Testing and Race Budget
Discussion
Hi Guys, Reading thru the threads i notice some talk about costs, as a new boy last year, and runing in class C i thought some of my experience might be of help.
Per race weekend i recond you are loking at the princely sum of about a grand or just under, as the others have stated. However, this does go in chunks over the period of a few weeks/month and does vastly depend on how you are running(with race support??)
Team prep is expensive, and i am yet to scare myself by digging the bills out, but i did finish every race, and had the car spannered before every outing, bills varying from £100-£????, but again we finished, i am not the most mechanicaly minded guy so am beter off going to work and paying someone elso to prep the car.
With regards to testing, i always tried to get a track day in at the venue a few weeks before race day, providing you dont want to time(nudge nudge) this was a great way to learn the circuits at your own pace, i would then try and book afternoon testing on race day. Generally i found open pit lane track days about the same as afternoon testing!! All in all not the cheapest way to go, but it does give you a chance, at the end of the day, we are all extreemely lucky to be able to go racing, you have to give yourself the best chance you can, otherwise you will still spend a lot of money and get nothing back.
See most of you on fri at autospud
Regards
Sam
Per race weekend i recond you are loking at the princely sum of about a grand or just under, as the others have stated. However, this does go in chunks over the period of a few weeks/month and does vastly depend on how you are running(with race support??)
Team prep is expensive, and i am yet to scare myself by digging the bills out, but i did finish every race, and had the car spannered before every outing, bills varying from £100-£????, but again we finished, i am not the most mechanicaly minded guy so am beter off going to work and paying someone elso to prep the car.
With regards to testing, i always tried to get a track day in at the venue a few weeks before race day, providing you dont want to time(nudge nudge) this was a great way to learn the circuits at your own pace, i would then try and book afternoon testing on race day. Generally i found open pit lane track days about the same as afternoon testing!! All in all not the cheapest way to go, but it does give you a chance, at the end of the day, we are all extreemely lucky to be able to go racing, you have to give yourself the best chance you can, otherwise you will still spend a lot of money and get nothing back.
See most of you on fri at autospud
Regards
Sam
Lets have another look....
Tyres - £800 a set inc VAT. We'll assume that you use two sets in the season of 7 meetings, you never have a puncture and you have a serviceable set of wets that were free (!).
We'll also assume that you spend £1,000 on your engine, £300 on the gearbox and the same again, £300, on diff, brakes, dampers etc either in preparation for, during or after the season finishes. You could spend less, but you're going to have to rebuild these things at some stage and if you let them go bang they'll cost more.
Series registration fee, call it £200, BRSCC membership, £165, race licence £70 - total 'fees' = £435
Finally we'll assume that there are no preparation or race support costs - you spanner it yourself and the car requires nothing over the £1,600 allowance above.
So, our per race weekend costs are:
Entry fees £330 (estimate for double header)
Race fuel £100
Transport to circuit, food, accomodation (or beer money if tent) £100
Tyres £229
Engine/box/diff etc £229
'Fees' £62
Total: £1,049 per meeting
We've not tested, nothing has broken on the car, no upgrades, we haven't changed the oil or brake fluid and we've not hit anything and nothing has hit us. We've also made no allowance for depreciation, servicing our trailer, the cost of a transponder or our race gear.
You could argue that the £1,600 allowance for engine, gearbox etc is excessive, and if you buy the car, run it for the year without them needing attention and sell the car for what you paid for it then you'd be right. But if you run the car for more than a season then you are going to incur something like these costs.
Add in the odd thing like a hose perishing, flat spotting or puncturing a tyre, needing a set of wets (unless you run on 'all weather' tyres, in which case you can keep costs down but you won't be competitive against full slicks), changing a master cylinder, a head gasket blowing, an alternator failing, or an accident - and lets face it you'd be very very fortunate
if none of these things happen at some stage, and £1,000 a meeting starts to look conservative.
The only good thing is that some of these costs hit outside of the season so you can spread some of the costs across the year.
£1,000 per meeting isn't a bad starting point, but if you are prepared for additional costs to hit you at some stage then if they don't then it will be a pleasant surprise.
Tyres - £800 a set inc VAT. We'll assume that you use two sets in the season of 7 meetings, you never have a puncture and you have a serviceable set of wets that were free (!).
We'll also assume that you spend £1,000 on your engine, £300 on the gearbox and the same again, £300, on diff, brakes, dampers etc either in preparation for, during or after the season finishes. You could spend less, but you're going to have to rebuild these things at some stage and if you let them go bang they'll cost more.
Series registration fee, call it £200, BRSCC membership, £165, race licence £70 - total 'fees' = £435
Finally we'll assume that there are no preparation or race support costs - you spanner it yourself and the car requires nothing over the £1,600 allowance above.
So, our per race weekend costs are:
Entry fees £330 (estimate for double header)
Race fuel £100
Transport to circuit, food, accomodation (or beer money if tent) £100
Tyres £229
Engine/box/diff etc £229
'Fees' £62
Total: £1,049 per meeting
We've not tested, nothing has broken on the car, no upgrades, we haven't changed the oil or brake fluid and we've not hit anything and nothing has hit us. We've also made no allowance for depreciation, servicing our trailer, the cost of a transponder or our race gear.
You could argue that the £1,600 allowance for engine, gearbox etc is excessive, and if you buy the car, run it for the year without them needing attention and sell the car for what you paid for it then you'd be right. But if you run the car for more than a season then you are going to incur something like these costs.
