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Old 10 Apr 2012, 12:53 (Ref:3056425)   #1
joe_hudson
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How much does your racing cost?

Hello

I am currently a journalism student at Teesside University and I am doing a report on the costs involved in motorsport and I would like your views on what it costs you.

I have spoken to a few racing driver already, mainly in the BTCC, and have already been told by John Thorne that almost 80% of his time is spent raising funds and that he has had to remortgage his house just to get the funds.

What I would like to know is whether your racing has seen increased costs and how much you spend on average over a race weekend.

Thanks

Last edited by MagnetON; 10 Apr 2012 at 13:37. Reason: Note to moderators: This has been pre-approved.
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Old 10 Apr 2012, 14:52 (Ref:3056501)   #2
Peter Mallett
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Ooh, I think, including the cost of travel to the circuit, the overnight accommodation, food, beer and the entry fees, fuel etc. I'm probably looking at £12.50 per event give or take a pound. Anyway that's what I tell my wife!

In truth I think you need to be more specific in your target area. If you talk to an amateur like me, then the cost is what it is. If I can't afford it I don't do it and each year there's something more challenging to enter so I get little opportunity to compare.

Good luck though.
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Old 10 Apr 2012, 15:18 (Ref:3056523)   #3
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As with everything in life motorsport has seen It's costs increase considerably over the years. When I started racing 10 years ago a 20 minute race at say Brands Hatch, one of the more expensive circuits, would cost me £140, now It's around £230-£240 so It's probably all relevant.
I tend not to work out how much I spend or I would probably give up altogether but I am lucky in that my wife doesn't care too much what it costs as she has an equally expensive and far more time consuming hobby, horses.
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Old 10 Apr 2012, 15:29 (Ref:3056530)   #4
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Thanks for the responses, it does seem like the costs are what you make of it and what you accept as a suitable limit.

I also like to get the view of "amateurs" (although my experiences of marshalling seem to make that tag more suitable to TOCA related series :-P) because I wanted to see if money issues are widespread within UK motorsport or confined to a few series :-)

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Old 10 Apr 2012, 23:21 (Ref:3056867)   #5
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As one who didn't race at all last year because finances were a bit tight....and we'd made the mistake of totting up what we'd spent over the 2010 season.......it's expensive! For our series (CSCC Future Classics - 40 minute races) entry fees were about £325 on average, IIRC, and as we live "oop North" the cost of travel to many of the circuits, and the cost of overnight accommodation, is considerable. Add in the car prep / repair / routine maintenance costs, and we reckoned it came out at about £1k per race, overall - tho that was split between two of us, as its a series which allows two drivers to share a car - there are mandatory pit-stops.

Of course if you stick to racing at your local circuit in shorter races, it can be a lot cheaper........
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Old 10 Apr 2012, 23:36 (Ref:3056874)   #6
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About £1k per meeting is a good estimate (Also do CSCC races)

But I only spend £50 a month on racing, well thats what my bank statements say when the wife looks
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 06:04 (Ref:3056932)   #7
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like most people said, it depends on what you're racing....
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 06:19 (Ref:3056937)   #8
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And indeed where. I work in the middle east, so before I even get to the grid I've had the cost of flights to add. I'm not alone in this, we have Roger Wills in Moscow for example, who races regularly all over the world.

The diversity of entrants and the various series/championships means that you will have a massive task just trying to identify what costs you need to take into account.

Apart from that, are you ready for the psychiatric bills from those who you've actually prompted to analyse the expenditure?

But for my season, I've got two more entry fees to pay, so I'm pretty certain what the entry costs will be.

On top of that there's MSA/FIA requirements that change yearly. I just fitted a new roll cage to one of my cars at a cost of Pst1500.
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 07:04 (Ref:3056953)   #9
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I think that 1k is possibly a bit low for the normal club racer.
I seem to remember we had a thread on this a while back and that was 1k then.
I think that the majority of club racers fool themselves
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 08:57 (Ref:3057011)   #10
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Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER View Post
I think that 1k is possibly a bit low for the normal club racer.
I seem to remember we had a thread on this a while back and that was 1k then.
I think that the majority of club racers fool themselves
If you mean £1K per meeting then it depends how you work it out. If you include wear and tear on the car plus the cost of the car spread over however long then it could be that much. If you just mean entry fees plus fuel etc then unless I'm going to Spa it'll be nowhere near it, besides £1K per meeting times 8 meetings a year is more than my annual salary so I'd never be able to do it.
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 09:44 (Ref:3057031)   #11
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barnettracing should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
We're doing 8 races this year (including two trip abroad) and our budget is £7000. That includes every expense, including some margin for accident damage and a few half day's testing thrown in.

We're running at the front and don't really scrimp. The car is well prepared before the start of the season and as such has fewer problems through it.

Race-by-race costs vary. We've decided to do a one off BRSCC NW FF1600 race at Oulton. It wasn't really in our budget so we're doing it on the cheap. We're doing half a day's testing on the Friday, and it is one race on the Saturday. We've had to shell out on a racing club membership as BRSCC don't except MSVR so that added £50. Our total budget for the weekend is about £550-600.

