I just thought for fun I would post what a typical weekend would cost a typical regional racer. I am lucky because of my sponsors I dont have incur all the costs out of my pocket, but here would be a typical breakdown, assuming you didnt damage or crash your car.

Entry fee day for 2 days $ 350.00
Fuel for car $ 100.00
Fuel for tow vehicle $ 75.00
Wear on race tires $ 333.00 Based on 33% of the tires racing life
Wear on brakes $ 200.00 Based on 20% of the brakes racing life
Fluids $ 100.00
Feeding Crew $ 100.00
Misc costs $ 150.00

Total $ 1408.00

Just to give you an idea if you were to run a pro series it would climb to between $8000.00 - $10,000.00 a weekend if you didnt crash or damage your car.


**FYI when we were checking the car doing or compression checks etc, we noticed the alternator wire had broken off............another $100.00 to rebuild the fried alternator please lol. Imagine if the race had been about another 10 minutes long............OH MY!

 

And that doesn't count the amount spent to get your car to racing condition in the first place!

 

You got that right baby! Add about $50,000 to properly prepare yourself and a car

 

Al, that's a pretty good break-down. I did similar math last year (when somebody wanted to co-drive my car) and I made my self a little bit sick. It was even worse with the motor that came in my car, that was tuned to run on VP C12.

Also, there are things like amortized costs of race licenses, club memberships etc. and various other regional fees

Then things like repair/operation of tow vehicle and trailer.
Personal example, the 3500lb axle with electric brakes that is currently bent on my trailer.. (looks like Princess Auto wants $699 for a replacement.)
Thus part of the reason the car you spend all winter getting ready to go, is staying on jackstands in the garage and not racing this weekend. (Our first race of the season.) *sigh*

 

Why would they run a rotary on anything but regular unleaded?

 

That's what I was wondering. The guy I bought the car from had a local old-school race engine builder build it. (Mostly a Datsun guy.) This guy probably runs his lawn mower on C12. I don't know how he did it, but the thing refused to run properly on anything less.
Lot's of wacky stuff with that engine, thus why I had Joe build me another one.


As a side note, has anybody here run a lawn mower on C12? Wow.. does it ever make that grass fly! (I had some leftover premixed C12 that I had to do SOMETHING with...)

 

A while after I quit running regional races, I got into boating (36 ft cruiser on the Great Lakes). My boating friends said that it (boating) was a black hole that you throw money into. They had never been involved in autoracing and knew the expenses that sport incurred.
Slip, winterizing & winter storage fees were minimal compared to the cost of tow rigs (motorhome & trailer) and all the other above listed expenses. With a boat, the enjoyment can be spread out amongst all the family. Where as in autoracing, it is usually only one that reaps the rewards of the effort.
BTW Redshift, that boat was sold to someone in Nova Scotia.