Add in the odd thing like a hose perishing, flat spotting or puncturing a tyre, needing a set of wets (unless you run on 'all weather' tyres, in which case you can keep costs down but you won't be competitive against full slicks), changing a master cylinder, a head gasket blowing, an alternator failing, or an accident - and lets face it you'd be very very fortunate
if none of these things happen at some stage, and £1,000 a meeting starts to look conservative.
The only good thing is that some of these costs hit outside of the season so you can spread some of the costs across the year.
£1,000 per meeting isn't a bad starting point, but if you are prepared for additional costs to hit you at some stage then if they don't then it will be a pleasant surprise.
You forgot
Transport Tax and insurance. at £500-1000 a year. so about £100 a weekend.
Some of the tracks It's going to cost at least £100 in fuel just to get there and back.
I was not budgeting for the Engine Gearbox Service as such, as build a car from scratch, so that's part of my build cost not my race budget. but that still leaves' it at about £900 a weekend.
I think you need a serpate budget for servicing and repairs and breakages. I think most people think of the race budget on the things you can't change. or will save if you don't go.
Rebuild etc will still be needed if you do a full season on only 5 races.
Transport Tax and insurance. at £500-1000 a year. so about £100 a weekend.
Some of the tracks It's going to cost at least £100 in fuel just to get there and back.
I was not budgeting for the Engine Gearbox Service as such, as build a car from scratch, so that's part of my build cost not my race budget. but that still leaves' it at about £900 a weekend.
I think you need a serpate budget for servicing and repairs and breakages. I think most people think of the race budget on the things you can't change. or will save if you don't go.
Rebuild etc will still be needed if you do a full season on only 5 races.
..............and then you want to go faster and be more competitive and so you spend money that you justify through man maths.............and the expenditure basically doubles through bigger brakes, airmods, ducting, wheels, tyres, suspension, drivetrain, engine (if you're not on the limit), liposucksion, etc.....
Leigh - you have hit the nail on the head.
The racer's friend is selective budgeting. We all do it, whether we are justifying the costs to the wife, our peers or even ourselves.
We put the insurance and tax in the 'its my road car so I would have spent it anyway' bucket. I struggle with that one with the truck!!
Food at the circuit goes in the 'I would have had to eat anyway bucket'
That new alternator goes in the 'car build' bucket
The engine refresh goes in the '2009' bucket.
The things I paid cash to a mate for go in the 'I conveniently forgot about those' bucket!
If you are imaginative enough then you can bring the per race costs down quite significantly. If only it were as easy to stop the actual cash going out of the door!!!
(As an aside, if I budget properly I now chuck in absolutely everything I can think of, then I add 10% to the total. From experience you will spend that 10%)
The racer's friend is selective budgeting. We all do it, whether we are justifying the costs to the wife, our peers or even ourselves.
We put the insurance and tax in the 'its my road car so I would have spent it anyway' bucket. I struggle with that one with the truck!!
Food at the circuit goes in the 'I would have had to eat anyway bucket'
That new alternator goes in the 'car build' bucket
The engine refresh goes in the '2009' bucket.
The things I paid cash to a mate for go in the 'I conveniently forgot about those' bucket!
If you are imaginative enough then you can bring the per race costs down quite significantly. If only it were as easy to stop the actual cash going out of the door!!!
(As an aside, if I budget properly I now chuck in absolutely everything I can think of, then I add 10% to the total. From experience you will spend that 10%)
Yes I've learnt that from the race build.
Naively I thought I could buy and build a car for less than 7k.
So far I've spent / Know I have to spend over 11k, plus know I'm going to have to spend more.
and that's with Tyres in the Race budget. and Licence / Cloths in the got to buy anyway in the that's life budget.
Plus the 4k on support van's etc. (I've not included this as they are an asset and can be re-sold budget)
Good job, I've been saving up for 6 year's and not had a holiday for 2 years.
Naively I thought I could buy and build a car for less than 7k.
So far I've spent / Know I have to spend over 11k, plus know I'm going to have to spend more.
and that's with Tyres in the Race budget. and Licence / Cloths in the got to buy anyway in the that's life budget.
Plus the 4k on support van's etc. (I've not included this as they are an asset and can be re-sold budget)
Good job, I've been saving up for 6 year's and not had a holiday for 2 years.
Before I became all demotivated and frustrated.....I was part of a three way converstaion that included my good lady and Tony at HHC just after Christmas.
The term "the race budget" is a term often used in that company, usually accompanied by rolling eyes and childish grins (rolling eyes female, childish grins male). What was and was not included is the subject of much discussion - mainly as a result of me declaring the 2600 quid trailer as outside of the budget and needing a new tow car....also not in the budget.
The latest challenge to the budget potential extension - a repaint for the car.
Conversation.
Me. It would be nice to have the car painted in a darker red.
Good lady. I didn't think the famous budget would stand a paint job...It's already over what we agreed.......
Tony. Wasn't that the 2007 budget, surely the paint job would come out of the 2008 budget...............
Tony managed to escape the attempts at damage to his person..only just.
The term "the race budget" is a term often used in that company, usually accompanied by rolling eyes and childish grins (rolling eyes female, childish grins male). What was and was not included is the subject of much discussion - mainly as a result of me declaring the 2600 quid trailer as outside of the budget and needing a new tow car....also not in the budget.
The latest challenge to the budget potential extension - a repaint for the car.
Conversation.
Me. It would be nice to have the car painted in a darker red.
Good lady. I didn't think the famous budget would stand a paint job...It's already over what we agreed.......
Tony. Wasn't that the 2007 budget, surely the paint job would come out of the 2008 budget...............
Tony managed to escape the attempts at damage to his person..only just.
Edited by Daftlad on Tuesday 8th January 15:37
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