Track day car share?

[Burbs123]

HI THERE,

NEW TO ALL THIS,SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME!

RECENTLY DONE A FEW DRIVING DAYS, (IMAGINE DOING THIS,EVERYMAN RACING,CROFT DAY,ETC ETC) AND REALLY ENJOYING IT,BUT WOULD LOVE TO HAVE OWN CAR,SO CAN DO WHOLE DAYS AT TRACKS I WANT,AND KNOW.
COST WITH ANY MOTORSPORT ALWAYS AN ISSUE,BUT THOUGHT THAT IF YOU GET 2-3 LIKE MINDED PEOPLE,LIVING IN THE MIDLANDS AREA,AND WANTING TO DO, DONNINGTON,AND OULTON PARK, AND MALLORY 6-8 TIMES A YEAR THEN COST WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER IF YOU COULD DO A SHARE/JOINT OWNERSHIP!
MYSELF- RACED PRODUCTION BIKES IN THE PAST,AND QUITE A FEW TRACK DAYS WITH BIKES,BUT DUE TO FAMILY,AND WORK,CANNOT TAKE THE RISK OF ANY ACCIDENTS,BROKEN BONES ETC,SO LOOKING TOWARDS CARS!
WOULD BE HAPPY TO TALK TO ANY LEVEL OF PERSON IN RELATION TO THE EXPERIENCE THEY HAVE,AND THEN TO HOPEFULLY TAKE IT FURTHER.
CARS TO LOOK AT? I'M VERY OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS,BIKE POWERED,LOTUS,SCOOBY'S,RX8, ETC ETC.
BUDGET £4000 ISH.
ANYONE HALF INTERESTED PLEASE REPLY,OR ANY ADVICE OF HOW THIS COULD WORK ASWELL.
THANKS

JOHN.

Edited by Burbs123 on Wednesday 13th May 09:37

[GC8]

[mmm-five]

Why not just hire a Caterham or such from Bookatrack or something at the 'Ring?

With 2-3 people, it could work out at about £200 a day each!

Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 13th May 16:22

[Burbs123]

HI,

I HAVE BEEN THINKING THAT,AND WAS ACTUALLY JUST LOOKING INTO IT!

JUST BEEN ON THE CATERHAM PAGE,BUT THATS £450 EACH PER DAY SHARED WITH 2 OTHERS,AT SAY SILVERSTONE.
BUT ITS STILL NOT OWNING YOUR OWN TOY,AND IF NOTHING GOES WRONG, OR ANY ACCIDENTS THEN SOON YOU WOULD HAVE PAID FOR THE CAR.
MAYBE HIRE A CAR FROM ONE PLACE FOR SAY 6 TRACK DAYS,AND SHARE WITH THE OTHER 2,AND SEE IF WE LIKE IT OVER THE YEAR?
ANY IDEA OF WHO WOULD HIRE A CATERHAM FOR THE DAY,SO THREE COULD SHARE?
I LL TRY BOOKATRACK!

THANKS FOR REPLY

Edited by Burbs123 on Wednesday 13th May 17:45

[fergus]

mmm-five said:

Why not just hire a Caterham or such from Bookatrack or something at the 'Ring?

With 2-3 people, it could work out at about £200 a day each!

Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 13th May 16:22

Agreed. Given that you'd have to share a car anyway, I think it would be far easier to split the cost of hiring a caterham or something similar. You also don't have to factor in the consumables cost and the hassle of storing it, maintaining it, and setting it there (poss. tax and insurance/trailer costs?).

I've seen people share before, but they have a strict agreement (perhaps contract) that if you're in the car when the engine blows, you pay for the reapirs. The argument being that why should the man sat on the pitwall, who is unable to see the Oil pressure gauge, etc have to contribute to something he has zero control over. It can be an easy way to damage a friendship if things go wrong, as money is involved!!

I'd give some serious thought to how many t/days you are likely to do, and the all up cost of these versus hiring something!

Good luck.

[DiscoColin]

Burbs123 said:

JUST BEEN ON THE CATERHAM PAGE,BUT THATS £450 EACH PER DAY SHARED WITH 2 OTHERS,AT SAY SILVERSTONE.
BUT ITS STILL NOT OWNING YOUR OWN TOY,AND IF NOTHING GOES WRONG, OR ANY ACCIDENTS THEN SOON YOU WOULD HAVE PAID FOR THE CAR.

Erm... No. You need to take a more informed view on the true running costs of a car at full track speed. The BaT Caterhams include everything (tyre wear, brake wear, servicing, depreciation, fuel, tuition : the lot). For perspective, in my car I have successfully burned £180 worth of petrol alone in a day when it was at its peak price last year.

The Caterham Superlight rentals are a bargain.

