TRAKCAR

Money, time and racing is like work, DE much more relaxed, I show up and drive when I have the money time and feel like it... On some days I rather go around a second a lap slower than jack up the car and adjust a sway bar...

Peter Carroll/Toronto

I am a PCA Red/Instructor and yes I am racing, though in a BMW. I am racing the M3 because it is an order of magnitude less expensive than racing a Porsche.

I can safely say that racing a competitive BMW is a lot more expensive than tracking my 930 in Red. So my attempt to save money didn't work. Plus I continued to track the 930 offsetting any potential savings even further. I am still convinced that racing a BMW is still a lot less expensive than racing a Porsche.

Racing is expensive if you want to be competitive. If you don't want to be competitive, then why are you racing?

http://www.driversmeeting.com/pcarroll/blog/215/

I'm the yellow car at the front - or at least I was until my accessory belt broke and I flew into a gravel trap (twice).
http://vimeo.com/12183656

Potomac-Greg

To race you need a race car. To own a race car, you need a trailer. If you have a trailer you need a place to keep it. And you need a rig to tow it. I would love to be racing, but I'm 0-for-4 on that scorecard.

kurt M

Time and money are more in racing if you are there to try and win. Yes, you can go and run and have a good time but to win, place or show requires a lot more time and $ than the standard DE format unless you have god given talent and or are in a class of one. racing also has an added layer of race craft. A good "driver" can be flumoxed by a slower car unless racecraft is known and used.

10 years instructing in DE most of the time in Black in a 912. @ 24 pounds per hp the 912 would not be much of a race car. The white one to the left will be a bit more fun when it is time to race.

As to paddock time I see just as many good people having a good time and working on each others cars in DE and in racing. There are some good drivers in both. There are some bad drivers in both.


There are many more type A in racing. In fact I think PCA club race was started to cut the type A's from the DE herd.

67King

Am I the only one who doesn't want to be encumbered by rules? Maybe because I'm an engineer, but the mere fact that if I race, I will be limited by what someone else wants me to do to the car, is a big deterrent. Sure I could go do NASA events, but then I'd have to do all kinds of other things to the car to even think about being competitive. Granted, I am taking a much different approach to the Porsche than I did with the XR, but the perspective remains. I started out wanting a turbocharged 16 valve 3.0L that could be driven on the street if I wanted to. I've passed on that, but there is nowhere for me to race with a car like that (and believe it or not, there are folks who drive their race cars to the track - a friend of mine races a 944 S2 in E-stock and drives to and from the track).

VERBOTN

Both are great but racing is by far more costly. IMO in racing each lap has meening and I am accountable for performance. In DE it is very easy to toss away a bad lap or blame it on traffic as in many cases passing restrictions exist.

I still enjoying going to DE's but as all my racing friends had told me its just not the same and I concur.

jumper5836

Cost is not the same, my car is a daily driver why would I risk racing it. It wouldn't be even competitive to race it and if I were to make it competitive it wouldn't be a the nice luxury DD it is. I drive to the track, have fun, gas up and top up oil. Replace brake pads and tires once a season. Cost is virtually nothing.

I race online virtually, a full out racing rig with motion costs way less, no maintenance and I can race any time I want and no commitment. Friends come over or wife wants something and I'll I have to do it shut the PC off or game console off.

docwyte

I split the difference and run Time Trials with NASA. I have no desire to buy a truck and trailer so I can tow my car to the track. I have nowhere to store either and don't want to pay to insure them, etc.

I also don't want to spend the necessary money on keeping the car in true race shape. I don't have the time to work on it myself and I also don't have the time to go to all the events.

Running time trials gives me the perfect out, although I usually just go out and have fun, I'm not looking to shave a tenth of a second or something.

mrbill_fl

not even close. plus the time commitment, and dedication is huge.

when I started racing I was working on the car maybe for 4 hrs before each weekend. 5 yrs later is was over 40 hrs each weekend. and cost increased 4x's the 1st year. (if the front runner is getting new tires every weekend, then everyone that wants to run at the front is too.)

if you are racing for an end of year championship, you can not afford any DNF's. So everything needs to be checked each time out. Just 1 DNF can ruin a championship.

at a DE, who cares...

I'm not changing the alignment setup for DE's, but for racing, I'd have a different setup for each track, and change it as conditions changed.

mdrums

1 of the worst things you can do is go to a dual event...(PBOC DE and race)...and your friends race and you DE....talk about feeling like chit!

VERBOTN

Mike you are correct I feel bad that I do not have time to hang, but thats why I have the BBQ

TedA

I look in the mirror every morning and call myself a pu$$y because I need a sponsor. I instruct at this point because I get to drive for free and spend time with the best people I know.

mooty

precisely. that's why the cost goes straight up to the sky.
i bet you are not in C or D mod...
else they make my GT3RS look cheap.
a bud of mine is 150k into his bimmer.

mooty

not if u do what i did.
i ran the fast group in DE and also raced in the race group.
kind of busy, but it was fun.
after i won the race, i drove off track straight into trailer and was gone in less than 10 min to avoid traffic.

Gary R.

Here we intermingle the DE run groups with the race practices, can't do both.

All the stuff about racing costing more misses the point of why many of us race. I race because it is exponentially more fun than running around the track with cars that aren't close to mine in either power or skill. I'm currently on a tight budget and only race when I can scrape enough cash together to do so. That doesn't include a $1200.00 set of R6's (last ones I bought were WGI race 6/09). I'm relatively competitive on tires someone thought were used up and truly feel it's ME, not the tires, that are holding back a win from me. If I got to a point where racing my 911 just became impossible I would sell it and race a 944 until things changed or I die.

Why don't people race? It's WAY more that "it's too expensive", which is a joke if you look at the cars some people track. New GT3's, CUP Cars, GT2s, $100K 911s, and on and on. If you drive a 944 to the track AND race it, now that's commitment.