I cannot see the value in tucking away a virgin, especially if they build a 781 version.

Once the new model comes along the old models will become club racers or D.E cars.

I think as a D.E car they will have a nice resale.
Easy to open trailer and service along with fair maintenance costs.

 

+1,000 to all you've said, Tom. Cheers!

 

So impressed with your progression this year! You should get Most Improved Driver for the Trophy East Series. Your performance at Daytona was terrific. Best of luck next year.

 

Not if kissing a tire wall is going to cost a $70k (and growing) retub.

 

+1

 

Cost me 14k at Daytona but it was armco instead of soft tires.

Dot get me wrong, you can take light damage in these cars and fix them, but they are not like the good ol' steel body caymans that can really take a beating.

 

Nice to see that they've found a way to accommodate the other cars. I'm assuming the 50lb weight penalty is to offset the dual-master cylinder booster because I'd be surprised if the 100L tank weighs 50lbs than the 70L??

As for cost, it's frankly prohibitively expensive for all but wealthy retired folks with lots of time and money on their hands or young drivers that have financial backing, especially now that they've added two more races on separate weekends. Running up and down the east coast multiple times a season gets very expensive very quickly. Last year the basic six race budget was $100k in transport, support, base consumables, and fees alone. Count on that going to $150k this season with the new expanded schedule. Transport and support kills you as the travel miles expand.

And it's not just the cost but the time away from work and family if you want to run the series. A more reasonable approach would involve a 8-10 race series over 4-5 weekends with two races per weekend. That would be a far more inclusive series.

 

The 100L carbon fibre tank weighs 11 pounds less then the 70L aluminum tank. So the 50 pound weight penalty would cover the tank weight and the dual master system advantage i assume.

It is indeed expensive to run In an arrive and drive 6 event series last season. (18 races total, 3 per weekend)
Especially when you factor in a track day prior to the race weekend.
Much cheaper then GT3 Cup, IMSA and PWC though.

The real hard thing as you pointed out is the time away from family and work. The racing becomes like a drug and you tend to slack away from work. But being away from family is the hardest.

Getting squeezed into existing PCA club events is difficult for the series and therefore it is spread out from April-October. Just enough time in between events to catch up with work and repair the car but still short for family schedule events.

Some folks cherry pick the races and do not complete them all which is understandable given work and other commitments.

 

Transport and support costs can vary tremendously between shops. I forget the exact figures, but as I recall the difference in transport and support expenses was a magnitude of about ten between two teams I asked about the Daytona event this past fall.

 

That's funny. The Clubsport racers were a great group at Road America. Beautiful cars. A pleasure to work with at the event. I particularly enjoyed chatting with Renee and Nicole on the grid. Very nice people, and a great way to enjoy father/daughter time.

 

I am not sure I completely understand the tire issue. What is the "riding on the sidewall" issue? do you mean the tire is rolling onto its sidewall in corners? Or just that the sidewall is flexing less than in the michelins?

 

This. Michelins have softer sidewalls than Pirellis.

 

MUCH less stiff. The tire is a spring component, too.

 

it depends on the pirelli tire (or michelin, Yok) ....... there are some that are seemingly paper thin and others that are very thick.. Ive always wondered the difference dynamically, when fullly pressurized. When using the used porsche cup take offs, I've always opted to use the stiffer sidewall... seemed safer if something went wrong or i got a flat on the track.

 

All you have to do is ask the tire engineers...