NASCAR and V8 Supercar from a cost perspective

[V8 Fireworks]

Disclaimer- This is IMHO and I don't know what I am on about.

I was just wondering how the cars in NASCAR and V8s compare from a cost perspective?

Used rolling NASCARs seem to be fairly cheap in comparison to V8s. I would guess they would both have similar number of pumps, oil coolers and the like being broadly similar cars? I would guess that all the bar work and english wheel work for the nascar chassis would still cost a fair amount of money? I guess there isn't tens of thousands worth of electronics in the NASCAR which cuts some costs out???

Also, out of interest, I was wondering roughly how much goes on suspension development in a typical v8supercar budget? It's just my opinion but I can't see how a rolling WP car can be $600,000 or a PMM car $500,000 in real value... would it be fair to say it's mainly the value of accessing the IP of the car, perhaps primarily accessing a suspension package that works well and is therefore competitive? Why I can't see it being worth so much, is that the gearbox and diff are standard, it's possible to get engines with similar power to the winners, and it's not a super high-tech car... in which case you can build your own car with the same horsepower and driveline as the others. Sure if the WP cars had a carbon-fibre cased twin clutch super dooper 8 speed semi-auto gearbox etc sure it would justify the cost difference without question, but the cars are all pretty much the same aren't they?

[StevenK51]

Apples and oranges.

A V8 team runs what, 1-2 chassis in a year? I get the impression that there aren't particularly many functional, legal chassis sitting around unused. Correct me on that if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling the good chassis move down the ladder and are quite outdated (or of historical significance) when there service life ends.

The larger Nascar teams are running likely 20 different chassis in a season, and most of those are new cars for the year because the teams are still developing the COT. That being the case, it truly is a buyers market and the cars are sold for less than there implied value, because there are literally hundreds of 'old' cars discarded each year. This process was taken to another level by the conversion to the COT, where the Busch and ARCA teams can still run the older car designs, which are entirely obsolete on the Cup side. These ARCA teams go through cars like water and go buy another one without a thought to repairing any considerable crash damage because they are so dirt cheap to buy.

So IMO the price point for a car is where it's at between the series as a product of the chassis turnover rate.

[Denosaur]

Why a WP car cost more than a PMM, simple, it's called higher wages. Everyone knows that WP/HRT are/were the highest paying team. Obviously it's going to cost you more in labour than between one and the other. All the chassis's are built to one standard plan, but it's the little things that WP and PMM do that will make the difference at the end of the day.

They say to run a V8 for season, and that's a serious effort, your looking anywhere between $5-10 million a season. As for NASCAR, it has been said about double or triple that amount. Depending on which team, really depends on how much the budget is really.

NASCAR really is a different beast to V8 Supercars, and you only have to look at the mount of rounds raced per year, km's done per meeting, crews, cars constructed per year, tyres and so on. The COT was introduced not only to improve driver safety but also reduce cost for teams, as before that they would make about 3 different cars for the 3 different track types, super speedway, intermediate and short track. Now the COT covers all three of those, and what the teams do with suspension setups and so on is what makes the difference.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Denosaur

NASCAR really is a different beast to V8 Supercars, and you only have to look at the mount of rounds raced per year, km's done per meeting, crews, cars constructed per year, tyres and so on. The COT was introduced not only to improve driver safety but also reduce cost for teams, as before that they would make about 3 different cars for the 3 different track types, super speedway, intermediate and short track. Now the COT covers all three of those, and what the teams do with suspension setups and so on is what makes the difference.

That was the theory, but in practice the teams are still building cars to suit particular tracks.

[Denosaur]

Originally Posted by chavez

That was the theory, but in practice the teams are still building cars to suit particular tracks.

I noticed that recently with some of the driver comments made recently in interviews, especially Dale Jnr. Great idea at the time, but in all honesty did they think that it was going to happen??

[duke_toaster]

NASCAR did make a big oversight on that, it would be sensible for them to limit a driver to one chassis that they can only replace bodywork on between tracks unless it's broken.

NASCAR chassis could be cheaper, but they would be considerably slower around road courses, as it's like doing the pole vault with snooker cues. It's entertaining to watch a few times a year but the equipment really isn't suitable. You'd have to do significant modifications to them.