analogmike

My accountant just told me a good joke:

What does Porsche or Ferrari racing have in common with spec miata racing?

You CANT do $10,000 damage in either series if you have an accident.

Would be funny if it wasn't so true.

(he has a 993TT but races a spec miata, smart guy...)

Jay Gratton

That is awesome! Very funny. I know people that do both and I'll have to share that with them.

FTS

Spec Miata is an amazing field. Last winter a group of friends of mine, purchased a regular Miata driven on the street for $4K, build it up very nicely over the winter to spec miata rules for about another $4K, let's say they spent about another $2K for few tests and time trial entries, and sold it last month for about $13K. I don't know if any type of racing gets any better than that.

Gary R.

Not to go too far OT but I just read about BMW E30 Spec Series in the new Grassroots magazine and am considering building a car for next year.. another "cheap" way to go racing... easily build one for under $15K.

analogmike

BMW cheap? I don't think so, you can spend $10K on building a perfect "stock" engine and other parts should be similar to 911 parts in cost I would think. There was a world challenge 3 series touring car (not GT class M3) at my last Lime Rock race and it cost more than my cup car to build it. And he blew a rod

mooty

spec e30 SOUNDS cheap to build, but once you start racing it, you will find SM is cheaper. car cost is one thing, you still have to worry about consumables, wheel bearings, tranny, diff, spare engines, LSD, body panels.... shheeesh, the entire car is "consumable". if cost is a factor SM is much cheaper than E30. of course, you can have a "built" SM motor, but you can also have an equally $$$ built E30 motor.

M758

You can also build a 944 spec for less than 15k.

Really spec E30, spec Miata and 944 spec all have roughly similar speed and build costs.

I think spec miata costs are greatest since it is so popular and there are folks spending big bucks for that last 1% of speed.

For now E30 and 944 spec are at that point so a reasonable 100% build comes in close the 10k number rather than the supermax build on 20k Spec Miata.


Still racing a cheap car is nice since you still have lots of fun, but do not need to speed big bucks. Then you can do more races in more place or afford to send the kids to college and still race.


mooty... I can tell you consumables on the 944 spec cars are pretty low. I am still running just fine on original wheel bearings on my car. Rod bearings are the only "consumable" other than the standard brake pads, tires, oil changes. I have seen a few $4500 944 motors and they run no faster than $1000 at home rebuilts. In fact a couple weeks ago a 944 spec racer had a head problem. Took off his "race" head and put in a mystery junk yard head. Raced the next day on this and ran just as fast as the day before and beat a car with a "pro built motor". Point is the 944 motor seems very insensitve to all the standard hot rod tricks. We have guys talking about "superheaders". Best info I have says they don't impact peak power one bit, but improve the mid range power a bit. Even then these "superheaders" cost less than a set of tires.

No spec series is perfect, but I really think 944 spec has alot going for it.

singletrack1

SM is no longer cheap. Since the class went national, people are spending $6K - $8K on "stock" motors. You used to be able to run $2K new crate motors from Mazda Comp.

$35K+ spec miata's are not unheard of.

Plus, you have to buy fenders and bumpers by the dozen.

Bill

M758

They ain't call "wreck me otters" for nothing.

Cory M

spec pinata

spazegun2213

and these are the reasons I dont own a SM. I bought the 944 for both these reasons. 1) not many people are throwing 30k into a 944 (at least not a spec/cup one). 2) unless i do something stupid i may never need new fenders. and our bumpers are padded

genikz

with bumper shocks too!

Wreck Me Otter

You rang?...


The deal with SM is that it is an entry level class and with most cars running about the same lap times and huge fields there are cars around eachother all of the time. For instance in the SFR region, our field sizes is from 45-63 cars on tracks as small as 2.25 miles (Laguna Seca). Trying to stuff 63 cars into T2 at Laguna Seca on a start is quite intense. I don't know any class of racing that runs under these conditions.

The biggest threats I've seen are newbies who don't know how to handle their cars or don't know how to race cleanly. I blame that on lack of a racing school as opposed to licensing schools.

Of course, SM has it's idiot drivers like any class, but there are tons of great drivers that run clean races. The closer to the pointy end of the field the better driving...

It's true though that an SM is getting more and more expensive.

Oh...and "cheap racing" is a fantasy....

soldmystang

oops, Spec E36 BMWCCA. be the first on your block to build one.

6K for the shell and the rest is still up for debate as i understand.

MJR911

I own and race a SM and a USA cup. I'll go SM racing ANY DAY over Porsche racing for the fact that I can't afford to fix the Porsche for a slip up at 10/10ths like I can the SM. I love the guys doing PCA racing, its a bit older crowd that is mostly gentlemen racers. The SM crowd still has a bunch of guys that could buy any of your gt3 cups but they crave the COMPETITION. The deal with calling us "spec pinata" racers is a bit offensive and that attitude usually comes from racers that wouldn't be in top half of a SM field anyway. There is NO form of sports car racing in which you can be fast and bend sheet metal. The difference is that we don't have to go home for simply bumping a bumper.

My PCA buddies love to hear the SM stories I have... and we'regoing to field another SM for the 12 hour at Summit next year. Some will like it and some won't... but the great part is that there is a place for everyone in this crazy sport.

And yes, you can spend $35 k on a totally legal SM car. It is the exception to the rule and these guys are going after NATIONAL Championships and are at a level higher than anyone reading this post. When you're looking for the last 2% (we're talking a tenth or two) it gets more expensive. FWIW we won our class in the 13 hour last weekend in a $12k car(and it'll be for sale for $10k this winter).

Party on.

The best part