I was just wondering if anyone here has a SCCA club race car and competes in head to head racing...or ever has. I'd love to do that one day and was just wondering what kind of commitment, money or otherwise, it takes to get involved.

 

try the www.honda-tech.com motorsports forum.

Basically the entire ECHC field posts there, Roger Foo, Gary Sheehan, quite a few IT racers, SSC Civics, etc... Lots of experience.

 

I have zero personal experience, but from talking to people who have done it:

I think a safe bet would be $5000/yr to club race on a shoe-string, not including the initial investment in a car and equipment.

$10k/yr minimum to do it right.

$20k/yr minimum to be truly competitive at it.

You have to figure it's going to cost you about $1000 per race weekend. Entry fees... tires... race car, trailer and tow vehicle maintenance and repairs... travel expenses.

It takes a good chunk of disposable income.

As far as time, that depends on how much money you have. If you have more money, you can farm out more of your car prep work and invest less of your own time. You could even rent something like a spec Miata for each race you do... and it might even be cheaper than owning/maintaining your own car.

If you're going to do all of the work yourself, it can take a LOT of your time.

 

Thanks for the input. $1000 bucks a race!!! Wow! Yeah I guess you are right. Too expnsive. I was sorta thinking a cheap front driver that can be pulled on a car dolly behind an RV. I do not have $5K a year to spend on anything much less racing...but if I could get a team car going that would be neat. And then everyone could invest some cash and trade out driver responsibilities. At least that is my ideal scenario. I suppose buying someones used race car would be the best way to start out too, or a spec miata.

 

FWIW, 5 grand won't let you autocross competitively, let alone road race.

 

5K a year minimum, just for additional expenses I think is what Loren was refering too.
I would think you could compete competitvly on a local level in autox for a lot less than 5k a year in a stock class. Am I wrong?

 

Depends on what you drive. I've known people who have won (and/or placed in the top 3) at the Solo Nationals in $500 stock Civics spending little more than the cost of a couple of new sets of tires, a set of the lightest available (legal) Honda factory alloys, a new set of suspension bushings, and a set of used performance shocks.

That sort of thing requires that you do your homework and find a car that can be exploited to win its class, knowing how to set the car up, being able to do all of your own work, AND being inhuman behind the wheel.

It also helps if you live in KS and don't have to include thousands of dollars in travel expenses in your budget. As much as Kansas sucks for... well, just about anything... it's a good place to be an autocrosser seeking a National championship. As Jesse can tell you, attending higher level events to hone your skills is a must, and being in KS, you have access to regional events on THE site that the Nationals are run on as well as being within about 6 hours of a wide variety of Divisional, Pro Solo and National Tour events. You've got a lot more driving to do to get that kind of exposure if you're a Floridian.

Of course, even in that case... $500 car. $500 in parts. $1200 in tires. Plus entry fees to at least one autocross every weekend from March through September (I've seen these guys do two regional autocrosses in two different cities in one day!)... a minumum of $800 in entry fees. And then there's gas and lodging for the events that you travelled to... and food.

Jesse's right. (man, that's gotta be at least twice that I've said that!) You can't be Nationally competitive for $5k if you live in FL.

Then again... if you're that good, there's a fair amount of sponsorship money and prizes you can win to offset your costs. Not too many people are REALLY that good, though.

 

well. .. i'm a beginner, but i'll have my first school at roebling in february. it's not cheap, even to get a license, much less to race.

 

I am in the process of putting together a car for PCA and PBOC events....can't wait. My buddies dad is putting it together for me so I can go down and run with his son.

link to the pic of his car....
http://www.chinmotorsports.com/galle...e=IMG_9810.jpg

 

Money is good. For those financially challenged, take a look into Karting. Not cheap but cheap by comparison and a great place to learn road racing. You don't need much of a tow vehicle, there are several tracks in the general area, entry fees and track time are cheap, and I only wish I could buy tires for those prices. Other cheap(er) forms of racing are NASA HPDE - not really racing but track day type stuff - and spec 7/pro 7. You can build a competitve spec 7 for $4K. Find the NASA web site for more info.