| There is no set scale for rental prices; they are arbitrarily set by
the car owner based on a combination of their financial picture and the
marketplace in general. My impression is that you can get a pretty
broad range of prices if you look around enough, but also that the
range of value can be pretty broad too.
I rented once, a friend's GT-2 prepared Datsun 240-Z for my first
driver school (because both one of my partners and I needed the same
school, and I was better connected for the rental). I considered it a
success, although the car started running rough in one of the afternoon
sessions. The owner listened and commented that it sounded like a
broken exhaust to him, so we ran it for the practice starts and
five-lap sprints at the end of the day. By then it was so bad it would
try to die coming down pit straight at LRP and the only reason it kept
running was that momentum would turn the drivetrain until it caught
again. Needless to say the quality of that tracktime was diminished
somewhat (although still quite valuable in its own way). At the end of
the session the car somehow made it back to the paddock, where Lloyd
pulled the valve cover and discovered one valve stem was about 3"
shorter than the rest! His comment: "well, that engine owed me
nothing, it had 90,000 miles on the street before I put it in a racecar
18 months ago." (My response: "you should've told me it was an
antique").
Anyway, I passed the school and consider the value for that rental
quite good (heck, I got experience dealing with mechanical failure that
I wouldn't want to gain on my own equipment!) but it could easily have
been otherwise. Caveat Emptor. And more, some things (like that) you
can't predict or protect. It was a relatively reasonable rental cost,
and the truth is, you generally get what you pay for.
I have considered setting up to do rentals in my Club FF, but there are
some hurdles that make it difficult for me (mostly the same ones that
make it difficult for me to run my own events). I would expect pricing
to be in the neighborhood of $1000, possibly somewhat negotiable
depending on specifics.
Rental of other classes definitely can be more expensive. About a year
ago I had a project that almost came together which would've included
rental of a Formula Continental (FF2000) which I priced at $3000 for
the one race. An IMSA GTU can rent for under $5k up, and the GTPs (or
Camel Lights) rent for somewhat more.
Are they worth it? You pays your money, you takes your choice. If you
rent you have no control. If you rent for an IMSA event, you may not
even get track time (multi-driver events, if the first driver trashes
it, you are S.O.L.). Even for SCCA events, it is not certain just what
you'll find. If you do business with an established race prep shop
(South Shore Racing, Continental Crossle, etc.) you will pay top dollar
and get a well prepared car, with your liability exposure high. If you
rent from a racer who is looking for a little revenue (perhaps to stave
off the IRS) you will probably pay less, get Hobson's choice, but still
with high liability exposure (maybe less, 'cuz the car is worth less).
Other side of the coin, you have no capital invested, and no time or
money costs for preparation (although all those costs are certainly
recovered in the rental price). The market for used FFs (which is what
I watch and know best) right now seems non-existent, probably because
of the season but also because there seem to be few cars on the market.
This seemed true last winter also. I've been considering selling my
car, just because I'm not using it and it doesn't make sense having the
capital tied up. My asking price would be up around $5500 to $6000
(maybe more, depending on market - I'd ask considerably more in an
Autoweek ad than I would in NER's Pit Talk or on the net!) and the car
will require some investment of money and work to be track-ready.
Annual budget for preparation alone can run a few thousand (up to $5k
to do it right, under $2k if you cut corners). Event costs will
include a couple of hundred bucks per weekend that might (or might not)
be included in a rental price (eg, tires, oil, gas). You will still
have some of the same costs regardless, rentals don't include entry
fees nor your travel expenses (although they should absorb expenses for
the rental supplier).
Other options might include partnerships or shared ownership, also
lease or timeshare deals might be possible. Don't know for sure but I
think some rentals offer deals on packages or blocks of races. I've
also thought about what it would take to put together some sort of deal
for timesharing or block-mode leasing rather than per-race rentals on
my car, but that again gets into the problems of prep time and costs,
capital investment and all that.
Bottom line is, racing is not cheap, in terms of time or money.
You can reduce your cost in one by increasing it in the other.
How does your budget look for each?
In general, I'd say rentals are a good value. They minimize time cost
at the expense of money. Shopping around and knowing the field can
save money or maximize value for money, but values can vary a lot.
They're not a panacea, but can be a good deal.
- Bruce McCulley
(one-time renter, former partnership member, now sole owner)
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| re .37 - guess it depends on what the "course" really is. For an SCCA
school you'll still need a sufficient degree of preparation to pass
tech, for other events (like COM) you may be able to get by with less
stringent prep standards. I can't say for things like "track time" or
RCCA or anybody else.
The other thing to consider is a very cogent statement I remember
reading in the COM newsletter a while back, don't remember exactly but
it was something to the effect that
YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TAKE ANYTHING YOU PUT ON A RACETRACK HOME
IN A BASKET!
If not, you're not prepared to accept the potential consequences,
and/or you're not being honest with yourself about them.
So, if you are looking for a car to use in some track driving, you
really should make sure that whatever you come up with fits that
statement. For myself, that means sufficient rollcage etc. to be a
fully prepped SS car if not a pure race car (Formula, SR, etc.).
Not just the matter of being ready to take it home in a basket but also
making sure that I don't go home in the same basket!
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