[TrakCar]

Hey guys.

Since this month I've turned 36 and hit middle age, the one thing I have always wanted to do more and haven't been able to is run multiple track days per year, run Nasa TT events, and possibly get my instructors certificate. Over the course of discussions with my wife we both kept coming back to "understanding the costs". So I was trying to put together a "business plan" (for lack of a better term) that would capture the costs of multiple lapping days in my 1991 Z28 camaro. I've done 10-15 track events over the last 8 years but never have been able to do more than 1-2 in a calender year.

Here is what I have so far:

• Event Cost $250 per day (approx)
• Tires $600 set (how many events can I expect? My Nitto 555R2's have 3 track days on them and could maybe do 1 more)
• Brake pads $ 125 Front/ $95 rear (I've had my Hawk HP+ pads for 4-5 years (4-5 events +limited street use)
• Rotors $122 set front/ $196 set rear (C5 front/ stock 91 Z28 rear)
• Brake fluid $20 Liter 2 per year? (flush/ fill after every event)
• Gas for event ~8 Gal/ session @$4.00 (5 sessions per day) = $160.00
• Travel (Gas etc) Based on distance
• Food $25 per day
• Hotel if needed $100/ night (hope to do 1 day events close to home)

I'm trying to boil these costs down to a $ per track Day type of number.
I know most people don't want to know how much the addiction costs, but I need ammo to convince my wife it fits in the budget.

Thanks

[trackbird]

Run street tires, they last longer. My ($298 to my door in a 16" size) Sumitomo summer tires ran quite well at Nashville and in several autocrosses after that. Are they as fast as race tires? Nope, but they don't have a points chase in HPDE classes (and no matter what tires you run, you won't "win" the class). These tires are wearing like iron and I still had fun on track with them. Switching to street tires to allow the budget to go a bit farther is probably the best advice I can give you.

When I looked at $250-$600 for towing, $250 a day for entry, added tire wear, brake wear and incidentals. Then toss in for track fuel. I was looking at about $1k a weekend (for most events). This does not count wear on the engine and trans (they will fail/need rebuilt sometime). That's a gross over simplification of my costs, but it's pretty close to the reality I was looking at when I started to make the calculations you're making.