Cost to build a competitive AI/AIX/CMC race car?

[95CobraR]

I've searched this site and two others. I found alot of valuable info, but I couldn't find any specifics on the cost of building an AI, AIX, or CMC car.

Competitive= a car capable of finishing in the top 10 with an experienced good driver.

 

I would appreciate any guidance that you can offer. It would also help others that may like to get involved.

 

Like any grassroot racing, I'd like to assume that the owner will turn alot of wrenches himself. He would also search for used parts that may be available. I'd like to assume that some of the project would be sub-contracted (say a proffessional-built cage, and a pro-built engine).

 

I have a good handle on the annual cost of campaigning the car (travel, tow vehicle, usual wear items, entry fees, tires/gas, occasional broken stuff, and beer).

 

Any suggestions, ideas, criticism, and thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks....

[Keith]

These are my guesses and I am not sure how many people you will get to fess up. These guesses assume that you do all of the work yourself except the cage, etc.

 

Competitive CMC Car - $10k

Competitive AI Car - $20k

Competitive AIX Car - $30k (a wild guess at best - I think a decent LS1 with smart mods could be competitive for this amount)

 

...don't forget that you need a tow vehicle and trailer...

 

I ran AI albiet slowly this year with $6,000 in the car total excluding tires. With what I have sold and the things that I need to buy/change to run CMC I will have spent about $500 to get CMC-legal for 2005. My car is almost finished right now.

 

Race weekend estimates - depends on how cheap you are.

 

Super Cheap

You can become an instructor and this will cover your entrance fee (but you really should have a 2nd seat to do this properly). Downside - if you need to work on your car you are SOL. Upside - you meet someone who thinks are a god.

Buy a tow vehicle that you can sleep in. I did. No hotel assuming the track allows camping.

Gas for the track and tow vehicle - depends on distance.

Food/beer - remember college? Do you like Ramen Noodles?

 

Cheap

Entrance fees average, say, $250 for a two-day weekend assuming you don't rent a garage - this can add $75 to $200 (I think).

Cheap Hotel - $50 a night - you can trim off a night if you don't require alot of sleep and the tow isn't too far

Food/Beer - 4 meals at McDonalds and two "bag lunches"

 

Human

Entrance Fees the same as above

Economy Hotel $90 a night (you can also share with someone)

Food/Beer - TGI Fridays for two nights and crap the other meals

 

Decent

Entrance Fees same as above

Decent Hotel - $120 or more a night

Food/Beer - Have a nice, rare Filet Mignon and a decent Bourdeaux

 

I did one "decent" weekend and the rest were cheap and, for the most part, super cheap.

 

Pick your series cost, add the tow vehicle and trailer, then multiply the number of race weekends by your level of participation...

 

Considering at Halloween of 2003, I had literally nothing for racing (no car, no trailer, no tow vehicle) and made the Nashville race weekend in March, I think I came a long way and I ran most of the race weekends... You are 12 months or so behind me.

 

Super Cheap is still fun. Take it from the man with experience. I will be back with a full schedule in 2005 - and I didn't have to make my wife get a job to do it.

[Jeff F]

I think Keith is close... a decent AI car from scratch is probably $20-25K, assuming that you're pretty handy with the mechanicals and farm out the cage and major fabrication. Just off the top of my head, working in round numbers:

 

$5K would buy you a pretty nice V8 Mustang (87-95) with everything (engine, trans, axle) in good working order.

$2K for a M2300K brake kit

$6K should buy you an all-in-one-box suspension kit from griggs or MM, or you could piece together something else if you wanted

$1.5K for one set of wheels and tires

$4K for for a good cage, seat, window net, and other misc. fabrication.

$5K would probably cover a basic rebuild of the existing engine, new heads, cam, intake, and supporting hardware (MAF, TB, exhaust) assuming a FI engine. More like $8K if you want something more bulletproof/more cubes (forged stroker, sportsman block). Less for carbed. Crate engine is also an option.

