True cost of Lemons? (Page 2 of 3)

One of the biggest cost hits comes if you don't have a welder/skills and have to farm out the cage.  That alone added $1000 to our build cost.

Welding and acquiring any equipment can be a huge money saving point if you're looking to continue competing (or foolishly disregarding the addictive nature of this).  Like Doctawife, I did get a welder and got up to speed for doing a cage.  But, it's no easy task making good welds upside down and around a joint, if you're not up to practicing and grinding out to try again.  You can offset the cost of the welder for what you'd pay someone else, especially if you watch craigslist for a while. 

While I find a few more people to do a new team, I plan on making a tube bender to do the custom DOM bends instead of the ERW kits (it helps to have a brother that's a machinist and will make a die).  Again, it'll cut down the other costs. 

FWIW, we got to Houston for ~$3250 (excluding tools I bought, like the welder).  It helped finding closeout parts or it'd be more.  BUT that was without any real spares.  Aaannd, it didn't take long before the engine was damaged and we were hosed.  Testing before the race is priceless, and that little extra in spares is worth it. 

Hope you have plenty of team help.  That seems to make the experience more positive.

We got our car and team to Nelson for just over $3000.  Now we baought a Camaro so the stuff we needed was easy to get on the cheap (Bolt in roll cage, extra rims, etc..)  and I have a great scrounge on my team!  You can tack on a few more thousand if your car is a bit more Lemony...like a Renault or a Simca.

COST?  Don't concentrate on the COST, think of all the FUN.  Its been worth every penny I have spent and continue to spend.

$4k for just the car is about right for the first event.  The next race is always cheaper!

Hello, i am new to this you guys are spending way too much!

Running car $450, build your own cage materials $350, seat + harness + fire extin + kill switch $200, basic maint on car $50,cleveland launcher iron review set of tires $300.  Use a cardboard sign board, borrow a fire suit, buy a helmet, make some costumes, pay your race fees and go racing!  <$1500 for build.

Nah, Rob, these are the guys who break on the parade lap, eventually get 3 laps in and retires in 95th position.  Someone has to do it, might as well be these guys.

+1

I had been welding before this series but nothing to the extent that I have since.  I started with a decent Craftsman flux welder, upgraded to a MIG, and this year upgraded to a TIG.  On our latest build (the Craptation Regurgitation), I fabbed a fuel cell roll cage, a couple of motor mounts, switch panel, touched up our seat and fire extinguisher mounts, and added a couple of bars to the roll cage.

Cheap Chinese junk - but 109.99 for a flux welder. 
http://www.harborfreight.com/90-amp-flu … 98871.html

I wouldn't trust it weld a cage (.120 steel needs ~120amp) but for smaller jobs you can not beat the price.

Our Team is expecting to spend $4-5000 on the car and safety equiptment (helmets, suits, shoes gloves...) NOT including Travel or food. We all spend more than that each, doing things that aren't even a 1/4 as awsome as this is going to be.  That is with all work being done by us.

andyshoun,

The point is that the car is not the totality of expenses.  We admittedly go overboard on the theme, but there are lots of expenses to add up.  Our budget for the May race is over $3600 including the entry fees and camping.  This is with us keeping the same theme and doing fairly minimal work to the car (we swapped in a craigslist engine after losing a rod bearing in Feb).   

Admittedly, keeping the car on the track is more about knowhow than $$$, but that knowhow isn't free.  We went through 3 sets of autozone pads in our first race with the civic.  Of course we didn't carry any spares, so each time it was an hour+ of downtime while someone went to Camden for parts.  We also watched several of the heavier cars weld their calipers to the rotors at that race.  That's lots of downtime on something that could have been prevented with some better brakes.  If you're driving a car you know well then you'll know what you need to spend to keep it on the track.

QFT

It's become 'just a number'

Our Team entry fee was >3x the cost of the car .....
and then there's the RV
and then there's food
and then there's
and then
and
and
and

it's all and

Slightly less than you paid for your car, huh?