UpNComer

Im in the process of acquiring my first Porsche and want to know if its possible to build or buy a street legal Porsche that can also be used to race competatively.

And What are your operating costs?(per race)



Year/ Model/ cost per race/ over-all investment

This should be interesting.

Larry Herman

No, not any longer. With the exception of B stock, where a stock GT2 should rule, to run at the front in most every other class requires that your car be prepared to the limit of the rules, and that makes it virtually unstreetable.

As far as operating cost, that can vary dramatically with the reliabilty and performance of the car. The faster it is, the quicker it will use up everything. C class cars will use up a set of tires per race, a set of rotors & brake pads every 4 races, new wheel bearings every year and plenty of other stuff too numerous to list.

The cost per race will also vary with the distance you have to travel, and the support that you will need. If you include running the enduro and all fees, fuel, lodging, transportation etc (but not maintenance), the lowest cars in the stock (H,I) class probably spend about $1,500 per race, and the highest cars (B,C) spend over $3,000. Add a support team, and a race that is over 12 hours away and you can double it.

DrJupeman

OK, first off, this is a dangerous question and one few will answer with concrete numbers. No one wants to add it up!

Otherwise, I think Larry is spot on. There are few, if any, cars you can run in a stock class and have a chance to podium unless you have prepped them to the nth degree. Once you have prepped a car like that, it ceases to be functional, practical, or at the least, comfortable for the street. Some might even say it becomes dangerous for the street (full roll cage, etc).

I like Larry's GT2 idea, though. If you can afford one of those, you should be able to rule B class and leave the car pretty close to stock. Still, a GT2 will likely eat through tires very quickly, so budget one set/race weekend, etc.

The notion of a "dual purpose" car when it comes to competitive racing is somewhat out the window.

RSRRacer

To run in GTC3 or 4 (which is of course is not street legal) you are looking at $8K - $9K per weekend minimum

Tires - $3500
Fuel $500
Transport and track support - $3000
Consumables - $500
budget for rebuild, etc - $1500
pre race setup - $750

Unless you have a mission to have a street legal winner dont try to justify it from a $$$ standpoint.

924RACR

I actually looked pretty seriously at my numbers, and while my car isn't dual purpose, it could be if I made a few tweaks - my class was intended to be when conceived. But it'll also be useful, I think, for a bottom level estimate - just how cheap can it be to run the cheapest car up front.

I estimate it'll run me about 4k for next season. My car is already completely built, cost me around 15k to get it there (after buying it for 400), and runs at the front of my field; we're usually fighting for the win. I expect I'll need about $2000 worth of parts (including 1 set Hoosiers) in maintenance for next year, and another $2000 to run the season (entry fees, gas/oil, and food/beer for the crew, 6 race weekends at home, no hotels, and no serious travel costs). Repairs and engine rebuilds (rods every 2 years, full rebuild every 4) not included, of course. My car is also VERY easy on consumables (brakes, tires, etc).

I run in ITB; that's basically pretty equivalent I believe to a Stock class car without an interior.

HTH...

Larry Herman

Wow, that is really cheap Vaughan. You should win a prize for frugality! My car uses $350~$400 of fuel per weekend alone!

924RACR

Well, it is a little 4-cylinder, non-turbo... gets around 7mpg on-track, plus our track is short. I use about 10 gallons per weekend, turn something like 50 laps x 1.4miles = 70 miles per weekend (including pace, warmup, cooldown, and qual laps). 50 of those are race miles. A pretty good ratio!

924RACR

PS - I'd rather win prizes for winning races!

(of course, I also don't have to run race gas, just pump premium...)

DrJupeman

Larry, you still running 93 in your car? (not sure how aggressive your chip is)

Larry Herman

To stay up with Jim & Phil? It's real aggressive, and I have to run race fuel north of 100 octane. One of my fellow RSA drivers was having problems at a DE, and so we plugged in my ECU as a test. When he started it, everyone turned around to ask him what he did to his car. The difference was that noticeable, even at an idle.

leif997

Unfortunately, Chris is on the money, so to speak and it actually can be more if you use multiple sets of tires and his track support #'s are average at best for a multi day event and he did not include hotels, etc.....10K for C4,C3 and GTA cars is not uncommon.....

smlporsche

This is a depressing thread....

We all know that these numbers are NEVER to be shown in a public forum!! If our spouses ever saw these we would all spend the weekends gardening!

38D

My race budget is somewhere between the GDP of Paraguay and "a crapload". Seriously, if you add it up it is just depressing.

Unless you race in a very sparsely populated class (like J or K), you have no change in a dual purpose car.

analogmike

I used to spend about $1500 per race in E, it's a little more in GTC3

This excludes the Glen where my races averaged about $15K for the last 4 races (3 in E and one in GTC3) due to an evil jinx.

Local races can be REALLY cheap- I ran a one day SCCA NARRC runoffs at Lime Rock yesterday in my '73 and I dont think it cost me over $500 total. I skipped the 1st day (cold, windy, and rainy) which saved a little money and TONS of time, which to many of us is more valuable as you can't make time (or at least I have not figured it out yet).

Have fun!

DrJupeman

Apparently, $8.06B < crapload.

You might have a chance with the GDP of East Timor, a paultry $370M. (Does Audi spend more than that on the R10?)