K964

This is your best option for the amount of $, committment, and lack of wrenching you want to do. Great call Van!!!

993inNC

Yeah, I've considered the thought of rental car. The ultimate arrive and drive. I'd be up for that, especially if I could find someone willing to do a rent to own type of arrangement. Gives me an opportunity to try the car, the group, etc and if all goes well i buy the car. If the owner or team wants to continue support, great if not .......

Hadn't seen but one add for a rental opportunity but I don't think it was in my area.

f1rocks

I'm building a second spec car, we'll talk this afternoon.

993inNC

Call me

gums

Hold on, now. There is a difference between Spec 944 and 944Cup. Up here in the NE we run 944 Cup and 944 SuperCup, these are the cars that show up at PCA events in SP2 and SP3. 944Cup is a slightly different formula than Spec 944, mostly due to wheel size, but it's much better in our region. Your area, NC, is the home and hotbed for 944 Cup. These cars are much better than Spec E30. Now, for a few bucks more, and little difference in upkeep (unless you go Turbo), 944SuperCup blows the doors off all of them and is a great cost/performance bargain, IMHO. I suggest you visit 944cup.com right now. and then I'd give Dave Derecola a call, he's practically your neighbor and could get you right into a good car. You can thank me later.

993inNC

Way ahead of you Brother, Dave and I have been burning up the email waves over the last few nights

So it continues to be "for a couple bucks more" which is how I've sold my wife the idea of going from an inexpensive street DE car to "babe for a couple bucks more I can have a prep'd race car and go back wheel to wheel". And what's your "couple more" going to run me? And why is it a better than Cup or Spec? I'm guessing the level of prep gets heavier which gets me further away from "budget" racing, and brings me into the fold of boys that like to spend gobs of money to go fast. You know, boys with titles like PLLC, DR., CFO, CEO......am I close?

edit: Ok I cheated and clicked on your website link.........answered my own questions But you're okay in my book, drove a Scirocco and a 993 as have I........great minds think alike
Looks like you've had a great time and lengthy racing hobby career.

gums

HAHAHA! all good on that, 993. Now, I took the liberty of contacting DD and sending him your way, I hope you don't mind, and now I know that you guys have already been working this.
So, I don't think there are many better values for racing than our series. 944Cup is great racing and lots of cars. For my money though, I like to go just a little faster, and so SuperCup is my bag. I don't know that I'm spending any more than the Cup guys, although tires are more expensive for sure, but not a lot.
However, I run an S2, and it is considerably more reliable, easier to work on, and cheaper maintenance than the Turbo cars that I race against. So, watch it there.
Lastly, because of my experience in cycling perhaps, I know that it's a lot, let's say "safer", to be up front. So, while all those Cup guys are duking it out, I'm off the front with the other CEO, ESQ,. CFO etc as you call them!
Oh, and one more thing: the up front cost of a race car is the LEAST of it. Cost to run it is far more important. Good luck, hope to see you out there soon. Nationals will be at Daytona this year!

multi21

Frank is right, run what is in your region. If it's cup, then run cup, if spec then run that. Much more fun that way.

944Cup

Actually SP2 is not a NASA class, but rather a carbon copy of a 944 Cup class. The 944 Cup is a grassroots independent race series that races with various different sanctioning bodies, which currently does not include NASA.

944Cup

Agreed, racing is about having cars to race against. The more cars, the more likely will have cars at your car/driver capabilities to race with, the more likely you will enjoy your time at the track.

K964

A buddy of mine went through a similar exercise last year. Didn't want to beat up his GT3, and wanted to go wheel to wheel racing on the cheap. As in "As Cheap As Possible". Looked into the rental idea, but felt it was way too costly and he had nothing to show for it at the end. Spec Miata? Nope. Spec e30? Not a chance. 944 Spec? Needed to "sell a kidney" (LOL). Suggested Lemons or Chumpcar, but still didn't want to deal with the cost. Unfortunately, racing is not cheap. The car might be the cheapest part of the whole equation. Kids, wife, work, and every other excuse under the sun were other deal breakers. He FINALLY decided that wheel to wheel in a car was impossible and bought a used shifter cart. He's having a blast and is totally convinced that this was the right move for his situation. Hell, there are even Enduro Cart races for pretty cheap ($400 for a 2.5 hour race IIRC). May be your ticket as well.

gums

Everyone knows that karts (not carts) are great bang for the buck, and I had a shifter for awhile. It's pretty dangerous, though. My buddy broke a few ribs once and didn't even crash. Shifters are fast and physical, but those enduro rental deals are definitely not.
Your buddy, K964, whoever he is, is way too cheap to even consider this sport. What's he want, free?

993inNC

Oh no, I'm waaaay to big to be riding around in a cart for a hobby. I have done a few of the cart sessions at CMP and had a blast (VR is fast even driving those stupid things.......damn you Dave!), but that's not my ticket.
I raced SCCA years ago and held a regional and brief National license so I understand the expense. I'm trying to find the happy place between upfront cost for the amount of times I intend on being out, the amount of wrenching on a car to keep it alive (aka its consistent reliability) and the club/group I want to run with and invest my time and money in being around. It's all of pretty equal importance to me because I left SCCA hating the club, politics, style of racing coming up (spec miata was just getting popular).
I came in just wanting a street car for a couple bucks to go DE'ing (instructors group)again because I have never had more fun time after time at a track then when I did DE. Good people, no politics, no pressure and my car was flawless for five years of running it (never picked up a tool the entire time).
I'm not looking for another job or money pit. I'm looking to have a good time again with good people who are all like me I'm sure its out there, just trying to figure if the Cup or Spec or PCA thing is for me. I've owned '44's and love them as a car, so maybe it's time I race one.

I think I may have found an arrive and drive opportunity coming up in a month if I can get a comp license issued in time. So I'll start there, see how it goes.......In the mean time, I have some conversations going on cars FS and maybe one will pan out, if not, things will happen when they happen.

Since slipping to "Super user" from years of Member, my signature is gone, which means you guys can't click on my old link to rent my beach vacation house. The more weeks I rent, the better a car I can afford to buy Let's hope I have a good year!

CCA

Chevy Spark!

Van

Even slot-car racing can get expensive!