Season Costs?

[Nate R]

Can someone who's thrifty and keeps track give me some #s on season costs?

Looking for individual items total for the season, or per event.

Food,
Gas for towing vehicle
Bike parts
Etc

I'm trying to see what a full season will cost.
Assume I already have the bike and gear.

I'm thinking this for 14 weekends (including daytona:

Here's what i got so far:
Oil/Filters 300
Gas for bike and vehicle 1330
Food 1050   --- dont eat out much/at all
Spares 700
Canopy 250
Generator + warmers ---Dont have those:  1300 (honda EU2000)
Entries and gate fees: 3780
trailer (small, probably just a single rail trailer.) 350
Tires (10 sets for SV): 3400
Xtra daytona $ (room, etc) $500

Any one got some comparisions? What did I miss?

FWIW, the total so far is about 13K. I hope I can get some top 10s and get some tire $, etc, but I want to budget it all in and have it all covered.

Any of my numbers off either way? I'm pretty thrifty, and will save money where i can.

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Obviously, what you want is a championship.  Toss in the 3 or so races that will allow you to cover the complete GL, GP and MW seasons.  Things will go really bad at least once in your summer, and by running all three regions you hedge your bets that one bad weekend won't take you out of contention in everything.
Eight championships later, my magic number for a 16 race season is 20K, and that doesn't buy as many tires as I'd like to have.  Mongo was right when he said that I could just buy the trophies and save a bunch of money, but that wouldn't be as much fun...
Talk to Dawn Buxton.  She keeps meticulous records, where I just keep a running total and destroy the paperwork before my wife sees it! :o

[EX#996]

Nate:

I sent you my Excel file of racing expenses.  The only thing that is not included on there is food.  This is because we would be eating anyways whether it was at home or the track.  The other thing to consider is our motor home gets 7 miles to the gallon, your vehicle may do better.

Dawn   :)

[Super Dave]

Nate, get a nice extended length Astro Van.  Won't need the trailer, gets decent mileage, and they are stone cold reliable.  Keep your stuff clean and dry before it gets to the track.  You can camp in it.  Have the business buy it and depreciate it too.  You'll have to find storage space for a trailer...in addition to maintaining and road side repair of that small of a trailer.

Buy a cheaper generator, used if you can find one.  $400?  Again, you can depreciate that.  Same with the bike if your business buys it.

Tires, you can do two to three fronts per rear in Michein's on an SV.  I can on a 600.  

Entry fees are always going to go up.

Regardless, you're in the ball park.

[Nate R]

Thanx guys! Dawn, looks like my #s were fairly close then. I appreciate the records.

Dave: I guess I feel like I would like to have power at night, so I would want the quiet generator, but now that I think of it, what would I use it for?

K3: Dunno if a championship is what I'm after. Adding 3 more weekends might be a stretch, too. But, we'll see. It's a long ways away. (Not next year, no bike, for 1) Dunno if I'll even be able to do a full season. $13K is a lotta money, especially when I have to buy a bike and transport vehicle. I would like to do a full season as many years as possible.

Good point about the Astro van, Dave. No way I'm getting an old ford van. I seem to hear lots of problems with those.

I'll have to talk to an accountant to make sure I do things properly as far as having the business buy the bike.

2-3 fronts PER rear? Or did you mean 2-3 rears per front? I'm not sure which tires I'll use. Michelins will probably be the least expensive over time, and if I have warmers, that won't be an issue for me anymore. (Save for 'stones maybe)

Also SD: What are vendor fees like? What kind of range? That may help make racing look like "Business trips" if I ever get audited.

Well, back to dreaming about having enough money to afford racing for a full season.  ;D

Seriously, I appreciate the input. Would suck to think that I could do a full season only to find I was 3K short, etc.

[WebCrush]

Tack on more for Daytona--typical weekend for me runs about $500.  

Daytona cost me over 2 grand (and I didn't stay at a hotel either!!)

[Nate R]

2 grand!?  :o

K.

Well, I have a dream. I was hoping to someday just be able to run a full season. Dunno if I'll have the $ to do that soon. At least I know what it'll take.

[davegsxrold929r]

it cost me about $800 a weekend ...

but you are on the mark with your numbers.. gates fees are not there though.., $20-30 per weeknd each person......

where are you planning to race ?? should not need a generator., most tracks have power ?!?!?

[andy342]

I got a little 4x8 trailer from Harbor Freight for $219. The prices change all the time.  Now it's $240-270.
 Made it all the way to Florida from Wisconsin with no problems.  And it is the only one I have seen that folds up for storage.

Get the bigger 12" wheels, and order at least one spare.  The rim has an odd size center hole so you can't just go to Fleet farm and get a rim.

For either price it's a smoking deal.  Put on some plywood sides and it will hold a lot of stuff.  

[motomadness]

Why do you need power at night?  You may not even need much power throughout the day if you are not racing much.  Last year I bought all of that stuff and hardly used it three rounds into the season.  

Since you're on a budget, find someone else's pit to hang around.  Secondly, lights at night in the summer attract bugs.  Consider purchasing electrical for the weekend.  If you split it with someone, it may only cost you $10-15/ weekend.  Only MAM and parts of Gingerman didn't have electrical.  

Basically find someone you know is going to be at every round, and try to partner up with them while you are at the track.  Socially it will be more fun, and if you have problems, you might have someone that you can always ask for assistance.

[Nate R]

The Gate fees are included in the Entries. Maybe I need to add more, though.

Generator: Don't wanna hassle with getting power if I can avoid it. I got power one weekend, and the plug got messed up about 3 times. If my warmers were on during that time, it wouldve been not too good.  It seemed to me like it added a lot of hassle.

We'll see how the budget goes, IF i can even come close to affording a full season once I get a new SV. If there's room for a small, inexpensive generator, I'll get one. If not, I'll bum/split power.

[Super Dave]

Good point about the Astro van, Dave. No way I'm getting an old ford van. I seem to hear lots of problems with those.

Also SD: What are vendor fees like? What kind of range? That may help make racing look like "Business trips" if I ever get audited.

I pay a vendor fee of $150 at Blackhawk.  I won't be selling Power Mist there anymore.  It costs me more to be a vendor than I make.  Doesn't make sense.

Ford Vans?

Ok, I'm on my fourth one now since 1989.  I had a '79 with a 351W...put like 89k on it and traded it on my '89 in 1991 (351W).  Had that one until 2000.  Put 44k just doing my racing program in 1993.  I sold it to a friend in 2000 with 218k miles.  He has it and it has over 356k on it now.  Don't know what kind of problems you'd have.  Had a 1993(351W) from 2000 until 2002, then I got the big E350 superduty diesel...1996.  I'm probably done for a while.

All my previous ones were E150s...no real problems.  What would be considered a problem?