The cost of trackdays

[torqueofthedevil]

I knew that the true cost of doing a trackday would be high but it wasn't until today that i added it all up! I had read that the cost of the track hire was actually only a fraction of the true cost - and that certainly seems true! I decided to total it all up and see if a mate wanted to go halves and drive my car (a risk not quantified i might add) and basically it added up like this:

trackday 200
1/2 day instruction 150
petrol 120
Consumables / wear and tear (tyres, disks, pads, suspension, fluids etc) 200
Extra driver 25
Helmet hire 20

Total 715 !!!!

Half each 357.50

Now i have not done a trackday yet but wanted to book this for about march. admittedly it is a full day and we'd be getting 1/4 of a day instruction each but i think that would be valuable to get on first or second trackd day.

I may have slightly over estimated petrol and consumables (306 gti-6) but i think that is easily possible with a full days driving (on good tyres and pads)

Let me know if there are any other savings / expenses I have missed - and any ideas to reduce the cost - i knew motorsport was expensive - but that just seems a bit OTT!

I dont think id ask any more than 1 mate to come as the car would get ragged more / less rest and would be concerned that they'd bin it!

Cheers

[Soovy]

Coke and strippers are more fun.

[Backtobasics]

I was going to go with a couple of other guys last year until I worked out the cost. It's just not worth it, you could have a really good track day in other peoples cars for that.

[driverrob]

If it'll be your first time I'd suggest a novice track day; very well organised and safe.
And a lot cheaper than you're estimating. e.g. http://www.clubmsv.co.uk/car-home/news/novice-trac...

[TheLurker]

Yep, now I've got a car that I am willing to use on a track, the costs are truely staggering. I havent done a trackday yet, but I recon you might be overestimating by a bit.

Most days come with free tuition included. You shouldnt wear your tyres out that much and if you have a decent brake setup they shouldnt wear too much either. My own calculations came to about £400 for a day, maby £450. That doesnt include things like getting too/from though.

[Eviltad]

musclecarmad said:

Soovy said:

Coke and strippers are more fun.

Indeed they are. How about taking some strippers go karting? That will be cheaper than your trackday and you can snort coke off the strippers tits whilst navigating the home straight

I'm In!

[pikeyboy]

you think trackdays are expesive, try racing! how to make a small fortune in motorsport, start with a large one, a cliche' but true.

[m1bjr]

TheLurker said:

Yep, now I've got a car that I am willing to use on a track, the costs are truely staggering. I havent done a trackday yet, but I recon you might be overestimating by a bit.

Most days come with free tuition included. You shouldnt wear your tyres out that much and if you have a decent brake setup they shouldnt wear too much either. My own calculations came to about £400 for a day, maby £450. That doesnt include things like getting too/from though.

Simply not true, one or two might but 'most' don't offer free training.
How you destroy your tyres depends on your ability and the weight of your car, or both.
If you are aggresive but unskilled you can ruin a single set of tyres in one track day, easily.
A heavy road car eats brakes too. And again, you may only get two trackdays out of your pads.
Overdo it and they may fade and crumble in one session and you're on your way home.

Edited by m1bjr on Tuesday 12th January 20:40

[MrTrilby]

The 306 GTi-6 eats tyres and brakes on track. As will most heavy cars. Switch to something lighter and that £200 a day cost disappears. My Superlight Caterham effectively uses consumables at no greater a rate than a normal car on the public road. That comment won't be quite so applicable to the more fruity Caterhams.

1/2 day instruction is perhaps a little excessive once you've done a day or two. I don't know about you, but I get saturated and need some time to myself on track to practice and assimilate what I've learnt. Someone like Bookatrack only charge £20 for a session with an instructor - not as good as having one all to yourself for 1/2 a day, but still pretty effective and a lot cheaper. BaT also don't charge for the second driver, so that's another £25 saved

I make that £355 I just saved you

[tertius]

m1bjr said:

TheLurker said:

Yep, now I've got a car that I am willing to use on a track, the costs are truely staggering. I havent done a trackday yet, but I recon you might be overestimating by a bit.

Most days come with free tuition included. You shouldnt wear your tyres out that much and if you have a decent brake setup they shouldnt wear too much either. My own calculations came to about £400 for a day, maby £450. That doesnt include things like getting too/from though.

Simply not true, one or two might but 'most' don't offer free training.
How you destroy your tyres depends on your ability and the weight of your car, or both.
If you are aggresive but unskilled you can ruin a single set of tyres in one track day, easily.
A heavy road car eats brakes too. And again, you may only get two trackdays out of your pads.
Overdo it and they may fade and crumble in one session and you're on your way home.

