[Mahler9th]

Hey there. It is is really hard to say what makes sense because there are so many variables. One is your geographical location. That is a big deal. If you lived here in the US, then that would make a difference. Moreover, if you lived for example in NorCal... that would make a difference. What kinds of cars are available within reasonable proximity of where you live?

I started with my first Porsche in 1987... a 944. I did my first DE in the car within the first year. The car was stock and I did not do any AX or karting before my first DE event. Within a period of 5-6 years I added a 944 turbo S to the mix. Within a couple of years after that, the 944 was sold, the first turbo S was totaled (at Laguna), and a second 944 turbo s (pristine street car) was acquired. And I bought an '87 944 turbo from an ex-Indy car driver. That car was first converted to turbo S specs, and then more and more and more changes...

I got a lot of help and advice and a few products from people with pro racing experience with these cars, like Jon Milledge and David and Jeff Stone at Kelly Moss. By the time i was "done," it had a cage, a custom engine (put together in my garage-- described in a couple of articles in Excellence), and a racing suspension. And giant brakes. And a highly modified oiling system. And, and and. But despite about 360 bhp and big giant tires, I kept it legal for the street and it weighed 3000 pounds. I decided to stop there as I knew that it would be more valuable as a street hot rod than as the start of a race car. So I am thoroughly familiar with the 944 family as race cars. I have carefully studied factory variants as well... Firehawk and Rothman's Turbo Cup, and even 924 GT S/P and 944 GTR. And lots of one offs.

I had a chance to buy a factory racing chassis, and considered lots of other approaches toward developing a 944 family race car, but I decided to sell my 951 and bought my current 911. Much easier to work on. Yada, yada, yada.

There are just too many variables to say what may make sense for you. How many years are you committed? What other types of Porsches would you be driving with and racing against? How fast do you want to go (relatively)? How much of your own work do you want to do (development, maintenance, "tinkering," et cetera)? How much "budget" over time do you want to devote? The list goes on and on.

Yeah in general it makes sense to buy as opposed to build... but there are too many variables to give blanket advice. One of my friends has just gone through this debate (he has posted on this thread). He has access to a person that will build a competitive car for the class of racing he has chosen for less than the cost of buying a freshly built (with spare no expenses approach) car that is locally available. In fact, he is headed to see the builder as I type. So his situation is unique to him because of where we live. And he chose the class after visiting a few events and checking things out. But he has never turned a wheel racing a car (he had one DE many years ago). So he is starting from ground zero and having a car built instead of buying.