[s-cars] One <$expensive$> Lap

[Keith Maddock]

RE 2004 One Lap Budget:

Here's my estimate for a normal team.  Add or subtract depending on how picky you are about foot and hotel, amount of alcohol consumption, "road-tax" cost of extra speed between tracks, and adult-entertainment tipping practices.

$2200  Entry fee
$800  Hotels
$500-1000 Gas
$200 Misc consumables (octane boost, windshield juice, bulbs, wiper blades)
$400 Food + Snacks + RedBull, per person
$800 "Spec Tires" for event

For a two person team, you're looking at $5k to $ 6k to "Enter and Complete"  (or $2500 to $3000 per person)

Then add on car prep. I'd estimate between $1000 to $2000 is reasonable to budget for "Car prep done just forOLOA".

 Full complete fluid change at a bare minimum. Fresh Street/Track brake pads and rotors at a minimum.  Depending on mileage (2002 was a lot more miles than this year's), may want to coordinate a oil-change halfway (THANKS JIMMY!!!!)  Timing belt change if you're any more than 30k past the old one isn't a bad idea.

I suggest carrying a healthy inventory of spare parts - these can be purchase, borrowed, stolen, etc (perhaps work out a deal with a dealer that you can return them if not needed).  Boost hoses, clamps, POS's, BPV's, perhaps a FI or two, a FPR, a WGFV, a couple coils,  etc - all relatively  cheap and small to carry.  Spare set of brake pads and a spare "Spec" tire is also not a bad idea, plenty of room in a S-Car for such things.  Full-size spare wheel isn't a bad idea eather.  My co-driver laughed at me when he saw how many spare parts I was carrying.  He wasn't laughing about it when those parts enabled us (and other competitors)  to finish the event.

Then it all depends on how much the car is done for the event or not.  In Trevor's case, it's obvious he spent a *lot* of money upgrading his car "for the event".  I also spent a lot of money on my car "for the event".  Then again, you also have the car after the event, and get to enjoy those mods for years to come.  Depends on how creative you want to be with financing and sponsorship to manage those costs.  In the end, it probably cost me $8k, but also left me with a car that doesn't need much maintenance for the next 1-3 years! :)  (Which ends out being convenient for Dad, as I can point out he's been driving it almost a year now without any problems at all!!)

For me, knowing a year in advance that I was running the One Lap, probably caused me to do a lot more mods/repairs that I would have done otherwise.  I did a lot of "preventative maintenance" on stuff like PS pump, Timing Belt, Radiator, etc etc etc that I might have otherwise put off a year or two until the part actually failed.


Cheers,
Keith




Keith Maddock, TRW Automotive,  Koblenz, Germany
Slip Control Systems, Systems Design, Traction Control
+49 (0)261/ 895 2474    -   -   keith.maddock at trw.com