Edited by m1bjr on Tuesday 12th January 20:40

Also if they do offer free tuition it'll be 20 minutes not half a day.

I suspect your costs are about right, though we'd need to see your actual rate of consuming consumables to be sure. Without instruction I calculated my 993 cost in the region of 800/day to track but it was quite heavy on tyres, brakes and fuel.

The Elise is much cheaper.

Also 200 for the trackday itself is relatively cheap - somewhere like Silverstone GP or Brands GP will usually cost more (a lot more in the case of Brands).

[T89 Callan]

It's what we love......

[chris7676]

Bit steep. For me seems to work around 330-500 between the Elise and M3. But then I don't spend 150 on tuition and 200+ on trackfees and my tyres and brakes strangely last several days...;)

[nielsen]

Make it £1000-00 per day on track when you include upgrades to the car true the year, Oil, filters, brake-fluid, better brakes, more power, roll-cage, bucket seat's, 6 point harnes, suspension, more wheels, better tyres, trailer, bigger tow car, going to the Ring and Spa, and it goes on and on

[NickXX]

torqueofthedevil said:

I knew that the true cost of doing a trackday would be high but it wasn't until today that i added it all up! I had read that the cost of the track hire was actually only a fraction of the true cost - and that certainly seems true! I decided to total it all up and see if a mate wanted to go halves and drive my car (a risk not quantified i might add) and basically it added up like this:

trackday 200
1/2 day instruction 150
petrol 120
Consumables / wear and tear (tyres, disks, pads, suspension, fluids etc) 200
Extra driver 25
Helmet hire 20

Total 715 !!!!

Half each 357.50

IME:

trackday 100-200 (Winter-Summer)
instruction 20-40 (I wouldn't bother with a whole day, 1-2 20 min sessions will really help things along)
petrol 75 (Budget just over a tank on the track)
Consumables / wear and tear (tyres, disks, pads, suspension, fluids etc) 50-100 per track day on a 306
Extra driver 25
Helmet hire 10


So £140-345.

[Dift]

Shop around and you'll get trackdays much cheaper!! I've got a few coming up... They cost alot less than £200!
Feb 6th Oulton park cost me £69!

As for consumables, they depend on how hard you drive your car... Lighter and better setup the cheaper.

[HereBeMonsters]

I did ten trackdays on one set of pads, one set of tyres. Instruction is definitely worth it, teach you how to look after the car!

[m1bjr]

Dift said:

Shop around and you'll get trackdays much cheaper!! I've got a few coming up... They cost alot less than £200!
Feb 6th Oulton park cost me £69!

As for consumables, they depend on how hard you drive your car... Lighter and better setup the cheaper.

Do you get a refund if it snows?

[nielsen]

HereBeMonsters said:

I did ten trackdays on one set of pads, one set of tyres. Instruction is definitely worth it, teach you how to look after the car!

I don't think the point of trackdays is to get 30,000miles from a set of tyres and drive so slow you don't have to use the brakes, that's what we have the M25 for.
Trackday's are for exploring the limit of car and driver, and it will be expensive if you start to go on a regular basis.

[HereBeMonsters]

nielsen said:

HereBeMonsters said:

I did ten trackdays on one set of pads, one set of tyres. Instruction is definitely worth it, teach you how to look after the car!

I don't think the point of trackdays is to get 30,000miles from a set of tyres and drive so slow you don't have to use the brakes, that's what we have the M25 for.
Trackday's are for exploring the limit of car and driver, and it will be expensive if you start to go on a regular basis.

No, it was about 5,000 miles over a year, including 10 trackdays. Brand new pads and tyres day before first event, only had to change them after the last one. Having a light car is a great help. No point burning cash.

[mmm-five]

I did quite a few in a bog standard (except for decent pads) 3.8 e34 M5, and that did 6-8mpg on track and would easily eat £200 of fuel getting to the track, doing the track day, and getting home.

• Discs every year (£500/10 events) = £50
• Pads about 3 events (£210/3) = £70
• Suspension needed replacing every 2 years (£3000/20 events) = £150
• Fuel (200 track miles and 200 road miles = 2 x 90l tanks) = £170
• Tyres every 2 events (£600/2 events) = £300
• Track day (averaged between Oulton Park, Anglesey, Donington, Croft, Silverstone, Cadwell & Castle Combe) = £200

Worked out about £950 per event - and about 25% more if you include the cost of losing a day's pay for a weekday event.