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Reasonable budget for racing costs
- Thread starter Web
- Start date
And alternately, I did 1 trackday then went racing,LOL
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I don't do trackdays, and I don't do Friday practises anymore. (Endurance racing is my practise time now)
On my R6 I use each set of tires for 3 wknds, period. I don't care how shot they are, I just ride slower if I need to,LOL.
Tires = $160/wknd
Entry fees in 2 classes is about $260/wknd
Fuel to and from the track is $150ish/wknd
Food for the family is about $100/wknd
Bike fuel is about $90/weekend (pump gas)
$700-800 if you don't fall down, and you race 2 classes
Drive a Jetta, ride an SV650, sleep in a tent, eat BBQ hotdogs all weekend, and you can do it for $500/wknd
Caboose is 100% right. Ride the bike. Throwing $ at the bike when you still are improving alot is dumb. Many people think that Brembo master cyl or those $1500 fork cartridges are suddenly gonna move them from midpack to the top of the box. It won't. The rider is, and always has been the most important component of the racing machine. Any stock modern 600, ridden by a good rider could circulate in 600Extreme, Old Boys, or Formula Femme at a damn respectable pace. Hell, we watched a LostEra guy on a 99 carbed R6 run up the ladder as far at 5th place in 600Extreme early in the season....why? Because he is a damn good rider.
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Something a couple people have touched on, and seems true in most cases, is that once you try roadracing, you will not want to do track days any more. If you do a lot of track days now, not doing them any more offsets the cost.
In roadracing, the quality of riding is generally better, and the fast-bike/slow-rider issues are less prevalent. The process of training for and getting a roadracing license filters out the worst idiots. Those who do get through licensing, will either learn fast (and cease to be an idiot any more - a good outcome!), or get out of it (happens a lot), or will be back of the grid where the faster riders will only see them when lapping them.
I only do track days if it is at a track that I want to ride but seldom get a chance to, or because a bunch of street riding buddies want to do it.
If vintage racing catches your interest, try www.vrra.ca - good group of people, and lately, vintage racing has had the biggest grids and the most entries of any roadracing series in Canada.
In roadracing, the quality of riding is generally better, and the fast-bike/slow-rider issues are less prevalent. The process of training for and getting a roadracing license filters out the worst idiots. Those who do get through licensing, will either learn fast (and cease to be an idiot any more - a good outcome!), or get out of it (happens a lot), or will be back of the grid where the faster riders will only see them when lapping them.
I only do track days if it is at a track that I want to ride but seldom get a chance to, or because a bunch of street riding buddies want to do it.
If vintage racing catches your interest, try www.vrra.ca - good group of people, and lately, vintage racing has had the biggest grids and the most entries of any roadracing series in Canada.
Thanks a lot for all the replies and discussion guys! So it would seem the minimum on a shoe-string budget on a weekend without friday practice would be:
160 (tyres) + 120 (1 race) + 50 (gas to track) + 90 (bike fuel) + 50(home made sandwiches lol) = $470
As long as its fun and the costs aren't prohibitive, I'm definitely interested in reading more about it. will check the link thanks!
I haven't raced yet, but I'm monitoring this thread with high interest and possibly some aspirations for next season. Thank you for starting it!
Regarding your final calculation above, while it does look like the minimum, I don't know how much fun you can have with no practice at all and just the race itself, they run different configurations and you'll at least need some time to learn the track. Others correct me if I'm wrong please.
I run the weekend in a way smaller budge than that. I do however only run one class.
The best option you can have is get together with 2 other friends and run an endurance team, you will not only get to run straight for 3 hrs among all 3 of you, but will also get a lot faster by going around and around without stopping with nothing else to do but practice all aspects of your riding at a race pace.
I do over 40 continuous laps (depending of configuration) Imagine the experience you will gain on 40 laps
With SOAR, your calculations are close......1 class entry fee is gonna cost more than $120 I am afraid. The entry fee for your first class is the priciest, then you get a $25 discount for your 2nd class, and a $50 discount for your 3rd, then a $75 for your 4th....so basically once you get down to 5 or more classes, you don't pay for each additional class anymore. However, you need to be a strong rider, on a bike that fits into many classes to race more than 5 classes. If you were a 40+ yr old lady on an 99-02 SV650 you could race 600 extreme, formula femme, old boys, superbike, open sprint, lost era light, lost era heavy, BOTT light, BOTT heavy, spec tire class......LOL
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Could you elaborate a bit more on endurance racing? Or a link where I could read further. Similar to Lemans im guessing, race is for 3 hours, categorized by class/engine capacity. Splitting costs among 3 friends definitely sounds very appealing.
LOL doing that many races would be insane! Im guessing you would need tri-athlete level fitness to be able to do that. This sort of brings up another topic- fitness. How fit are you guys? Or how fit do you need to be to take part in a full race/ endurance race?
A cpl yrs ago there was a dude who rode a 250 supermotard in just about every class but Formula Femme (obviously,LOL). However, the closing speeds on the straights between a 250 and a Superbike being ridden in anger is enough to make your hair stand on end just imagining what could go wrong.
There have been a few riders who successfully campaigned their Lost Era bikes not only in LOst Era, but in Open Sprint, 600 EXT and SUperbike as well.....Brian Kamp on a 1st gen R1, and Andrew Westbrook on a carbed ZX6R, and rfecently Doug Coulter on a 99 R6 come to mind.
