Costs & Expenses

#1

What can I expect to spend to convert a stock 325i into a reasonably competitive racecar - assuming I do the grunt work myself and farm out the cage building to a professional? And what is the approximate cost to run the car during a season? I realize everything is relative; I’m just looking for ballpark numbers so I know what to expect.
Also, how do most of you finance your addiction? Out of pocket, sell advertising space, business related right off, kids college fund? While SpecE30 does seem to be a relatively low cost series, I can’t imagine your significant others are happy with you writing checks for parts and entry fees when the house needs painting or the kitchen needs to be remodeled.

#2

Lots of questions here:

  1. If you have to "rob" your kids college fund or avoid a home repair, you need to find a different hobby or, as the saying goes, you’ll be out "half your stuff".

  2. You can expect to build a car for under $10K if you do most of the work and only farm out the cage. When I get a few minutes to breathe after my car’s upcoming innaugural weekend, I will complete the build-out spreadsheet from my build.

  3. Operating Budget - this can have some real variance based on what breaks, but I figure on $1K / weekend. Now, that was 944 Cup but I think it’s reasonable for Spec e30. Here’s a quick breakdown:

A) Entry Fees - $275 (roughly)
B) Gas to the venue and at the venue - $100
C) Two nights lodging - $175
D) Food during the w/e - $75

That’s roughly $600 before you do anything involving the car!

I do 6-7 weekends per year so add in -

A) $500 x 3 for tires (minimum I think but I haven’t run a season w/ e30 yet
B) $300 - brake pads
C) Oil Changes - $100
D) Brake Fluid - $75

There’s another two grand w/out any "new" upgrades, or repairs to any parts. Divide that by 6 and you are in the $900/weekend ballpark. So, I guess I stick with my "grand a weekend" estimate. It’s around $500/month. One of the ways that I justify it is that I don’t drive a new car for my daily driver. I drive a 12 year old Mercedes diesel. So, I take my "payment" and apply it to my racing budget.

#3

rsott59 wrote:

[quote]What can I expect to spend to convert a stock 325i into a reasonably competitive racecar - assuming I do the grunt work myself and farm out the cage building to a professional? And what is the approximate cost to run the car during a season? I realize everything is relative; I’m just looking for ballpark numbers so I know what to expect.
Also, how do most of you finance your addiction? Out of pocket, sell advertising space, business related right off, kids college fund? While SpecE30 does seem to be a relatively low cost series, I can’t imagine your significant others are happy with you writing checks for parts and entry fees when the house needs painting or the kitchen needs to be remodeled.[/quote]
Well, fortunately "I" can afford my hobby, I don’t have to ask my wife if I can since it’s "my" paycheck.
$10k’s should be ok to build a car, I’m on the $11k’s mark already (I started with an expensive donor car), and the cage is not in yet.
You should budget around $1k per weekend.

#4

rsott59 wrote:

[quote]What can I expect to spend to convert a stock 325i into a reasonably competitive racecar - assuming I do the grunt work myself and farm out the cage building to a professional? And what is the approximate cost to run the car during a season? I realize everything is relative; I’m just looking for ballpark numbers so I know what to expect.
Also, how do most of you finance your addiction? Out of pocket, sell advertising space, business related right off, kids college fund? While SpecE30 does seem to be a relatively low cost series, I can’t imagine your significant others are happy with you writing checks for parts and entry fees when the house needs painting or the kitchen needs to be remodeled.[/quote]
Well, fortunately "I" can afford my hobby, I don’t have to ask my wife if I can since it’s "my" paycheck.
$10k’s should be ok to build a car, I’m on the $11k’s mark already (I started with an expensive donor car), and the cage is not in yet.
You should budget around $1k per weekend.

#5

$10,000 to build the car is optimistic IMO. I’ve heard the stories… but it hasn’t been my experience (or that of the other’s who are currently building).

My build has come in a couple (2 to 3) of grand higher. But I also started with a car that was steeper than most.

If you are starting from scratch, you also will need to factor in the cost of a drivers suit, HANS and other safety gear your average DE guy (or gal) doesn’t already own. That adds another $1,500+

Habit is paid for by advertising. Not the advertising on the car… I’m just in advertising

I’ll get back to you on the average cost of a weekend…

#6

$10k for the car is a good figure. I pay for my hobby out of my income, and on occasion what I can make from selling stuff on ebay, etc.

#7

$8-$10k is very do-able. Depends on the cost of the donor (ours were $1000 each) and how much deferred maintenance you need to do on the donor before making it a race car. Painting it and making it sexy to the trophy girls isn’t necessarily part of that figure. Personal safety gear also isn’t included, but probably could still be brought in under the $10k figure.
As a beginner, things you can do to save a buck are run bottlecap wheels (people will give them to you), shop Ebay for anything you can (used seat, for example), and do as much of the work yourself as possible.
Finances are everyone’s personal business, and will vary greatly. I have a seperate account for my car activities, and a portion of every paycheck goes in there. I just have to budget what I buy/how many events I want to do with what I have allowed myself. Wife does the same sort of thing for her play money. This way, neither of us can complain about what that money gets spent on.

