Race Car Entry Costs

[Kickstart]

andy97 said:

Kickstart said:

We used to pay £24 for a day's testing at Goodwood in the middle 80's...just saying

So it “should” be about £85 today, if all other things were equal. Hmmmm.

Hi Andy,

Back in 84/5 when I started racing it was a lot cheaper, as I managed to race an oldish FF1600 and do a bit of testing on a subbies pay for several seasons.

I think part of it was due to there being v little chequebook racing, where front runners must have the latest engine/go faster part etc, as this was before mainstream historics and most people going club racing were ordinary folk who just loved the racing. If you look at the lap times for say the Spa 6 hours, the reduction in lap times over the last 20 years is extraordinary. We came 3rd in the Spa summer classic a long time ago in a 280 bhp V6 Marcos on sticky tyres and those laps times are now achieved by MGBs on dunlop historics....

Personally, I think I was very lucky to race back then as there was v little in the way of rules and regulations and pre-Brexit it was v easy to travel to Europe to go racing without a second thought. Only a few years ago you could enter the Old Timer GP at the Nürburgring, take the van round the circuit on the Thursday afternoon (to get an idea of which way it went) and then do the 3 hour race with 3 hours of practise thrown in, plus catering etc and entry fee was about €750 from memory

[ChevronB19]

Kickstart said:

Hi Andy,

Back in 84/5 when I started racing it was a lot cheaper, as I managed to race an oldish FF1600 and do a bit of testing on a subbies pay for several seasons.

I think part of it was due to there being v little chequebook racing, where front runners must have the latest engine/go faster part etc, as this was before mainstream historics and most people going club racing were ordinary folk who just loved the racing. If you look at the lap times for say the Spa 6 hours, the reduction in lap times over the last 20 years is extraordinary. We came 3rd in the Spa summer classic a long time ago in a 280 bhp V6 Marcos on sticky tyres and those laps times are now achieved by MGBs on dunlop historics....

Personally, I think I was very lucky to race back then as there was v little in the way of rules and regulations and pre-Brexit it was v easy to travel to Europe to go racing without a second thought. Only a few years ago you could enter the Old Timer GP at the Nürburgring, take the van round the circuit on the Thursday afternoon (to get an idea of which way it went) and then do the 3 hour race with 3 hours of practise thrown in, plus catering etc and entry fee was about €750 from memory

Even better, in the mid 80’s we actually got start money in historic formula junior!

[drmotorsport]

andy97 said:

Kickstart said:

We used to pay £24 for a day's testing at Goodwood in the middle 80's...just saying

So it “should” be about £85 today, if all other things were equal. Hmmmm.

Given the biggest requirement for a circuit is land, it's not surprising that costs (especially refinancing after previous owners go bust) have gone up faster than general inflation. Otherwise we'd all be living in houses worth only £50k now!

[LukeBrown66]

A few stock car formulas get start money, they get paid roughly 40 quid a meeting to rock up.

It is entertainment after all, it covers perhaps a very short fuel bill or race fuel, if that, but it is better than nothing, but when people are spending 50 grand on cars and close to 100 on transporters and tracks are struggling at times you have to wonder why, but there is a sort of union so it will likely stay

[mat205125]

Draxindustries1 said:

Pay per hour would be fairer. £50 ph would be a fair rate.

I'm not sure what the situation is now but Snetterton used to have days with hourly rates available but that was before MSV's takeover..

Nice conceptual idea, however you'd risk ending up with a pseudo-Touristenfahrten or CCC Action Day event

[Powerful Peanut]

Well , was at Goodwood today . Brilliant sunshine , fog stopped at the racecourse . £250 for the day , yes only 2 cars on track in the morning and 8 in the afternoon . Paid £130 for the afternoon , felt like a private day…awesome ……

[JoelH]

How relevant is testing in these temperatures though? Ok for a shakedown but it's not going to sort anything else out. I bet it will be far more crowded come March.

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

JoelH said:

How relevant is testing in these temperatures though? Ok for a shakedown but it's not going to sort anything else out. I bet it will be far more crowded come March.

absolutely fine for testing the driver.

I booked Cadwell Park for 2 hours including marshals and a St Johns Ambulance in 1994 for £140.

those were the days.

[mat205125]

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

absolutely fine for testing the driver.

I booked Cadwell Park for 2 hours including marshals and a St Johns Ambulance in 1994 for £140.

those were the days.

This!

Testing isn't simply about setting fast lap times in perfect conditions.

Plenty of race days will be in weather exactly like today

[andy97]

JoelH said:

How relevant is testing in these temperatures though? Ok for a shakedown but it's not going to sort anything else out. I bet it will be far more crowded come March.

Well, CSCCs first races in 2023 are Feb 26 on Silverstone GP circuit and March 25/26 at Snetterton, so testing in Nov might be very relevant!!!