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When I ran my 360 you had to budget this per night:
Fuel for tow rig-----------------------100
Generator gas--------------------------25
Pit passes for 4----------------------100 (myself, wife, two pit crew friends)
Methanol---------------------------------50
Oil/Filter----------------------------------75
Tires--------------------------------------500 (RR are $250, LR are $225 and fronts are $150 each)
Quick change gear oil---------------25
Tear offs----------------------------------25
Mudd Off---------------------------------10
Food/Drink for 4----------------------100
And all that is if everything goes right. No contact on track, nothing breaks, no hotel stays and stopping at a restaurant along the way to eat. You wouldnt always use the entire tire budget, but if you get to a track where they dont know how to prep and its super dry slick, you can easily smoke off the rears in one heat alone if youre not careful. And you can add to that if you want to keep different size LR tires on hand so you can change your roll-out to tweak for the track.
I built my Gambler because there was a local track opening up that was only an hour away and the promoter said he was going to run a conservative, iron head class so average guys could race sprints. (instead of typical Brodix head, ASCS rules) I only wanted to run that one track and just have fun, had no desire (nor the money) to rub elbows with the ASCS bunch. I had built and raced several stock cars but the usual sprint scene was always out of reach due to money.
But the car-count at his new track was low and it wasnt long that Promoter decided to change his rules to allow ASCS cars in to get car-count up. I approached the guy and said, WTF dude, here I built a heavier, iron head, lower compression engine (approx 650-675 hp) to fit this class, and you open it up to ASCS guys who are lighter, 800+hp, and many of which have 18-wheeler rigs and huge budgets. (not to mention, they were just better drivers with more experience/seat time). Its a losing proposition when you line up and theres almost no way youre gonna be in the hunt. My tires, alcohol, and all the rest cost as much as theirs but Im out motored before the flag waves. The Promoter tells me, "Yeah, but Im making them put on a very hard RR compound tire to take their motor out of the picture." To which I told him, "Your track is so damn dry slick every saturday, they were gonna run that compound anyway,, so your rule is a non-issue." Anyways, I ran with them fast dudes for a while but decided to sell out while the car was still in good shape and had value. (you can destroy a car in a nano-second out there) My kid was about to get outta high school and with college just ahead I figured it was time to go back to affordable dirt bikes. A guy from New Mexico bought the Gambler to race in a non-wing class up there somewhere. Since that time theres been some attempts to control costs, around here they have a 305 'Racesaver' class, (sealed spec engines) but even then it is crazy expensive to get in all things considered. Unfortunately the days of average workin' man racing that class are gone.
The Shop
to set up would cost me close to 40 - 50K by the time i brought a trailer, car and spares, let alone cost per nights, having a crew etc, the guy that runs them races himself and runs up front, he imports alot of racegear from the states so he always has cars, they run about 12 shows a year so even to do a whole season renting them, is better, although the guy told me when i start going quicker its $1500 bucks a night, his words, the quicker you go, the more you wear out the car, his last words were if you want to win all the time, then go somewhere else, i liked he was straight up, and realise it will take at least a couple of seasons to get to that point,
the track is 5 min from my place, we do not get charged to race, and get 2 free passes to get in, (no cost for pit passes)
we only have the 410 winged cars here, no 360 engine class, and no wingless sprints,
(and all these prices are NZ $$'s which is around 73c US at the moment,
https://youtu.be/X-semnTrbfA
When you are running like that your head gets lots of G's. Took me a while to learn to just relax your neck and lean into it. Even then sometimes you'd come off the track and could barely hold your head up. I made my own headrest on a metal-break out of some thick plate aluminum, fashioned up a pad and covered it with orange duct tape, worked great. Nowadays they are using full containments and Hans devices.
Schatz with the old school style and nowadays.
https://youtu.be/LeNpNcph8VE
I softly kissed the wall while testing a cam once and it was over 2K in axle, radius rods, shocks, aluminum 'quick release' shock mounts with diaper-pins, Jacobs ladder/clevis, nose wing side board, and crunched fiberglass nose body panel.
https://youtu.be/lT1BxV-NHwk
Pit Row
Post a reply to: Nailed it