$500 for a new diff and gears

 

That is $24K right there. I'm sure I'm missing a lot, however. There are opportunities to do it for less, the easiest of which would be to find an exisiting AI or AS car and go from there. You could also save a few thou on the suspension-- $6K should get you all the bells and whistles, you could do with less. The hard part to guess is all the stuff I'm forgetting. I've had my car for over 10 years (2 different bodies ), and the $100 here and $200 there adds up over time.

[trackboss]

Top 10 could be done with any P.O.S. as lately there have rarely, if ever, been more than that many cars in the class (AI,AIX) Now, if you are looking for a podium finishing car out here in AI its a different story. Starting from scratch it would cost at least $40k for a good car. If you are on a budget there are often times great used cars that are a steal when you consider what they would cost to build new.

[Hal]

trackboss is closer to my experience...especially with labor rates out here...it is not cheap...

 

ai west

#46

[Keith]

The cheapest way to have a car ready for the track is to buy a finished one. I bought mine for just over $6,000 including spares wheels and tires (Actually, I found it on this website). I sold the wheels and tires that weren't AI-legal and netted less than $5,000 for a car that passed tech and ready to race (it's also street and emission legal).

 

Race cars go for a relatively low price and you can never build one for the sell price of a finished one. The downside is that you don't know the in's/out's of the mods of the car.

 

I passively shopped for a car, trailer and tow vehicle for 18 months before I "pulled the tigger". I educated myself of on costs and values and got my finances arranged to hit some targets. It a 5 week stretch, I bought everything and I only had to refurb the trailer that I bought and install a brake controller in my tow vehicle.

[D Algozine]

Pick up an ex Bondurant school car for around $8,500 and spend between $ 4K and $7K to upgrade the suspension and engine. Its not a bad way to go. For a starting point, you would get the following:

 

Nearly complete roll cage-they need some mods

Good trans -tremec 3550

Good small block to build from

Decent brakes-cobra

Decent cooling system

Engine oil cooler

Fuel cell

Decent suspension to build from-panhard bar and some have a torque arm, but the springs and shocks are soft and the control arms are stock.

Front end needs some help. Anywhere from a full K member system or just upgrade the bushings, shocks and springs.

 

As is always the case, its not just about the parts. A good driver and well set up car can always beat a bunch of expensive parts. But put all of it together and look out.

[Eirewolf]

my AI car was 26 grand in parts/shop rates, not counting the cost of the car itself, which was not a whole lot. but i bought a car with no engine or tranny, got those from ebay. got some other parts from a donor car i already owned. if it weren't for the Horsepower Factory doing the work, i would not be racing, at least with the car i have.

[tom97ss]

The cheapest way to have a car ready for the track is to buy a finished one. I bought mine for just over $6,000 including spares wheels and tires (Actually, I found it on this website). I sold the wheels and tires that weren't AI-legal and netted less than $5,000 for a car that passed tech and ready to race (it's also street and emission legal).

 

Race cars go for a relatively low price and you can never build one for the sell price of a finished one. The downside is that you don't know the in's/out's of the mods of the car.

 

I passively shopped for a car, trailer and tow vehicle for 18 months before I "pulled the tigger". I educated myself of on costs and values and got my finances arranged to hit some targets. It a 5 week stretch, I bought everything and I only had to refurb the trailer that I bought and install a brake controller in my tow vehicle.

 

 

I think this is the best bet, i got mine for 9k. WC roller with lots of spares. you just really have to look and depending how much patience you have. Building one from scratch can get $$$$

[AlanPK]

I bought a near junk 1991 LX and have spent a little over $21k. I have certainly learned a lot and would probably buy a ready to go AI car if I had it to do again. I can't say about top 10 as I finished last (except for the cars that DNF'd) in my first race. The $21k includes a trailer, tax, title, and every cent I have spent including paint and numbers. I have a little way to go on the car, and a long way to go as a driver. Does include a new 347, KB suspension parts, and an ATL fuel cell, etc.

