XPost: rec.autos.sport.f1, rec.autos.sport.nascar

OT - but seriously informative about what drivers pay to race.
And yes, a fair number of my club's drivers have competed
at the Daytona 24. I remember at one of our winter banquets
one rued that he had spent $40,000 to be a partner on a team
for the Daytona 24, and the car had gotten destroyed before
he had a chance to drive in the race. !!! Bummer!

from https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a25857313/why-factory-built-gt-cars-are-replacing-homebrew-race-cars/

Why Factory-Built GT Cars Are Replacing Homebrew Race Cars
It all has to do with 'spanks.'

BY JACK BARUTH
JAN 14, 2019
imageKEVIN ADOLF

Ever noticed how long it takes you to realize that something is missing,
as opposed to how long it takes you to realize the presence of something
new? There’s a real difference in the way our brains process those two different situations, mostly because our eyes aren’t nearly as good as
we think they are and the brain spends a lot of time filling in our
visual picture based on spotty information. For a good illustration of
this, think back to the last time you thought you saw a certain kind of
car in the distance, only to realize that it was a completely different
model a few moments later. In the instant of your realization, you might
have seen everything from the taillights to the roofline change right
before your eyes. That’s not an illusion—that’s your brain painting in what it expects to see from the newly identified vehicle.

I mention this so I don’t sound quite as stupid for walking up and down
the paddock at last weekend’s Roar Before the 24 a full ten times before
I realized what was missing: the ST-class touring-car racers. The moment
I realized they were gone, it felt like a physical punch in the gut. I
ran my first "pro" race a decade ago in the ST class of what was then
called the Grand-Am Koni Challenge, which later became Continental Tire Challenge and is now called IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Note that the
only word to stick it out through all three iterations is "Challenge."
That’s because it can be a real challenge for the "spanks" to pay their bills.

I was a "spank" in Koni Challenge, you see. It’s possible you’ve never heard that phrase, because the oh-so-polished announcer crews for IMSA
and other forms of racing like to use the phrase "gentleman driver."
Within the paddock, however, the term is "spanks," in contrast with the
pros who are paid to race. Well, sometimes they’re paid to race. More
often than you’d suspect, they are not paid anything beyond expenses, if anything at all.

Not all spanks are created equal. In my case, I had a credit balance
with the parent company of the race team, so I didn’t actually pay anything—I just agreed to cancel the debt I was owed. Other spanks
simply pay a fee roughly equal to their percentage of the team’s
operating costs. Then you have the "super-spanks" who pay their bill
plus all of the expenses of their teammate, plus a salary for that
teammate. The sports-car racing business absolutely, positively runs on
spanks.

Spanks are everywhere in American "pro" racing. Some of the names that
you hear repeated over and over again as series champions, even in
prototypes? They’re spanks. The showoff in your PCA chapter with the
Rolex watch? Spank. The suspiciously omnipresent young "star racers" who
appear on everybody’s YouTube channel and straight-to-cancellation Top
Gear ripoffs? Total, complete, utter, check-writing, Paypal-sending
spanks. That's not to say being a spank makes you un-talented or
precludes your chance of success. Everybody knows that Lance Stroll, the Williams F1 driver, is a spank—but did you know that Eddie Jordan
brought Michael Schumacher on board early in his career because he came
with significant third-party funding?

There’s no shame in the spank game. We are everywhere. We win races, we
set lap records, we take home championships. Sometimes we beat the data
of our "pro" teammates. Or we get in a first-place GS-class Continental
Tire Challenge car halfway through a race, bring it home in 13th place
at the end after thoroughly and completely embarrassing ourselves for 90 minutes, then accuse the pro of sabotaging the brakes during the
pitstop. True story.

The most important thing for you to understand about spanks is that we
are customers. Which means that we want to get the most for our money. Virtually nobody will pay to drive around in a last-place car. Virtually
nobody will pay to drive a car that turns wicked lap times in the hands
of a pro with a thousand hours behind its wheel, but which humiliates
and embarrasses spanks who often get just a single 20-minute practice
session before each race.

Worse than all of that, however—worse than the slow cars, the dangerous
cars, the scary cars, and the cars that give us a painful shock when we
plug our helmet cords into the ungrounded radio—is the car that breaks.
Being a spank can cost real money—we're talking between $35,000 and
$75,000 a weekend for driver fees in the GS class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge. Add in flights, hotels, meals, family travel, and motorcoach expenses—and, more often than not, a $4200 custom OMP suit with all the
logos and a $2000 carbon-fiber helmet. Imagine spending all of that,
only to find out that the car suffered a major failure during Friday
practice, or burned up its wiring harness in qualifying. That spank will
be angry.

