Ultimate race car to own?

[tangerine911S]

Ok so this got me thinking. A lot of money is spent making road cars (911's for instance) light, more powerful, and track ready. This car is faster and cheaper than most modified racers. This seems like the ultimate "affordable" race car. ~1000 lbs, 240 hp, ~$50,000. It has the Mazda Renesis rotary engine out of the RX-8. I want one. I wonder if it can be made road legal?


Formula Mazda:

[David]

Actually that's a Pro Mazda and they run over $100,000. They do have a carbon tub though.

You could probably find a Formula Mazda like this for under $40K used:



Or an SCCA Formula Enterprises, which runs a 4-cylinder Mazda engine, like this for around $35K used:



My boss runs a Formula Enterprises car so I'm pretty familar with it and the other two if you have any questions.

[stomachmonkey]

My brother has a Formula Ford for sale.

If you are looking for a street legal race car build an Ultima GTR.

http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/Content.aspx?f=record6

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

Ok so this got me thinking. A lot of money is spent making road cars (911's for instance) light, more powerful, and track ready. This car is faster and cheaper than most modified racers. This seems like the ultimate "affordable" race car. ~1000 lbs, 240 hp, ~$50,000. It has the Mazda Renesis rotary engine out of the RX-8. I want one. I wonder if it can be made road legal?


Formula Mazda:

For a Pro Mazda, you're looking at about $100k, plus about $125k to run a regional series. About $250k to run it in the national series.

Operating costs for race cars are astronomical compared to the initial outlay...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

Ok so this got me thinking. A lot of money is spent making road cars (911's for instance) light, more powerful, and track ready. This car is faster and cheaper than most modified racers. This seems like the ultimate "affordable" race car. ~1000 lbs, 240 hp, ~$50,000. It has the Mazda Renesis rotary engine out of the RX-8. I want one. I wonder if it can be made road legal?


Formula Mazda:

You could probably make it road legal if you could get it registered as a "kit car", although I'm sure you'd need to make a bunch of mods.

[David]

I've been thinking about buying a Formula Enterprises car but then figure:

$700 tires
$500 entry fees
$150 race fuel
$200 hotel
$200 truck fuel

You get close to $2,000 a weekend before you factor in parts replacement or a crash. So I could swing the price of the car, but an extra $2,000 a month to race would be tight.

[mpeastend]

I was thinking about buying a Formula Mazda or the Pro Mazda after taking some racing courses in the formula cars. They are an absolute blast and I enjoyed the low driving position. Some people can't get used to the cramped cockpit & don't like almost lying down, but I loved it. If you do, I wouldn't go with any other car than the Mazda...the bulletproof/reliable Mazda motors are the big selling point. You shouldn't have to mess with anything there as they are sealed for competition. If you crash then you'll have big expenses with the Pro vs the regular Mazda due to the carbon fiber, etc...not exactly fixable by a backyard mechanic.

There is a big problem though, which kept me from buying one. As was explained before, the expenses competing in a series are monsterous. But what about if I just want to buy one and use it as a DE-type auto that is used on lapping days, Kojote, Chin & other events of it's kind? This is the route I wanted to take. Problem is that there is a fair amount of carnage that occurs at these type of events & if you're involved in it, a formula car vs street cars or other dedicated track cars, you'll always come out far worse. If you sit in one & visualize a crash involving you & another car on the track, the point is really driven home...good chance that you're going under the other vehicle.

Well, you say, let me just lap with other formula cars. Well there are no events of this type that I was able to find other than testing/tuning at a track just prior to a formula series race weekend, which still involves considerable expense (travel to series tracks vs local venues, etc), if they'll even let you use the facility since you aren't a series competitor.

In the end I decided against it just because of the dangers & expenses, but if you do, go for the Pro Mazda, you won't regret it. The performance will make even the hairiest street car seem tame. It's just short of a Formula Atlantic, but without the significantly increased costs.

[David]

Most DE's/track days don't allow open wheeled cars.

I did get a chance to drive my boss' FE car at a track day at Texas World when he first got it. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. With me driving the car at 50% of what it could do and with all of its 170 hp, I could pass any car on the track at will. Be it a Corvette, Porsche, or the one Ford GT.

[Netspeed]

As for "affordable racing, I don't anything could beat a shifter kart in terms of bang for the buck. If a more traditional vehicle was needed....maybe vintage race an old Formula Ford? Just my 2 cents

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by netspeed

as for "affordable racing, i don't anything could beat a shifter kart in terms of bang for the buck. If a more traditional vehicle was needed....maybe vintage race an old formula ford? Just my 2 cents

+1!

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Netspeed

As for "affordable racing, I don't anything could beat a shifter kart in terms of bang for the buck. If a more traditional vehicle was needed....maybe vintage race an old Formula Ford? Just my 2 cents

Or if you're lucky like me, have a decent indoor kart track with a good set of karts an owner that favors racing.

Ultimate race car to own - affordability aside, has got to be old vintage race cars, that or F1's.

[Schumi]

Originally Posted by 125shifter

They better hope that floor is level as there aren't any leveling pads under those scales.....

[David]

Originally Posted by Schumi

They better hope that floor is level as there aren't any leveling pads under those scales.....

For most of the guys who race those, it's more than level enough

[tangerine911S]

Regardless of whether its Mazda or Pro Mazda, the car looks very similar and its still has the 240 hp renesis engine in a llightweight chassis. Van Diemen, one of the biggest manufacturers of these types of cars, gave me a quote of about $50k.

[tangerine911S]

Those Ultimas are certainly fast but at $90K without and engine or gearbox, not exactly affordable (although probably worth the money). I could never get over how ugly it is though.

[dd74]

For me, the ultimate race car is the race car I can most likely wreck and afterward not feel bad about.

[Zeke]

This is the ultimate:

[dd74]

Originally Posted by milt

This is the ultimate:

How much $$$ is it to get started in that?

[Schumi]

I'm not sure about enduro karts (pictured).. but I have done some karting and have a few friends that still do it...


It can be more expensive than you think. Plan on spending about $3500-$4000 for a good used, competitive kart. Then budget another $3000 a season for everything else, not including the safety gear.

That will get you mid pack if you're a fast guy. Maybe up front a few times.


My friend, who lives on a nice salary, is having trouble affording racing karts this season and balancing his mortgage payment and student loan payments. Rebuilding those little two strokes can be a healthy chunk of change (His is a TAG kart). That plus 110 octane race fuel and the two stroke oil to go with it is pretty ridiculous, and you burn through it pretty quick.



All in all though, karting, weather TAG or shifter karts, is comparatively cheap to club racing. And if you just want to have fun, a couple grand goes a long way in the used market.

Especially in tires. Just think how much you spend on tires in club racing. Kart tires, while they may not last as long, are much cheaper, and you can get a box of race-offs to practice on for practically free at a big track.

[Zeke]

I'd say Shumi is spot on. If you could spend 10K/yr on karting, you'd have the best equipment, always fresh tires and motors. When I ran those at Willow, I could hit 105 MPH on the back straight (slightly downhill) when the winds were right. Fastest guy in the club could do almost 140. If that don't stand up your stud, I don't know what will.

Karting has been proven to be safer than skiing.

Oh, and I meant to say that 10K will cover everything including travel and meals unless you take it to the extreme.