Conversely, in September we should be going to Monza. It's a double header (with some free practice too, I believe). That's going to be costing us around £1500. To compare, our standard race meetings in the Champion of Brands series cost us about £750/race.
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 10:29 (Ref:3057045)   #12
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IAN #51 should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
License £ 173 int historic
Medical £ 180 inc resting ECG

Entry fees £ 205 for a single race up to £ 350for a double header

Fuel in van (tows car to the event) £80.00

Fuel in Race car £ 50 on average

Tyres on race car I've just moved to slicks at £580 per set not sure how long they will last

Food for 4 of us self prepared £50.00

Up keep of car I self spanner so it's parts only about £100 per race

Up keep of race van and trailer£80.00 per race ( tax insurance servicing gas etc)

Up keep of race-wear I'd guess about £20.00 per race

The smile I get at the end if every race I finish £ priceless

But I've just worked out why I'm broke
:-)
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 11:02 (Ref:3057061)   #13
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Paul D should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridPaul D should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
When I first started a few years ago, I did do a fairly accurate (i.e. only kidding myself a little bit ) analysis of what I thought it would cost to race in the Future Classics, which, as has already been said, is 40 minute races - I had to do this to see if I could kid myself that it was affordable!

At that time, I reached the conclusion I could probably just about manage it on an average of circa £500 per round - I do everything myself, car prep, build, transport and we kip in something at the circuit. That figure only allowed for wear & tear on things that wear out quickly i.e. tyres and brakes, so nothing was included for less obvious wear or crash damage, etc. Oh, and I was only running on used tyres then - whatever I could find that was half decent.

Since then, I reckon it's gone up a fair bit, with significant increases in fuel, tyres and entry fees, so it's probably more like £650 - £700 per round now.

Some will say there's no way I can do it on that amount - to those I say, shut up, I don't wanna hear it!
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 12:52 (Ref:3057134)   #14
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Thanks for all the replies, I think I have a good handle on what everything costs now.

What I didn't account for is the mental costs of digging up old memories!
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 13:05 (Ref:3057142)   #15
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FWIW;

There was a SCCA survey done a few years back that suggested $15,000 USD was the breaking limit for the majority of amateurs to enter motor racing. I believe it was based on initial car cost and the cost of the first few races.

You might want to try and find the survey.

HTH.
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Old 11 Apr 2012, 17:51 (Ref:3057279)   #16
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besides £1K per meeting times 8 meetings a year is more than my annual salary so I'd never be able to do it.
I take it that's what you put on your tax form, I didn't realise that you represented your constituency Cll Falc
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Old 12 Apr 2012, 11:59 (Ref:3057775)   #17
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Can I afford my motoracing: Yes

Does my wife think 'we' can afford my motoracing:
  • On the basis of what I admit to her it costs: Yes
  • On the basis of what it actually costs: No
25 years of happy marriage mostly due to never having shared a bathroom or a bank account.....

Kevin
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Old 12 Apr 2012, 12:52 (Ref:3057801)   #18
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25 years of happy marriage mostly due to never having shared a bathroom or a bank account.....

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Agreed on the bank account it works well, but with us happiness is not sharing a bedroom any more.
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Old 12 Apr 2012, 17:44 (Ref:3057934)   #19
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Hi Joe

firstly i would imagine that the amount spent can vary massively even within the same championship, after the entry fee and fuel costs you
can spend as much or as little as you like.

For example some people always test on the friday before the race weekend and renew tyres often.

I decide on an amount of money im going to spend on racing and pick and choose my favourite tracks (Silverstone National? No thanks!) to suit the budget available. No-one remebers who finished 2nd in F1 so doing a whole season at club level purely for the overall championship
result is more than a bit pointless.

As a rough guide if a championship always has capacity grids then the entry fee should be less as the track hire cost is being split by more people.

I've done a bit of analysis to work out what im spending / have spent on racing, i race with MSVR

Getting Started - £6.2k
Build Cost of the car £5k, Racewear incl Hans Device £800, Getting a race licence / go racing pack / medical / ards test £450

Yearly Expenses - £1.3k
I drive the racecar to the track as i have no room for a trailer, or a car capable of towing.. etc. Championships registration £120, Licence £56, Race Car Tax / insurance and MOT £800, Tyres and brake pads last ages
on our race car, tyres still look like new even though they've had about 3 hours on track, last set of front brake pads lasted 3 years!, average yearly parts cost (incl Timing Belt Kit, Oil, Spark Plugs etc) therefore £340. Would be extra for a pre season test day and crash repairs.

Race Weekend Costs - varys between £300 and £400
The variance in cost is purely down to the cost in fuel of getting to the different circuits, and a small premium to race on the Grand Prix layouts at Brands and Silverstone. The race weekend cost quoted includes; the race entry fee, which is normally for a total of 45 minutes track time, fuel for that track time, fuel to get both the race car and support vehicle to the track, food is provided for free by the club, accomodation also free as i will use a tent! If i want to race in an additional championship during the race weekend, then thats another £283 (fuel and entry fee), testing on the friday before the race weekend £295 (fuel and testing cost).

Costs have gone up, as everything is now more expensive, e.g. 20% tax, fuel prices, peoples time. I've noticed a drop this year in the amount of entrants in the championship (i imagine due to the current economic climate) and this must mean the club has had to increase the entry fees.
2009, 51 drivers, 2012, 37 drivers.

The championship i race in is very low cost, the amounts being spent even at club level in different championships would be massively higher, i remeber a few years back there was a Viper racing in the GT Cup at Snetterton, absolutley blitzing everyone, i think i remeber hearing that the team were spending 1k an hour to run the car.. but wheres the fun in that?... Racing at slower speeds with more competition has got to be more fun!

Luckily the regs are quite stable in the championship, so the costs each year for changes are neglible.

cheers
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