Bryan Watts

He and I and another 1000+.

Outside of lucking into a dream situation (it happens), the number of opportunities he gets will mostly be proportional to the amount of $$ his family is willing to spend to get him going.

ltc

Sounds like karting......

F350Lawman

Hope he hangs in there, unfortunately Motorsports, unlike other major sports is the one where you can buy a spot on the field. Not a reason to stop persevering, I still feel the cream does eventually rise to the top....but it must be disheartening at times???

Bryan Watts

It's any motorsport. We don't have the luxury to pay $60 to drive "little league" every year or a high school and college program that allows for development at almost no cost the same way that other professional sports have. On top of that, most race teams are profitable because of sponsorship or personal funding dollars that drivers bring with them as opposed to ticket sales, etc the way a NBA or NFL team is profitable.

Bryan Watts

Unfortunately, due to the costs involved, it just doesn't always work out that way. I've known a lot of really great drivers who simply didn't get there. Even a lot of the really good drivers don't make a living driving race cars...they get their rides for free, but they put in long hours and travel doing driver coaching, etc in order to pay their own bills. It's a tough "business"...if I wanted to drive professionally and I had a choice between talent and funds, I'd err on the side of funds. Talent can be developed later...but it takes lots of $$ to even develop the talent.

ltc

Agreed.
I'm just naive, slow and stupid.
I had no idea it actually went down to the (national) karting level.
I still have a hard time believing some of the budgets. Example: a 9-12 year old competitor spent $250K in preparation for a single event....entire team was camped out for weeks at the track before the event, testing, testing and testing.
P.S. they did not podium IIRC.

Bryan Watts

It's crazy...even back in 2001 when I ran a couple Star Mazda races, the word around the paddock was that the lowest funded drivers were spending $150-200K on the season. There I was, a 21 year-old, with 1 year experience, paying a couple thousand dollars for the weekend and I was racing against 17-18 year-olds with 6-8+ years of experience and a $200K yearly budget. It was an eye opener for sure!!

It was at that point that I realized that my path into more professional racing was going to be delayed until I could make a good living and use my own funds and connections I make in life to help fund my passion. I'm 3 years and a lot of stock options instead of pay into this start-up company and we're starting to gain traction despite (or perhaps because of) the economy...here's to a successful 2009!

chrisc

Wonder what will become of this years cars? Will they be up for sale? Might make a fun DE/track car

F350Lawman

Hey I was just trying to be optimistic Obviously in a sport where tons of celebs, and so many top drivers, sons, daughters, cousins, etc. get to compete at high levels.... the playing field aint' exactly level.

Bryan Watts

Ehh...cars from a close spec series run by young and inexperienced drivers scream "all used up" to me. No matter how pretty they may make them to sell, they've been run hard, crashed hard, and put up wet all season. Steer clear IMO.

ltc

Great....you tell me this AFTER I bought the Euro Cup.

Bryan Watts

Ha! I only say it becaise I've seen what some World Challenge or Koni Challenge cars look like after a season or two of racing when you really look at them up close. They look great from 50 feet at 50 mph...

MTosi

Yup thats spot on.

Coming from a background with LOTS of Karting and moving into tin tops I can tell you they do not relate in very many ways at all. Other than just the feel for the edge of adhesion you develop, and the race craft, nothing else is even remotely close. Your going from something that weighs 300lbs, has no suspension, to something that weights 2500-3000lbs, and relies on springs/shocks instead of chassis flex. It took me alot longer than I would of thought considering all the stories you hear about the people who make these instant transitions from karts to cars, of course I always forget they are getting into perfectly setup formula cars that weigh 1000lbs or less. When I finally got a chance to drive a relatively setup formula car for a day, I found myself reverting back to my knowledge/skills from karts, vs. the stuff I had learned from tin tops.

sbcrc86

Thank you for the congrats everyone. The 08 VW TDI Cup was certainly the best experience of my racing career. I would absolutely recommend it to anybody who is trying to launch into the world of professional motorsport. Its a fraction of the cost of Formula BMW, and the field is larger and consistently much more competitive . I have raced skippy nationals and I will say the the cars are more even in the TDI Cup and for the around the same $ the TDI cup is televised. At the end of the season there is an hour long documentary. The documentary is unique to the TDI cup series and will certainly give all the drivers extra exposure to potential sponsors and teams. THANKS TO MY DAD for making my season possible!!!!

check out my site www.chriscastagna.com

DrJupeman

Awesome stuff, Chris. I'm happy to have been beaten by you.

Great pic: