relaxing weekend. I really appreciated the coaching and the last minute swaps to rain tires (in addition to the prep and repairs). But I felt apart from my diy buddies, even though we still hung out together, and went back to diy a couple of years ago, with only occasional track support for special events like RRVI. It definitely is more work, but my results have been similar with and without support. Most of the top NorCal SPB racers diy, but a lot of the new SPB racers are getting support and they are improving quickly, so things may change. It also seems like we are doing a better job of integrating diy and shop supported racers, in no small part due to the owners and staff of BRRacing. They help out non-supported racers and we help each other with spares and trouble shooting. I'll probably go back to supported racing at some point; both approaches can be great.

audipwr1

Support is great / support doubles the cost of a weekend

I've done just fine with and without it.

Difference is with it I just sweat and swear less

My personal choice was fewer weekends and support or a few more weekend and no support - this year doing it myself (along with the other DIY folks who All help each other)

Spec cars aren't that complicated - a cup car probably totally different ball game thou

I got faster more quickly learning to do my own setups than anything else too

Racing is time and money it's just that simple

Paul Solk

Others have said it but I can count at least 3 weekends that would have been over for me on day 1 if not for support... In addition to everything already mentioned it's insurance when the poop really hits the fan.

Last year at the Glen I blew a motor on day 1. Crew did a track side motor swap and had me back out 24 hours later. This year my High Pressure Fuel pump went in race 1. My crew drained the coolant, replaced the pump, put the car back together and had to tow me to grid because they were still bolting it together on the way to grid. At Sebring the car false neutraled in Bishops. Yeah, that was exciting. Car came in and PDK was a brick. Wouldn't select anything. Crew spent 2 hours diagnosing, retraining the PDK with PIWIS and I never missed a session.

That's just a few examples. I like you race on a limited budget and decided if I can't afford to do an event with support I am not doing it. A DNF weekend for me is just unacceptable from a financial, emotional and time perspective. When you only get 5 of these weekends a year you want to finish them all.

What is interesting is to watch the number of people who are "self supporting" but end up asking our crew for help and spares throughout the weekend. There are a number of people whose weekends would have been over if they had to truly rely on self support.

ProCoach

Yep. That happened entirely too much when I owned my prep, transportation and trackside support business. If somebody needs a piece of hardware or plumbing and I could spare it, that was ok.

But more than that, in my experience, really puts the shop, the crew and the folks that ARE paying for support from that team in a bind, especially when it’s chronic. Some people have a predilection to, once someone is nice to them, keep asking for “favors.”

Some smaller shops, in order to “make the numbers work,” offer “tent space only” as a lesser cost option to full support and, in my opinion, that has blurred the lines about what is and isn’t “included” between “tent space only” and “full support.” The best shops establish clear expectations and stick with them, for the benefit of themselves AND their customers.

It is shocking to me the number of DIYers with inflated opinions of their mechanical prowess who puff up to the support shop in anticipation of bringing it under their tent; “my car is great, you won’t need to do anything except add gas and check tire pressures,” before said car turns into a MASSIVE time sink for everyone under the tent. Happens way too often, hence some shops saying very reasonably “we support cars that we’ve had an opportunity to carefully prepare and transport to and from the track.” End of problem, usually.

Before I get off my “veteran of the prep and support shop life” soapbox and get a coffee to improve my mood and memory, I will say that you can tell a lot by walking by and through a support shop’s paddock.

The best are clean, neat, calm (even with transplants going on) and even have some hospitality component, a quiet(er) place where people can gather, study and prepare, as well as healthy food and drinks served.

There are big differences out there, so do your homework. The best have steady customers for a long time, others less so. Most shop owners are good folks, the bad don’t last in this small community, but they are eager to please (I was), sometimes in excess of their resources and capacity.

Matt Romanowski

I see part swapping and borrowing from shop to shop. Even when you haul 2 cars in a 53' transporter filled with spares, you can't have everything. That is why PMNA, Dallara, Ligier, EMCO, Penske, etc all have trailers that go to events their customers are at. AiM, at a smaller scale, rolls a Sprinter Van (there are 2 in the US) to events to support people.

I think that is just the classic "Race ready racecar for sale." Everyone's opinion of what is a great car is different. What one person says is fine, another is appalled at. I would agree that there are some people who are off on their prep, but I don't think it's because they are intentionally mis-stating things, I think it's because they just don't know what they don't know. Though, there are exceptions who do just mislead people.

Frank 993 C4S

The daily flat fee cost will vary from shop to shop and what you are getting tends to vary but it does generally include everything to keep the car going for your race weekend. Other than the obvious stuff and having a dedicated car chief assigned to you that means caring some basic spares like pads, rotors, splitters, radiators, MAFs, a full nut and bolt at the end of each day, alignment checks (as often as required), buying fuel, mounting tires, repairing crash damage, changing gearboxes, changing motors..... I’ve seen it all. I consider it an insurance policy for your race weekend.

RossP

Ran solo for years before I sold my racecar. The time involved with all the "non-race" things (logistics, maintenance, etc) are what ultimately made me sell my car, trailer, etc. When I get back into it, I will be doing full support. To most of us with jobs, families etc time is the most valuable resource and full support really helps with that.

LuigiVampa

I have always had support and would not race without it.

At Daytona a few years ago my engine popped (hole in the block) on the first lap of practice. Sppedsport Tuning sourced an engine, swapped it, and got me out for the first race the next day. It was an amazing effort by the techs and just shows what zero sleep and a case of Red Bull can accomplish.

In addition to the "save your weekend" portion of support I just don't know how safe I would feel if I had to be in charge of my own car. The techs at my shop are really race engineers and their knowledge far exceeds mine.

Bottom line - I want to have fun and I want to be safe and that is why I have support.

Edit - To Paul's point, I have never had a race weekend where a DYI has not received some help from a shop.

Edit2 - You pay a certain amount for track support and whatever work they do in that time is covered by that cost - only plus parts. Sometimes it works out that you are paying support for a similar amount to what you would have paid the shop to fix something. When you have a problem support is not as expensive as it appears.

Paul Solk

Totally get the parts aspect of it... No one can have everything. I was referring to the "other" side of the equation, people who self support with the comfort and knowledge if it really hits the fan they know which trailer to head to first...

As to Peter's point I am starting to see more of the "we won't support it unless we prepped it" mentality because of lost cycles at the track trying to get a car to the point the shop supporting it feels it's supportable. One mans trash is another mans treasure...

ProCoach

Agree, wide range of knowledge and experience.

That’s another reason why some choose to bootstrap their own knowledge by going with professional trackside support, even if it’s not every time out.

Paul Solk

This , this and this especially the first this... I know where my own strengths lie and what should be left to a professional. Nuff said LOL