mmoulton

I am a newbie to this forum and cup cars and would like to obtain some information. I have been racing SCCA and NASA for some time (spec miata and Porsche 914-6) and have become interested in stepping it up a bit by purchasing a Cup car to race.

From those of you in the know out there, who are currently racing, what would it take to track a competitive car. I would like to spend 70-85K and get a car with some legs. A 996 or 997 cup car or maybe a 996 or 997 car that has been "converted" to a cup car? What are the pros and cons of each?

Any suggestions ?

Mike

Glen

Which organiZation will you run in?

Steve113

I have a couple of 996 Cup cars for sale if you are interested

mmoulton

I plan on running in both SCCA and NASA.

NASA: I think it would have to run in GTSU or ST1.

SCCA: I think it would run in the GT1 class.

zoomzoom22

SCCA you would not be GT1, ever.

GT2, T1, T2 would be your choices. Likely with cup though GT2. If you want to win you need about 2x the price you are thinking to start with a car

analogmike

A stock 996 or 997 cup is SCCA GT2 and very competitive. My Grand-Am cup is GT1 and not competitive. Steve's cups are a great buy if you have someone who can look after it for you.

mmoulton

Mike,

Thanks for the information. The few 996 cup cars I have raced against in NASA were very competitive. I have not raced against any in an SCCA event. There is a wide variety of cars that show up to race on any given weekend, I have just not been exposed to that many Cup Cars. I have heard that the 996s are less expensive to keep up? I currently turn my own wrenches on my spec miata and 914-6 and like to work on my cars. Other than being expensive, are parts a problem?

Mike

boothkc

From one of my earlier posts:

"I figure "well North" of $1000/h to run my '08 997 Cup excluding any capital money costs and support.

Assume an engine will last 100h (generous) at $30k/rebuild and trans is good for 50h at $15k that puts you at $600/h for engine and gear box reserves.

Tires are $2000 and at least 1 set/ weekend or 2-3h max (round that to $5-600/hr alone).

Blue axels $6k and 25-50h ($125/hr)

Fuel 22g/hr $8/gal = $176/hr

Brakes depends alot on kind and use, but pads are $1k/set and rotors $2k and may replaced every 2-3 sets of pads which looks to be 2-3x/season....yikes = $300/h or so.

We are now at almost $1800/hr w/o any service or fluid changes not to mention the other stuff that needs attention and periodic replacement.

I am suprised that this figure is about 4x my Panoz GTS which is only 4 sec/lap slower!!! Some of these numbers are rough guesses or from memory, but you get the idea."

Costs are similar 996/7... maybe a little more for the 997 gear box, but not a ton. It is very hard to jump in and support your own Cup car w/o lots of pro help especially at the start. There is so much to learn and so much to "screw up." They are wonderful and amazing cars that vacuum up $$$.

All Cups run SCCA GT2 now. The 996s are much less competitive, but still fun. Not likely you will beat the 997s unless very poorly driven.

cheers,
Kevin

mmoulton

Wow !!

Lear Jet is about $1,800/hour to run and I bet my lap times would be faster?

Why did I ask a question that I really did not want to know the answer to? Will I ever learn?

Mike


Mike

chrcook

I ran the operating costs for a 996 Cup running in T1 trim, which means R-compound tires (for better or for worse....). Number I landed at was about $950/hr. As a reference, I ran a 944 NA in ITS trim and op costs per hour over the past 5 years were $550/hr for a multiple championship winning car.

Only thing known for sure is the front of the grid cost quite a bit more than mid-pack or the back and "actual miledge may vary!"

J richard

A lot of the costs of a cup are keeping it in legal trim. If you are going to shade tree it costs can be much more reasonable. Dont forget that up until 2010 or so even the world challenge cars were racing on R888 and RA1 before that. Not saying you won't get spanked by a 997 on michelins but it depends on what you are going to be doing and what your goals are.

... serious racing costs serious cash, no matter the platform, it's all relative...

mooty

it's quite a bit more than 1800 to run lear.
you haven't amortized everything yet.
i wont get close to a lear that's maitained on 1800/hour budget...

but cup, even if not racing, but on decent slicks (1set a weekend) with no track support but a sinking fund for rebuilding things is about $1000/hour give or take.