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2Addicts | BMW 2-Series forum Technical Topics Tracking / Autocrossing What is the Expense of Attending Track Events?

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      02-26-2021, 06:49 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msendit View Post
Most important row to pay attention to is the bottom one.

...this is only tracking OpEx (tires, brakes, fluids, etc), not the cost of the parts to make the car track-ready. IMHO, this is the metric that makes more sense, as long as you go to the track often -- then the CapEx (coilovers, fancy calipers, etc) gets amortized.
At $271/hr., your cost is 1/3 of my $819/hr. Clearly, your average day involves much more driving than mine did. My average day at Mid-Ohio was 3 sessions of 8 laps run at ~1:48, for a total of 43.2 minutes per $590 day.

I agree that not including track-ready parts in this summary is a good idea. To do so, I fear, might cause potential track drivers to give up on making this a hobby of theirs. However we slice it, getting serious about turning quick lap times in our cars is not to be undertaken lightly when it comes to the expense.

But then, how do you put a dollar value on having this much (legal) fun. I've yet to find the answer to that one.
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      02-26-2021, 07:58 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dradernh View Post
At $271/hr., your cost is 1/3 of my $819/hr. Clearly, your average day involves much more driving than mine did. My average day at Mid-Ohio was 3 sessions of 8 laps run at ~1:48, for a total of 43.2 minutes per $590 day.

I agree that not including track-ready parts in this summary is a good idea. To do so, I fear, might cause potential track drivers to give up on making this a hobby of theirs. However we slice it, getting serious about turning quick lap times in our cars is not to be undertaken lightly when it comes to the expense.

But then, how do you put a dollar value on having this much (legal) fun. I've yet to find the answer to that one.
Ah, definitely. My typical HPDE day is around 2 hours of driving (most groups here are 5x20 min sessions, there's often opportunities to do much more). Suffice to say, I need the practice, and don't have your TT habits of jumping in and delivering off the bat And on an enduro race/test day, the MR2 can easily see 5-8 hours of track time (of course, not just me, the whole team).

And yes, the sticker price of upgrades can deter folks. For me, right now the ratio of capex to opex on the M240 is pretty close to 1:1. I expect after another year or so, opex will take over by a fair bit.

Last edited by msendit; 02-26-2021 at 08:08 PM..
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      03-02-2021, 11:55 AM   #25
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For comparison, some of my patients tell me you can easily go thru more than $200/hour smoking crack, so I figure I'm saving a ton of money over the course of a track weekend .
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      03-05-2021, 12:24 PM   #26
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In my part of the country, you can rent an "arrive and drive" Spec Miata with used SM7 slicks, fuel and track support/coaching for about $900 per day (+ track registration fees). This is for a "safe" SCCA race car with full roll cage, all required safety equipment, AIM, etc. If you add up all of the costs of routinely tracking a street car, then $900 per day to track somebody else's fully-prepped race car every once in a while is downright reasonable.
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      03-05-2021, 12:36 PM   #27
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In my part of the country, you can rent an "arrive and drive" Spec Miata with used SM7 slicks, fuel and track support/coaching for about $900 per day (+ track registration fees). This is for a "safe" SCCA race car with full roll cage, all required safety equipment, AIM, etc. If you add up all of the costs of routinely tracking a street car, then $900 per day to track somebody else's fully-prepped race car every once in a while is downright reasonable.
I rented an arrive-and-drive SM car at the Glen in 2010. It was a chance to see what tracking was like in a much less expensive car to own and operate. A pro driver/coach recommended it and spent a session with me in it, mostly getting me used to the fact that the SM could be run full throttle in so many places that my E36 could not.

Those Miatas are by far the best bang-for-the-buck out there. They're super well-developed, parts are plentiful and not costly, and the cars are very easy on tires and brakes. I think they offer committed drivers an opportunity to get much better, much sooner.
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TC Kline Coilovers; H&R Front Bar; Wavetrac; Al Subframe Bushings; 18X9/9½ ARC-8s; 255/35-18 PS4S (4); Dinan Elite V2 & CAI; MPerf Orange BBK; Schroth Quick Fit Pro;
GTechniq Crystal Serum Ultra Ceramic; Suntek PPF

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