Teams that can’t field both of their cars all the way through every pro-racing weekend usually close up shop in a big hurry. This isn’t bargain-basement endurance racing, where fixing the thing is part of the
fun. This is a situation where an investment banker or surgeon shows up
with an entourage of ten people to watch him play Steve McQueen at
LeMans, at a total cost often exceeding $100,000. When everybody shows
up and there's nothing to watch? That's the fertile soil in which breach-of-control lawsuits grow and flourish.

image
COURTESY JACK BARUTH
The obvious solution to these problems? Build, and race, a reliable car.
Which was no trouble in 1995, but today’s street cars are extremely
difficult to successfully prep and run. Consider my 2013 Accord, which I
ran in World Challenge last year and might run in SRO TC America this
year. It was converted inside a Honda factory by Honda employees who had
access to every single bit of information ever created during the car’s conception and design—but the dashboard still looks like a Christmas
tree and it will occasionally just turn off and require a full reboot,
like a Windows 95 computer. And that’s a $31,000 family car. How much
tougher is it to build a racer out of a $250,000 exotic?

While the spanks and their teams have been wrestling with cars that turn
off for no reason and lose their ABS in the middle of wet races, the sanctioning bodies have been contemplating a different issue: how to
equalize, regulate, and penalize cars that are built one at a time in
small shops across the country. As counterintuitive as this sounds, the
various pro series don’t really have a lot of time to scrutinize each competitor every single weekend. It’s not like they use a NASCAR
template on my Honda. I could have built the whole thing in 13/14ths
scale and they’d probably never catch me. Something needed to change.

Which is how I found myself standing in the paddock at the Roar,
mourning the recently-deceased ST class of converted street cars. It’s
been replaced by TCR, which is a fully-homologated class of
factory-built race cars designed to resemble each other more than they
resemble the street cars on which they're nominally based. At the same
time, the cars in the GS class, which used to a be a strange brew of
factory racers like the Ford FR500 and home-builds from established race
shops, now draws exclusively from factory-built FIA GT4-class racers
assembled by McLaren, Audi, Ford and other major players.

image
LISA LINKE/PORSCHE
If you go to an IMSA race this year, you won’t find any converted street cars. If you attend one of the SRO races, like the Blancpain GT series, you’ll note that pretty much every racer in the paddock is campaigning a factory-built car. There’s a reason for this: nearly everybody loves
this new system. The factories like selling the cars, the teams love the reduced maintenance, and the pros like the relatively benign nature of customer-focused equipment like the Mustang GT4 and McLaren 570GT4.

Most importantly, the spanks love it. They love knowing that they are
going to get solid value for their money. They love knowing that they
have a fighting chance against the rest of the field, since the cars in
each class are equalized at the factory. And they love the fact that
they will probably never spend a weekend staring at the backs of their
hands because some hand-fabricated motor mount exploded and the tech who
built it quit the team six months ago.

I can’t argue with any of the above. And I can attest that it’s
virtually impossible for a one-off converted street car like my Honda to compete on equal terms with factory-built racers like the ones made by
BMW or Porsche. But I think we will all be worse off when the last
home-brew racer disappears from professional competition. It will mark
yet another progression in our despicable cultural slouch from
"do-it-yourself" to "one-click shopping." Tomorrow’s race mechanics,
like today’s dealership mechanics, will largely focus on reading a
diagnostic screen and swapping some parts. When the TC America class
closes up shop in 2021, it will mark the end of shop-built or home-built
pro racing in the United States. Trust me, and your brain, on this one:
you might not notice right away, but you’ll eventually miss it when it’s gone.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.autos.sport.f1, rec.autos.sport.nascar

On 1/19/2019 7:20 PM, a425couple wrote:

OT - but seriously informative about what drivers pay to race.
And yes, a fair number of my club's drivers have competed
at the Daytona 24.  I remember at one of our winter banquets
one rued that he had spent $40,000 to be a partner on a team
for the Daytona 24, and the car had gotten destroyed before
he had a chance to drive in the race.  !!!  Bummer!

from https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a25857313/why-factory-built-gt-cars-are-replacing-homebrew-race-cars/

Why Factory-Built GT Cars Are Replacing Homebrew Race Cars
It all has to do with 'spanks.'
BY JACK BARUTH
JAN 14, 2019

And here is a totally different one on a similar topic

http://goaheadtakethewheel.com/dark-ecrets-the-realities-of-professional-road-racing/

Dark $ecrets – The Realities of Professional Road Racing
Dave Gran Dark Secrets, Racing Fundamentals

The path for most professional athletes in sports such as football,
basketball, and baseball, typically includes a person who was born with
great talent, and through hard work reached a professional status. In
general, their financial resources didn’t play a significant factor of whether they could turn pro. There are numerous stories where a person
played a sport in high school, their talents shined, then they went on
to get a college scholarship where again, with hard work they were able
to showcase their great abilities. From there they either played in the
minors or were drafted onto a professional team. While that’s certainly
not the path for each person, the general map to becoming a professional athlete in these sports are there. Then once they’ve made it into the professional ranks in these types of sports, they are guaranteed to at
least make a “modest” league minimum. The lowest of the league minimums among the pro sports mentioned was $325,000 for a first year player in
2010. This is not how it works in professional road racing.

