Ritter v4.0

Doesn't a $50-60k Cup likely need a motor and trans refresh?
Put that into the cost and its half a 996 or thereabouts.

mglobe

Probably 90% of the folks here will say buy built. I'm not as sold on that as others. First of all, there are not enough SP996's for their to be a good used market. More generally, I've yet to see a club level race car for sale that I didn't think I would modify in some form or fashion that would add an additional 10% to 15% (or more) to the cost of the car. It might be in the cage, the seat(s), harnesses, quick release, cool suit, data system, exhaust, ... you get the idea. So the bargain you perceive at first may not be quite the bargain you end up getting.

Yeah, there are exceptions to this, but they usually are the expensive cars.

Ritter v4.0

That's true in part. There are few about which is why those of us who built pretty much had to do so. But I still think a Cup is a quantum increase in upfront and ongoing costs. Not that it's not worth it mind you but you pay for the difference in speed and factory built experience.

tonypai

+1

In the end you get what you pay for. Cheap up front usually means higher repairs 1-3 seasons down the road.

The type of car you choose just determines the starting point of your expenses.

The costs of building a race car is the cost of building a race car. Transponder costs $449, Halo seat/brackets/belts costs $1600, Fire suppression $400, cage, paint, Cool Suit, AIM data, window net, center net and so on and so forth. You can save some bucks by buying used.....but do you really want to do that with safety equipment? Figure if you buy all new stuff, it'll cost you $10-20K.

Then you can add the cost of the donor. The nicer the car the higher the cost. :-). A good, unrusted Miata with hardtop will cost you $5K. I think we're all aware of the costs of Porsche parts. I went with SM because I could sign up directly with Mazda and get parts at dealer costs.

Ritter v4.0

^^ Your points are well taken but the OP asked about building a 996- not if a SM was cheaper.

tonypai

Understood. And it wasn't my point at all.

Just sharing my experiences about building a race car.

MUSSBERGER

How much for your car when your done

mglobe

Yup, completely agree. It always amazes me how people talk about purchase price on cars, but ignore what it costs to run them. Every time I think about saving money on a safety related item, I try to think in terms of how that expenditure compares to a set of tires. The safety purchase is typically either a one-time event, or something that happens every five years. Tires... a bit more often.

One of the reasons we chose the BFG R1's for SP996 was that we figured it would save money on the cost of operation due to the increased number of heat cycles you can get from the R1 vs Hoosiers. Folks regularly get two full race weekends, plus practice time out of the BFG's.

tlarocque

So I glanced at the rules for SP996.... appears to me that these cars are street-legal, correct? Not that you would want to drive them on the street, but you could.

What's the consensus... start with a 3.4 car or 3.6? Do they really run fairly equally on the track?

Ritter v4.0

Thread featuring this discussion recently. But it depends on the track- the lighter 3.4 generally works better on tighter more technical tracks. Faster tracks favor the 3.6.

tlarocque

Thx. Will do a search.

GuyIncognito

Spec996 allows removal of cats and exhaust, so in Kalifornia it wouldn't be street legal.

and not sure why you'd want to drive it on the street at that point...

mike1111

would one be crazy to put a carrera motor and trans in a cup car with a blown motor and what class could that run in.

IcemanG17

is always cheaper to BUY vs Build....but it can be enjoyable to build-spec your own car...

There are lots of spec classes out there that will be cheaper to run than a Spec996....but they also will be much slower as well....

Spec Miata and Spec E30 are very popular around here...but still not exactly "fun" in my book either

tlarocque

That's not hard to get around. But the ability to drive to the track rather than trailer would make it appealing. Perhaps not realistic.