Quote:
Originally Posted by Compromised
Except maybe cost? Any ideas on comparative costs between each series for running a season?
|
Hi,
I have run both car's, admittedly only one 3 hour endurance so far in our Hyundai i30N TCR car, but a season in our Gen2 Audi R8 GT3 car. Audi Sport advise R8 car owners to charge A$18 per kilometre, just to cover component lifeing.
Given that a new GT3 car cost in excess of A$600K plus spares etc, and on average has a useful life of say, 3 maybe 4 years, then the return on investment alone has to be at least $100K per year if not more to cover the significant depreciation of the car over 3 years.
A new Audi TCR car cost A$250K, and cost about one third of the cost to run in terms of lifeing, principally because the critical components, such as the VAG engine, cost less than A$10K complete with new turbo etc.
Tire and brake cost's are approximately one third the cost because the rear end does very little work, and in our first 3 hour race we only used a total of 6 tires at A$430 each. The front brake pads do a lot of work as does the front tires, so a new set of front brake pads for the race weekend, plus the rear brake pads are so tiny they also need replacing after a 3 hour racer but they are less than half the cost of the front pad's, so again not a big expense.
Fuel cost are similar but TCR engines are quite happy running on BP98 pump gas, so fuels not a big cost component.
TCR races are normally sprint racing events so no need for expensive refuelling rigs and the associated manpower needed to refuel are needed, so big saving on manpower needed to run the car.
You are not allowed ABS, or telemetry, or centre lock wheels so spare wheels are "Cheap as chips" $A400 each for for BRAID wheels, which are the OE supplied factory wheel.
Summing it all up, TCR racing budgets should be around one third of a GT3 car, and even less if you buy a good second hand car for say A$175K.
Cheers,
Mark.