[tom97ss]

Phoenix has several raced prepped F-bodies for sale ranaging from 25k to 8k

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=973371&highlight=grand+am+cup

[swhiteh3]

Please don't show this thread to my wife!

[95CobraR]

Please don't show this thread to my wife!

 

Is she in the market for a C5 race car (or F-body)?

[HPFactoryltd]

We currently have a 1988 berlineta camaro in the shop that would make a great AI car. It has no motor or trans in it.

 

 

 

For around 15k we could set it up with a LS1/T56 6 speed for AI. Some of the pricing would depend on the components that would be put on the car. There are some inexpensive options, or you can go upscale like Eirewolf for an additional investment.

 

When you are building a race car there is one question to consider....

 

Speed costs money, how fast do you want to spend?

 

[Adam Ginsberg]

Buying an already built car has it's ups, and downs. The "up side" is the previous owner has already spent the time and $$ to get the car ready, and you can typically buy it for considerably less than what was spent to build it.

 

The "down side" is you don't know the car the way you would if you built it yourself from scratch.

 

For comparison, I bought a former SCCA A/S car from this site that wasn't built to the full extent of the A/S rules, so it's conversion to CMC was very easy to accomplish. New intake, stock headers, remove the aftermarket ignition, rear diff cover and weight jackers, dyno it, and it was CMC legal.

 

I paid $4500 for a 1985 Mustang GT, complete with SCCA logbook, and a host of paperwork ( the previous owner keep decent records ). 8 point Autopower cage, fire system, ATL fuel cell, Kirkey road race seat, harnesses, etc. It also came with several spares, including a used shortblock ( I paid $250 for that ).

 

Drove from TX to NH and back to pick it up in June of 2003. Came home, flushed the brake system, installed new front pads and calipers, gave it a tune up, dyno'd the car, and raced in in August.

 

To get ready for CMC, I had to buy everything except a tow vehicle - trailer, car, suit, tie downs, fuel jugs....the works. In a 2 month period, I spent $8000.

[95CobraR]

I paid $4500 for a 1985 Mustang GT, complete with SCCA logbook, and a host of paperwork, 8 point Autopower cage, fire system, ATL fuel cell, Kirkey road race seat, harnesses, etc.

 

To get ready for CMC, I had to buy everything except a tow vehicle - trailer, car, suit, tie downs, fuel jugs....the works. In a 2 month period, I spent $8000.

 

Adam,

I guess the #5 CSD Mustang is the most famous of all the CMC cars. I had no isea it was a car with SCCA history. I remember reading about it in the Oct. '04 issue of Hot Rod. I think it finsihed just a few points from the championship this year.

 

Did you buy the car with it's current red paint (with black lower panels)? You must have bought the current wheels later (since the wider wheels were not AS legal?)?

 

Thanks for your post. The info and numbers are a great help.

[Adam Ginsberg]

I dunno if it's the most famous, but it's certainly gotten some decent airtime, thanks to Matt King w/HRM.

 

Yes, it has a northeast SCCA history, but I'm not sure if it was a winning history or not. It certainly wasn't making good power when I bought it, so I'm unsure how competitive it was.

 

I did indeed finish a scant 29 points behind the Texas CMC champ. Had Lewis been driving, it might have placed better.

 

It has retained most of it's original color from when I first bought it. It was all red before - I painted the lower portion of the car ( below the molding line ) to help hide the inevitable rock chips that occur during racing, and Chad w/CSD painted the new hood.

 

The rims have been changed, the spoiler was added, cleaned it up quite a bit ( it had lots of duct tape all over it from the previous owner ), and restickered the car. IIRC, 16x8 is legal in AS, as well as CMC.

 

Glad the information could be of some assistance.