Scottish Elises

Interesting thread over on Seloc on track days costs. Never really worried about costs before on the basis that it was great fun and I could easily afford it, but I have reigned in my participation in track days this year - partly time constraints, but also party because I seem to have been spending a lot of money elsewhere - holidays, skydiving, home improvements, nursery fees (for you childless dudes, let me tell you that the latter really hurt )..... Got me thinking about what the total cost of, say , an SIDC day at KH is. What to you reckon? - the cost of the event itself, fuel, tyre and brake wear. Got to be at least £250, possibly a whole lot more depending on how many laps you do and how hard you drive. Quite an expensive day out....

Mark

come on Mark, why would you go posting something like that You are right though and think of the cost of say Donington with the petrol and extra milage plus overnight accomadation now you really have depressed me

I am not far off £250 for a 4 hour session at KH. I can use at least 3 tanks there and back and on track = £130 +, track time £100, by the time you were to add pads tyres etc I am sure you would be closer to £300.

A Full trackday down South is at least £500-£600.

But I never really work it out like that.

You right it not a cheap hobby.

Scotty C

Yeah - this weekend's SIDC, I spent £70 in fuel & killed a set of pads. Event before that did for the rears, which was another £250 before SIDC. It hammered me and I didn't even pay the track fees (was a present) Not a huge amount can be done about it, unless fuel costs get hacked... SIDC do offer great days for decent money - bear in mind that even though you pay little more for some full days down south, the real money is still in fuel (how many tanks during the day, fuel to get there, etc) I'd think it'd be difficult to do decent full day TD in Englandshire (even with LoT) for less than £600.

Makes a holiday to the Ring a more tempting option sometimes... If only the money was there

Ah, but if you do one (at £250) a month, that's £62.50 a week. I'm sure there are a number of members on here that spend more than that a week on eating and drinking!

Also, work it out as a percentage of your net income - not a whole lot I'd venture.

If you can afford it, do it and enjoy it. If you can't, you don't If you've been doing it for years without thinking about it until a thread like this, chances are you can afford it, so keep on enjoying it

Oh, if it makes you feel any better, my track-day engine failures have cost me upwards of £2k in the last 12 months ... should I cound those as consumables?

who gives a f***? (thats what i tell my self)

Through 4 sets of rear 48's this year already, about to get the 3rd set of rear pads on it, and 3rd set of front 48's. The Atom will easily to 2 tanks in a 4 hour session, and thats not to mention servicing costs, as 1 track mile is the equivalent of 4-7 road miles depending on your driving. Ariel have told me that 1 of my track miles is worth 7 road miles.

Its a very cheap alternative to racing though That was £1.5-£2k per weekend, and thats before you look at the costs of the car and then race prepping it, and thankfully i had my own mechanical support team

I don't think anyone is moaning - I only give a sh*t as I can't do as many as I'd like

At the end of the day, everyone knows it ain't a cheap hobby - can be an eye opener to actually sit down and figure out what it costs you though. As for the percentage of income - it's more the percentage incoming versus percentage outgoing that's the problem for most folks - if you're not in that position then well done to you.

Also worth noting that its going to be massively affected by your driving style, and the amount of time you spend on track during the session - track tarts get punished in that respect

FF7, now that should be quite punishing on the cars - 3 tracks in France and a weekend at the Ring

Shug wrote:At the end of the day, everyone knows it ain't a cheap hobby - can be an eye opener to actually sit down and figure out what it costs you though.

Yeah, that is what I was getting at really - quite surprising when you work out the real cost. Then again, as I have said before, I sure don't work in IT for the love of it. A bit of hedonistic fun now and again is just reward

Mark

Yes but its cheaper than being married

Shug wrote:I'd think it'd be difficult to do decent full day TD in Englandshire (even with LoT) for less than £600.

Still a few places left for Croft on Saturday...

Shug wrote:Makes a holiday to the Ring a more tempting option sometimes...

Is that similar to the Billy Connelly joke of "A weekend in vagina could be yours"


I don't smoke, I don't drink (much) have no kids and work bloody hard (at times) - it's only fair that you get to ballance it out with something that you enjoy.

As stated below - I don't drive to work, I work to drive

ExigeKen wrote:Yes but its cheaper than being married

You're not kidding - for what my other half has just spent on a bathroom I think I could do a couple of thousand laps at KH, bin the car into the tyre wall at the end, and have it repaired

jamie wrote:come on Mark, why would you go posting something like that ......... now you really have depressed me

Love it, Jamie