Curious if anyone has any idea or guidance on current rates for an arrive and drive program with the 3 endurance series? Did a few champ car races a few years ago with a team but drivers did all of the support and wrenching so I don't think that cost is comparable.
I know the costs depend on a lot of factors so figure the car is a mid pack to front running Miata with full crew and support and I can extrapolate from there. Thanks all - Adam
Keeping in mind my information is radically out of date (last race was almost 5 years ago?), $1350 was the "standard rate" for faster teams. $800 if you knew them well and they didn't mind subsidizing your ride some. More than $1350 if it's a really costly car to keep going.
Five years later, it could be anything.
Depending on the event and vehicle I would expect $500-750 per stint (1.5-2 hours) seems to be a pretty safe bet. I rent a seat and the owner I rent from rents from others for long distance tracks.
Out of curiosity I've inquired with two separate teams running AER in the last year. In both cases I had the weekend free but the rest of my team couldn't go.
The first was a quick Mini Cooper and the cost was $3,500 for the weekend at Nelson.
The second was an E36 and the cost was $3,300 for this past weekend at Mid-O.
I don't believe that either one of these would have required me to work on the car. Seeing as though $3,500 probably isn't far off what I spend all season including entry fees, gas for the race car, gas in the truck AND accommodations, that prospect doesn't interest me. In both cases, these teams didn't appear to be businesses specifically doing arrive and drive as their business so if that's what you're looking at, I'd expect to spend even more.
I paid 1500 this past weekend. That included food and lodging and I didn't have to work on the car (I did anyway). I'm sure the owner took a loss at that price.
My own team spends just under 5k per weekend. If we each only chipped in 1500, we'd never be able to keep the car running.
I see some teams charging 2k to 2500. That's what I'd want as a team captain to make the "business" at least sustainable. The economics of cheap endurance racing are depressing, but that's a topic for another post.
It all depends on the race length, the entry fee, how much seat time they want, etc.
I charge anywhere from $500 for friends/family discount to $1500 for this weekends WRL race.
Not arrive and drive but our champ car team is spending between 1000-1200 per person for a 5 man driver squad. We also have 1 crew member who will split some of the costs for lodging.
I rent seats out on other teams and have been racing my own car for about 11 years in champcar.
I'm noticing seats are getting more expensive. I'm guessing team captains / car owners are notic8ng that they were loosing money.
Expect to pay between 1300 to 2000 for 2 stints in a weekend for a competitive team. Don't expect a refund.
Expect to pay a bit more if you are not willing to help with pit stops or help prep the car on Saturday night.
This is definitely a team sport, so I would encourage you to help out anyway.
Good luck!
So we are doing the WRL 24 Hour this weekend in a 94 Accord that we usually run in Champcar. We have six drivers and three of us finance the operation. We take what we make from pay drivers and split it back proportionally. I'm usually out on money every race but that's part of racing and we are out there to have fun, not make money.
We also include any parts we purchased between the alst race and the upcoming race into the race costs.
Are we finding these drives by word of mouth or on the respective forums of the series?
The find a team section of the GRM forum is pretty silent.
Thank you all for your comments and insight. To add to the info, I ended up renting what seemed like a well built, arrive and drive seat in an NC Miata (fmr Skippy MX5 Playboy cup car with fresh engine) for 3500 for last week's WRL at Sebring. Did not have to turn a wrench or do anything but get in and drive. 3 car team and owner brought a spare car as well - cars seemed capable of front of the pack running (not necessarily with me behind the wheel) but all of the cars succumbed to the bumps except mine. Got about 1.5 hrs in practice on Friday and about 5hrs total in the car during the race (though some of that was spent in the pits while brake work and another time for about 30 min sitting in the car in the paddock while they replaced a broken axle). I don't know what, if anything, was done for the drivers whose car didn't make it.
Still seemed a little steep IMHO but this was the going rate. But when I compare to my current costs to race an scca sprint race weekend in my own car but with shop transport to/from, pre-race prep and trackside support it works out to about the same per hour.
3500$. Holeeeee shiiiittttt...
I need to charge more!
I don't think that's way out of line. It was a 24hr race. You had about 6.5 hours of seat time (granted 1.5 we're practice) which is similar to the prices quoted here which where going to be closer to 3-4 hours for a typical double seven, twelve or fourteen hour race.
That also sounds like a well prepped and reliable car so a premium is expected. The friend, fellow racer, vouched for discount is real as well.
Greg Voth said:I don't think that's way out of line. It was a 24hr race. You had about 6.5 hours of seat time (granted 1.5 we're practice) which is similar to the prices quoted here which where going to be closer to 3-4 hours for a typical double seven, twelve or fourteen hour race.
That also sounds like a well prepped and reliable car so a premium is expected. The friend, fellow racer, vouched for discount is real as well.
I hear ya... I need to raise my prices!
I think the highest we charged was 1800$ each for 4 racers to do the 24 hour at Nelson ledges.
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