#8

ddavidv wrote:

This reminds me of a conversation overheard at the track by of friend of mine. Hi buddy was saying to the group that his budget was "$7500". His wife, just a few feet away, overheard this and said, "Honey, It will cost you twice that much". :ohmy:

#9

My build will be over 10K, and that is with sponsorship from elephant motorsports to get cheap parts and labor. I’m not skimping on anything though and my donor car was $1800. I’m also going to invest in paint and vinyl. I pay for everything myself, it is my only hobby. My girlfriend laughs at me when I say I’ll save money running this car over my M3, she says I’ll probably do more races or track my bike…she has a point but that means more track time :slight_smile: . I subliment my income playing poker as well, all that money goes to racing or the bike, it is an additional $500 a month.

#10

Thank you. Lots of great advice. It gives me a good understanding of what to expect. What are "bottle cap" wheels?

#11

rsott59 wrote:

[quote]Thank you. Lots of great advice. It gives me a good understanding of what to expect. What are "bottle cap" wheels?[/quote] Bottlecaps are the factory 14X6 wheels that came on the non iS cars. The design is similar to a bottlecap/

#12

rsott59 wrote:

These are bottle caps

#13

I won’t give away the auxilliary bottlecap that came with my car, it was never mounted and still has the oem tyre from 1991. :ohmy:

#14

Makes perfect sense, now. Thanks.

#15

just to add, I’m doing all the mechanical work myself, that saved a bunch. My car had a crappy, rusty body and I found a sponsor to do the body work for cost of materials.

#16

i am in about 7K not counting two motors i blew up.
Donor car was about $500 to start with and there are alot of them under 1k out there.
Good luck

#17

Those of you picking up cars for ~$1000 - are you just assuming the drivetrain is bad and figuring a rebuild/replacement into your budget? Or are you picking up cars and racing on the 300,000 mile drivetrain? I’m also assuming that a bunch of rust repair needs to be done on such a car, am I wrong?

I’d really like to find an 87-91 325i, but so far all I’ve been able to find are either very expensive cars (~$5000) or what I suspect are rust buckets up north (~$2000). Where are these mythical $500-$1000 cars? I’d like to find one in the SE.

#18

I have a car with 280K on an intermittent odometer, don’t know the history. I plan to race it until it gives up. Check several cities using www.crazedlist.org There are other threads here about searching for a donor. Remember that deferred maintenance can boost the "actual cost" of a donor, so don’t be afraid to look at $2-3K cars that have been well maintained.
cheers,
bruce

WannaBeRacer wrote:

[quote]Those of you picking up cars for ~$1000 - are you just assuming the drivetrain is bad and figuring a rebuild/replacement into your budget? Or are you picking up cars and racing on the 300,000 mile drivetrain? I’m also assuming that a bunch of rust repair needs to be done on such a car, am I wrong?

I’d really like to find an 87-91 325i, but so far all I’ve been able to find are either very expensive cars (~$5000) or what I suspect are rust buckets up north (~$2000). Where are these mythical $500-$1000 cars? I’d like to find one in the SE.[/quote]

#19

Most people racing that I have spoken to are racing the original engine regardless of mileage. These engines are incredibly strong, and the rev limit will keep most things from breaking. This is assuming a moderate amount of regular maintenance.

Rust seems to be a hit or miss issue. Both of our cars came from PA, which is a heavy road salt state. Neither had any significant issues. I patched a few holed in the passenger floor above the converter that were invisible until the carpet was pulled out, but that’s all I found (175,000 miles). I would not buy an obviously rusty car though, as it’s too costly to fix.

Troll ALL of the BMW message boards and post some ‘wanted’ ads; that’s how mine came to me. I also found quite a few shopping the larger metropolitan area Craigslists around me. E30s don’t appeal to the country buyer as much as the pseudo-rich city folk it seems, lol. Only thing is, you have to be ready to pounce when one comes up, as they go fast.

#20

Below, you’ll find my build sheet. I did all the work on the car, including the cage build. People who can build a car for under 10k either: a) got lucky and found great prices, b) have an uncompetitive or unsafe car, c) learned accounting at Enron and didn’t really include all the costs, or d) haven’t built one yet and are kidding themselves. Bottom line is if y ou don’t have about 20k sitting around for your first race season, you probably shouldn’t go racing.

Bare Minimums (This is what you I would build to meet the minimum rules and general safety of the car.):
car 2000
suspension 1100
sways 500
brakes 600
control arms 200
tie rods 100
wheel bearings 400
bushings 300
baffling 100
seat 800
harness 300
battery kill 80
battery mount 50
fire system 300
hoses 100
water pump 50
timing belt 50
window net 80
center net 80
tires+wheels 1300
alignment 150
distributor 70
spark plugs 50
oil 80
cage 1500
cage padding 100
transponder 350
NASA annual tech 80
stickers+licensing 100
TOTAL: 10970

Nice To Haves
accusump 400
halfshafts 300
clutch 300
data acq 1200
spare wheels 1200
steering wheel 300
fuel pump 200
injectors 200
cold air intake 150
spark plug wires 120
exhaust 300
radio system 1000
TOTAL: 5670

Driver Equipment (Makes your wife’s/gf’s clothing budget look tame):
Suit 500
HANS 800
Helmet 300
Underwear 150
Socks 30
Shoes 200
Gloves 150
Balaclava 20
TOTAL: 2150