Anyone going this year? racing/spectating?

 

tempting...there are a lot of seats available for this race, lots of teams looking for drivers who can afford to, but the economy has been hard this year. I ran in 2 grand am races last year, not the 24, though I did a test there. the 24 is such an expensive race to run, for what it costs to do this one race, you could run 3 maybe 4 other races

 

Glad to hear we have some well-heeled racers on this board! Can you give the rest of us some idea of what costs to run the 24 Hour race (for an individual renter)?

Has the economy affected what teams can charge for it, or other events?

 

it varies by team, and by class, and you generally get a better price if you run more races. some teams have a flat fee for the race (+damage) other teams will brake it down, charge you for the seat time, the tires, and gas. in a 24hr race your going to use a lot of fuel and tires.
I was offered a seat last year for $40k + tires and fuel, sharing with 3 drivers, and you pay for what you brake.

in years past it was easy for teams to find drivers, but right now there are lots of empty seats in all racing series. but there are lots of good deals out there if you are looking to get into it. one of my friends just picked up a seat in an indy lights car for 10K per race. and you can probably get into some grand am gs or st class rides for less then that.

if you are interested let me know, I know a few teams

 

Thanks for the info. A few of my National racing buddies have " moved up the ladder" and have given similar figures. But I'm afraid my budget is not in that neighborhood. A man's GOT to know his limits! Sorry to take this so far OT.

 

there is not really a ladder, you would be surprised how few races some of these drivers in grand-am have. my friend going to Indy lights has 4 skip barber races, karting, and a couple track days in a miata, thats it.

as far as the price goes, when you consider the costs involved in regular club racing its not much more to run in a big series.

 

in order to be able to afford 10k/race, more or less, i am assuming the only way to afford this would be to have sponsors that follow the driver, not really the team???

I thought i was interested in getting heavily involved into this sport, it's possible that dream has been crushed!!!! club racing it is!

 

teams get their own sponsors, and drivers get their own. though even at the level of grand am, most of the sponsors provide gear or equipment, especially now, there is not as much sponsor ship money as you would expect. most of the money comes out of pocket

when you look at club racing to be competitive for a season, its going to cost you several thousands of dollars, not including the car. I always recommend to drivers that they should run their first couple races in a rented seat. that way you get a properly prepped car, and you dont have to worry about everything else.

 

so run a season of club racing or run one race in grand am? why does something so fun have to cost so much money!

 

you could probably run a club season in spec 7 (first gen Rx7) for under $10K a season. thats probably as cheap as you will get. spec miata might be able to run under $15K a season, but those cars get really torn up in the races. its fixing what you brake that sets you back, and more expensive cars cost more to fix.

 

So who are you MrAlien? Who did you run with?

I'm still trying to figure out '09 as well....

 

We figure to run Daytona, it would cost $16,000 with a volunteer crew. At a minimum, we'll run Laguna Seca and Miller Motorsports Park. Looks like we'll miss Daytona, and the next two races don't make sense to do unless we run the rest of the season. If we do well at Laguna, we may do the rest of the season, or an increased number of races.

 

I have found various low-end NASA race cars from $600 to $1000 rent per event day here in Atlanta. That would be in a Spec Miata, Spec E30, Mustang AI, or a RX8...each has various extra fees for crew, tires, towing, etc. Also all have some u-crash-it deposit deal.

I plan to do a NASA Comp License school in a rent-a-racer some time in 2009...likely is the cheapest thing I can rent! Then do 2 races to get a permanent license in a rent-a-wreck..

Really not a bad deal when you look at it!

 

I remember you guys at Miller this year... Do you usually just run west-coast (ish) races? Didn't remember you guys at VIR...

 

I went in 06 with my dad, and he mentioned going again this year, so hopefully we can make it.

 

Been a spectator twice...but I was avidly following Corvettes. I have not been since I got my Z. Maybe we can try to get a group together for specatating? Car clubs generally show up in droves. I was there with a bunch of vette guys, conveniently parked next to the viper clubs so they could yell at each other. Perhaps we could organize a meeting of Z clubs? This race IS a blast...and it would be even better if we knew someone running *cough cough MrAlien cough cough*.

 

Last season we did Daytona, Watkin's Glen and Miller. We struggled with power until the last race. We're going to miss Daytona, but we'll start with Laguna Seca and see how we do there.

 

I will be in the pits but not racing. Will have to check into this thread as it gets close to see who will be there and maybe do beers?

 

I'll be there, we just rented a Mini Van to camp and we will most likely have a large group of people.

 

It's been quite a while since I've been behind the wheel in any pro series besides Miata Cup. It does get expensive quickly! Aside from the actual cost of the seat, the other aspect that keeps me away is the thought of writing off an $80k-100k car or paying the high rates to insure it for the weekend. I always tell people new to racing to only drive a car you can afford to wad up into a ball and walk away.