[Furyblade_Lee]

I have shared a car with a mate 50-50 and also shared a speedboat 50-50. I would not reccomend it to anyone. Certainly you have to be realistic about running costs. My mate had no idea really. "I need £200 for the tyres, £30 for servicing, road tax, brake pads, clips, wire, ...." ect. It got too much for him with just consumables and i dreaded asking him for money in the end. He really went in eyes wide shut, thinking that his £4k would give him a cheap fast car to play with. It also put the dampers on me tuning and developing it, as he was not willing to spend another ££££ on it. I ended up buying the half share back.
At the very least, if you have a £4k budget EACH, then buy a car for £5k and put £3k in a joint bank account. And have a WRITTEN contingency plan for if it gets badly damaged. Honestly, there are so many parameters to ruin a good friendship that i would try to fund a car yourself.

[UltimateSpeed]

DiscoColin said:

Burbs123 said:

JUST BEEN ON THE CATERHAM PAGE,BUT THATS £450 EACH PER DAY SHARED WITH 2 OTHERS,AT SAY SILVERSTONE.
BUT ITS STILL NOT OWNING YOUR OWN TOY,AND IF NOTHING GOES WRONG, OR ANY ACCIDENTS THEN SOON YOU WOULD HAVE PAID FOR THE CAR.

Erm... No. You need to take a more informed view on the true running costs of a car at full track speed. The BaT Caterhams include everything (tyre wear, brake wear, servicing, depreciation, fuel, tuition : the lot). For perspective, in my car I have successfully burned £180 worth of petrol alone in a day when it was at its peak price last year.

The Caterham Superlight rentals are a bargain.

Couldn't agree more, through experience we have seen various people drive our VX220 and whilst there are similar driving styles; towards the end of our tuition everyone still has there own unique input to the car and we've had days where the car doesn't look like it has been driven and others where we've come away with serious worn brakes/tyres etc etc. Of course, all it takes is one major £££ thing to go wrong, and friendships can become frayed - be it temporary or not.

[Nobody You Know]

I can't read your posts with caps lock on, seriously.

[Burbs123]

HI,

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT,AND IT'S QUITE CLEAR NOW, THIS WOULD NT WORK,WELL MAYBE 1 IN 1000 IF VERY LIKE MINDED ETC.
I WILL LOOK AT FIGURES,AND PROBABLY DO A FULL YEARS TRACK DAYS HIRING ONE WITH A FEW MATES,SO WE GET IT FOR THE DAY TO SHARE BETWEEN US,AND SO THAT WAY, STILL HAVING FUN,BUT NO PRESSURE, AS YOU SAY ON FRIENDSHIP ETC.
CAN ANYONE ADVISE ON THE IF THE CATERHAM SUPERLIGHT'S AT 130HP OR SO,ARE QUICK ENOUGH TO HAVE SOME REAL FUN?

MANY THANKS AGAIN TO ALL.

JOHN.

[fergus]

Burbs123 said:

HI,

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT,AND IT'S QUITE CLEAR NOW, THIS WOULD NT WORK,WELL MAYBE 1 IN 1000 IF VERY LIKE MINDED ETC.
I WILL LOOK AT FIGURES,AND PROBABLY DO A FULL YEARS TRACK DAYS HIRING ONE WITH A FEW MATES,SO WE GET IT FOR THE DAY TO SHARE BETWEEN US,AND SO THAT WAY, STILL HAVING FUN,BUT NO PRESSURE, AS YOU SAY ON FRIENDSHIP ETC.
CAN ANYONE ADVISE ON THE IF THE CATERHAM SUPERLIGHT'S AT 130HP OR SO,ARE QUICK ENOUGH TO HAVE SOME REAL FUN?

MANY THANKS AGAIN TO ALL.

JOHN.

Dude, the caps lock button is on the far left on the keyboard, next to 'A'.

Seriously, if you are able to carry enough speed through the corners, an (only) 130hp caterham is a match for most cars on track. They are also very easy to control if you want to have a play. I'd suggest hiring one to see what you think. I think you may be pleasantly surprised. Come back on here and tell us what you thought!

[Furyblade_Lee]

I doubt any beginners will be dissapointed at the Caterhams 130bhp. In the hands of an expert, a 130 bhp Caterham can be VERY quick indeed at a place like Brands Indy.But the best thing about a Caterham is the handling, you would not have experienced anything so involving and responsive to your inputs before. And you have to learn the inputs, if you are ham-fisted with a Caterham like people drive hot hatches you will crash, no doubt. But that is the fantastic thing about Caterhams, like being put into a 60's racing car. Understeer, oversteer, 4-wheel drifting, powerslides, its all in there somewhere, you just have to learn how to get it out. Coupled with cheaper running costs, they are the ideal trackday tool.

And yes, please lose the caps lock! No shouting please.

[Burbs123]

Thanks again!

Hey found the caps lock!

Will organise a day, and come back to let you know my thoughts.

Had a full day at donnington the other day in the civic Type R with, Imagine doing this! and loved it apart from the brakes fading,so will be interesting to feel the difference,and i suppose the different cars i try throughout the year on hire,will give me the knowledge,if and when i buy my own!

Thanks again,and will keep in lower case for you from now on!

John.