Endurance race entry is $250ish
Most bikes will comfortably go one hr+ on a tank of fuel, so we usually have 3 riders, 2 pistops where fuel is topped up and riders changed each hr.
Depending on what bike you use, a good set of scrubs does an endurance race....we have even managed to get 2 whole endurance races out of a set of tires by flipping them, however it wasn't ideal for grip.
GTO class- open to any bike, any yr up to current, any displacement
GTU class- any yr 650 twin up to current, or bike with less performance than a 650 twin, or any bike
12 or more yrs old (Lost Era or Vintage class bikes)
GTL class- 250 cc or below
There have been a few riders who successfully campaigned their Lost Era bikes not only in LOst Era, but in Open Sprint, 600 EXT and SUperbike as well.....Brian Kamp on a 1st gen R1, and Andrew Westbrook on a carbed ZX6R, and rfecently Doug Coulter on a 99 R6 come to mind.
Endurance race entry is $250ish
Most bikes will comfortably go one hr+ on a tank of fuel, so we usually have 3 riders, 2 pistops where fuel is topped up and riders changed each hr.
Depending on what bike you use, a good set of scrubs does an endurance race....we have even managed to get 2 whole endurance races out of a set of tires by flipping them, however it wasn't ideal for grip.
GTO class- open to any bike, any yr up to current, any displacement
GTU class- any yr 650 twin up to current, or bike with less performance than a 650 twin, or any bike
12 or more yrs old (Lost Era or Vintage class bikes)
GTL class- 250 cc or below
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gs500f
Well-known member
I've ran 4 rounds of soar on one set of Pirelli sbk pros. They're pretty shot now but I could prolly get one more weekend out of them. At 400 bucks, that's less than 100/weekend on tires. 02 zx6 on pump gas and yes hamburgers and hotdogs, sleep in tent etc etc. if u can afford track days you can afford to race.
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3 rounds this year, still on last years tires.
Racing can be as cheap as trackdays keeping in mind a race weekend is a weekend so min two trackdays three if you include Friday. Like others have said really think about your ride certain bikes can do more than a couple classes. Stay stock engine, decent suspension and then its track time track time tracktime. You will get practice a couple hours each day )generally two or three sesssions) before the heatrace.
I have done both cheapie racing as described all the way up to 35ft motorhome and racing all over the US with AMA. Both have had good and bad aspects.
Not a fan of the perpetual trackday. At some point you stagnate as a rider and gather some bad habits. I know I will get arguments but have seen it over and over. One trackday hero (unnamed but a reg on this forum) came out racing got his *** handed to him and never came back, Racing has a way of being VERY humbling. While nobody likes struggling it will absolutely make you a much better rider if you have the personal fortitude to put your ego in check and stay with it. Racing isnt for everyone but if you think you would like to try just do it. Come hand out this weekend and meet everyone they are family and often refer to themselves as the SOAR Family. We are actually having our annual Thanksgiving dinner this Sat. Think turkey dinner with all the trimmings for 200
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Like mentioned there is nothing better than endurance racing for practice. One of the most fun thing you can do, granted god awful to watch though.
I have done both cheapie racing as described all the way up to 35ft motorhome and racing all over the US with AMA. Both have had good and bad aspects.
Not a fan of the perpetual trackday. At some point you stagnate as a rider and gather some bad habits. I know I will get arguments but have seen it over and over. One trackday hero (unnamed but a reg on this forum) came out racing got his *** handed to him and never came back, Racing has a way of being VERY humbling. While nobody likes struggling it will absolutely make you a much better rider if you have the personal fortitude to put your ego in check and stay with it. Racing isnt for everyone but if you think you would like to try just do it. Come hand out this weekend and meet everyone they are family and often refer to themselves as the SOAR Family. We are actually having our annual Thanksgiving dinner this Sat. Think turkey dinner with all the trimmings for 200
.Like mentioned there is nothing better than endurance racing for practice. One of the most fun thing you can do, granted god awful to watch though.
Racing can be as cheap as trackdays keeping in mind a race weekend is a weekend so min two trackdays three if you include Friday. Like others have said really think about your ride certain bikes can do more than a couple classes. Stay stock engine, decent suspension and then its track time track time tracktime. You will get practice a couple hours each day )generally two or three sesssions) before the heatrace.
I have done both cheapie racing as described all the way up to 35ft motorhome and racing all over the US with AMA. Both have had good and bad aspects.
Not a fan of the perpetual trackday. At some point you stagnate as a rider and gather some bad habits. I know I will get arguments but have seen it over and over. One trackday hero (unnamed but a reg on this forum) came out racing got his *** handed to him and never came back, Racing has a way of being VERY humbling. While nobody likes struggling it will absolutely make you a much better rider if you have the personal fortitude to put your ego in check and stay with it. Racing isnt for everyone but if you think you would like to try just do it. Come hand out this weekend and meet everyone they are family and often refer to themselves as the SOAR Family. We are actually having our annual Thanksgiving dinner this Sat. Think turkey dinner with all the trimmings for 200
Like mentioned there is nothing better than endurance racing for practice. One of the most fun thing you can do, granted god awful to watch though.
Inferno.........something? cant think of the rest ......
Inferno.........something? cant think of the rest ......
Lol
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