What Does A Weekend Of Racing Cost?

Features, Racing I By Winding Road Staff I November 03, 2020

Racing isn’t cheap and, like many things, it ends up costing more than you might think at first. In our experience, the costs are a cause of stress for some racers. Learning the facts and setting more realistic expectations can partially reduce the stress. If you go in with eyes open and build a decent budget, then there are fewer surprises and more happiness.

Between tires, entry fees, towing, fuel, repairs, updated safety gear, hotels, engine rebuilds, setup, fluids, upgraded parts needed to get more competitive and food, a weekend can be pretty expensive. We’ve done the calculation a number of times and we figure around $3000 for a weekend is a middle-of-the-road budget (a more powerful or fragile car will cost more):

Tires: $1000

Entries: $500

Fuel: $60

Fluids: $50

Setup: $100

Race car repair and depreciation: $600

Tow vehicle operation, repair and depreciation: $400

Upgraded/compliance parts: $200

Upgraded/compliance safety gear: $80

Hotels: $200

Food: $60

Total: $3250 per weekend

We know lots of people who spend more and a few who are really frugal and who can do it for less. You could, for example, stretch a set of tires across two weekends. If you own an RV that can tow and figure that you’d have it anyway, you can reduce hotel and tow vehicle costs. Limiting upgrades and outsourced setup may make you less competitive, but it could save money. Doing all this might bring the cost down to around $2000 per weekend.

You can also go the other way, and have more comprehensive service, fresher tires and run more classes, which changes these costs:

Tires: $2000

Entries: $800

Fuel: $100

Crew chief/data analyst: $400

Mechanic: $800

Professional setup for each race: $600

Transport service: $600

Storage: $200

Upgraded parts: $500

This approach would cost about $6990 per weekend (for context, pro arrive-and-drive costs between $15,000 and $100,000 per weekend). The above is just an example of something closer to a full service weekend, with more money spent on running very competitive equipment and doing twice as much racing. Because of the latter, the cost per race is basically the same: $1625 in the first case and $1750 in the second example.

Of course, you can spend less per weekend by sharing a car. The classic examples of this are ChampCar, Lucky Dog, or WRL. You might have a team of 4 drivers and in theory do 14 hours of racing, which is 3.5 hours each. That’s more track time than you get in SCCA or NASA sprint racing (which offer perhaps 2 hours per weekend on track) if your car runs the whole endurance race. You can also split a car in POC, NASA, SCCA, BMWCCA, or PCA. That lowers your cost per weekend, though not your cost per race.

The reality is that many people spend "less" simply by not doing the full accounting (and in actuality even the above isn’t the full accounting because it assumes that your time has zero cost). For example, we got a comment on a draft of this article that said "I was able to run my Corvette for $500 to $1000 per weekend. I ran against guys who were spending ten times as much." Now, given that entry fees are about $500 on average, you can never run for $500 per weekend unless you ignore even the obvious costs like fuel and tires. But ignorance is bliss, and taking that idea a step further, we know some racers who just don’t budget at all – for fear of knowing the real cost.

We will also say that we know families who spend a full race season’s budget on one vacation per year. So, in the context of entertainment, the cost of racing isn’t exceptional for most people who do it. And, for most racers, the fun factor is higher than just about any alternative activity; so racing ends up being an extremely good value.

Tags:

The Guide to Road Racing: Winding Road Magazine's ultimate guide to getting your start in racing.

Table of Contents

Related Articles

EV Inspired Automobile Renaissance

By the start of the 20th Century, the development of consumer automobiles was in full swing, and, seemingly, everyone was throwing their hat in the…

March 14, 2024
BUGATTI TYPE 35: The Making of A Champion

Setting the blueprint for all Bugatti cars that followed, the Type 35 was designed and engineered like no other, and featured world-firsts to ensure unmatched…

March 14, 2024
Audi accelerates preparations for successful entry into Formula 1 and significantly expands its commitment

Supervisory Boards of Volkswagen AG and AUDI AG vote for complete takeover of Sauber Group Oliver Hoffmann takes over responsibility for Audi’s Formula 1 commitment…

March 08, 2024
Rivian Introduces R2, R3, and R3X Built on New Midsize Platform

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. March 7, 2024 – Rivian today unveiled its new midsize platform which underpins R2 and R3 product lines. R2 is Rivian’s all-new midsize…

March 07, 2024
INEOS Automotive Introduces The INEOS Fusilier – One Vehicle, Two Powertrains

INEOS Automotive has unveiled its third model line – the INEOS Fusilier. The new 4X4 will offer two powertrain options to meet global consumer needs:…

February 23, 2024

EMAIL SIGN UP

Get the latest driving and racing news straight to your inbox.

no thanks

Begin typing your search above and press return to search.