I was charging $2500 + materials for a Lemons legal cage the past couple seasons, so $3k to $4k for a cage is about what to expect if you can't roll your own.
wvumtnbkr said:Usually charge about $1600 per driver (4 drivers) for a race weekend and don't make a penny.
Dang, does this include scotch, cigars, and steak dinner?
newrider3 said:I was charging $2500 + materials for a Lemons legal cage the past couple seasons, so $3k to $4k for a cage is about what to expect if you can't roll your own.
wvumtnbkr said:Usually charge about $1600 per driver (4 drivers) for a race weekend and don't make a penny.
Dang, does this include scotch, cigars, and steak dinner?
No. Does include a good chance at a win.
Those are my costs.
Typically about $1500 for sign up fee. $900 in tires. $400 in brake pads. $150 in fluids (oil, Trans fluid, etc). $350 for towing fuel. $550 in fuel. Plus money for snacks / drinks / practice day ($400)/ car upkeep. Also, my team usually gets a nice vrbo, so that is usually around 1k for a long weekend.
We are one of the cheaper podium contenders in champcar. I have seen as high as $3500 for a weekend (yes, those ones are catered).
Racebrick said:volvoclearinghouse said:In reply to Tom1200 :
I have a solid 4 friends I can say who love to race as much as I do. One of them made his soft retirement from racing right around the time I met another one, so we have 3 reliable drivers (plus me) and one unofficial "Team Dad". Being plugged into the LeMons community helps to find drivers, but I'm picky about who I'll let drive; on the flip side, it takes a special kind of idiot who's willing to pay money to pilot a 55-year old Swedish car around a track.
I'll do it. Let me know if you need a driver. I'm a veteran, and can provide references.
Will definitely keep you in mind if we find ourselves needing a driver. PM forthcoming.
Track accommodations: We've done AirBnB the last 2 races and ended up in really nice places, really close to the track, for pretty reasonable money. A definite step up from our early days racing when it was tents and sleeping bags. We also rented an RV one race, which was about as expensive as the AirBnB and made it very conveneint sleeping at the track. The downside is having to pick up and drop off the rolling tenement, and being sparing with the water use.
Wow. My cousin and I got his Starlet running, were about to dig into the race prep, and.... he decided that it was too nice to be ruthlessly made into a race car (He's probably right). Then we got busy on other things, and blah, blah. You know the story.
So I've been talking to a couple of other teams in my area. Nice guys. Reliable, if not especially quick cars. It's just crazy what a moneypit this "lowbuck" sport can be. Without naming names, one of the teams, running a fairly mundane vehicle is well over $20k in. The other one won't say.
Kinda mind-boggling.
In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :
It doesn't have to be crazy expensive.
Take the Starlet as an example; add a cage, basic suspension and build the motor yourself. You'd have a fun car to go vintage racing with.
You can take an old Improved Touring car vintage racing for really cheap. They can be had for 5-7K and if you have races nearby you can probably do it for $750 a weekend.
I used to fantasize about doing a Lemons race sometime. Looks to me like I'll never be able to justify the expense, unless I can find a local team that needs a pay-to-play driver.
stroker said:I used to fantasize about doing a Lemons race sometime. Looks to me like I'll never be able to justify the expense, unless I can find a local team that needs a pay-to-play driver.
It seems to me that there are a goodly number of pay-to-play opportunities out there. On one hand, what you'll have to pay seems like a lot as compared to the legendary $500 vehicle cost (yeah right!). On the other hand, the rest of the team is giving you the ability to screw up their entire weekend, and possibly their entire season, so that sort of exposure should be compensated for accordingly. And if the car manages to last the entire event, your dollar/minute of driving ratio is actually very solid compared to track days. And most of all, everyone seems to be having fun.
stroker said:I used to fantasize about doing a Lemons race sometime. Looks to me like I'll never be able to justify the expense, unless I can find a local team that needs a pay-to-play driver.
Plenty of teams do "arrive and drive". In fact, I'm doing it at CMP in just a few weeks. You can expect to pay between $750 and $1500 for a full weekend, depending on the car. Assuming the car survives you will get 3-4 hours of track time.
As for the cost of a car, honestly I'd have to seriously question someone spending $20k to build a car. That is extremely far out of the norm. To build a car from scratch you can ballpark about $4-7k. Easy button answer is to buy a used Lemons car. Figure $3k-$8k depending on what you want.
if somebody has a seat open for $1000 +/- in the midwest hit me up, i would happily man the grill, spin a wrench, etc.
We've got 4 class wins, 2 IOEs and a "Least Southern Pickup"(against the truck in SKJSS's profile photo) in two cars that were built for at or below $500. Just saying...
buzzboy said:We've got 4 class wins, 2 IOEs and a "Least Southern Pickup"(against the truck in SKJSS's profile photo) in two cars that were built for at or below $500. Just saying...
Ha!! I almost forgot about that. We were doing great until the oil decided to go a different direction than the engine. I still have the bent and melted connecting rod we pulled from it, and a hunk of piston.
Perhaps the answer for cheap Lemons fun is a Corolla:
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