Have you ever watched races and wondered how some professional drivers
made it? I mean, they’re off the pace of many other drivers and are
making some questionable moves (to be polite). Why is it that some
highly regarded teams have a fantastic driver and yet the teammate is
less than stellar? As one begins to look at lap times and peoples’ backgrounds, you can begin to piece together what’s really happening in professional road racing.

This reality hit me hard a few years ago when I spoke with a World
Challenge team about the path to professional road racing. In order to
have a shot of driving with them, it would first be necessary to prove
that you are an extremely fast and talented driver. In addition to
looking at your previous racing history and resume, they would have you complete a test day to ensure that you are more than capable. If you are
good enough, you’d then be given an opportunity to drive for the team.
Up until this point, all of that made sense to me. Then they discussed
the financial side of things. For this team it was around $30,000 per
race, but after all, it was with a competitive team where the car is
able to run up front. Oh wait! You do realize that is how much that ride
will cost you, right? The reality is that many “professional” racers are actually paying to drive. The true numbers are tough to uncover but it’s estimated that approximately 45% of the professional drivers in
GRAND-AM’s Rolex series, 55% of the Continental series, and 55% of the SCCA’s World Challenge series are paying to race. These figures are on
the conservative side and in reality the percentages of racers paying
for a ride is higher. Then, of drivers who do not fall into the
gentleman driver’s category (paying to drive), many are just getting a
free ride and are not actually earning a salary which puts food on the
table. Often times as a part of this, these “pro” drivers are required
to pay for their own transportation and accommodations.

The percentages of drivers actually getting paid a salary continue to go
down from there. For the limited number of drivers getting paid,
extremely few are able to rely on that as their sole source of income.
If you take a look at various teams, the drivers and their family
backgrounds, you’ll begin to discover how many of these drivers come
from money or are somehow bringing the money to the team or serving as
coaches to gentleman drivers and essentially earning their salary that
way. The phrase I heard over and over while speaking with teams and
drivers was “if you want to race, you pay! It’s really that simple.”

All of this is not meant to say it’s impossible to become a paid
professional driver, but it is important to know the realities going
into this venture. There’s no easy way to sugar coat this, and we
wouldn’t be doing you a favor if we did. The blunt truth is that money
talks, and talent walks. However, there are a select few drivers
including Eric Curran, who were able to make their way from Club Racing
to becoming paid professional racers without spending a significant
amount of their own money.

But first we will look at the gentleman driver and costs for a ride on a professional team, after all, this represents the significant portion of
the pro rides out there. Going forward we will refer to a driver who
actually gets paid or at least is getting a free ride as a professional
driver and one who is paying for their ride as a gentleman driver. Below
is a brief summary of the GRAND-AM and World Challenge series, their
racing categories, and associated costs. (The costs listed covers the
rental cost of the car and other associated aspects of the team such as
crew. The rental fee is for each driver on the team that they are charging.)

GRAND-AM is regarded as one of the best pro racing organizers in the
U.S. and continues to grow in popularity. In both of their series, at
least two individuals must drive under green flag conditions, making one
or more driver changes mandatory. The monetary figures listed below are
for one driver on the team. These numbers exclude the Rolex 24 race
which has a higher cost associated to participate in the event.

GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series
In this series, there’s a higher percentage of paid professional drivers
than the others discussed below with an estimated 55% being professional drivers and the remaining 45% gentleman drivers. This series is made up
of Daytona Prototypes and Grand Touring categories.

Daytona Prototype
Although each chassis is designed and manufactured independently,
competitor modifications are highly limited by GRAND-AM rules. Certain
parts, like rear wings, are mandated by the series.

Racecar Cost: Approximately $400,000.
Performance: All Engines are tuned to produce approximately 500
horsepower and have an approximate top speed of 195 mph.
Event Rental Cost: Starts at approximately $55,000 and quickly goes up
from there.
Season Cost: For a team to run a season, costs ranged from around $3.5
million for a good car to $4.5 million for a car capable of winning.

Grand Touring (GT)
GT is a home to production-based racecars that are similar in appearance
to the latest high-performance sports cars. Don’t be fooled though,
these are not being raced in the shape you’d see on the showroom floor.
GT is a mixture of U.S. produced muscle cars such as Chevrolet
Corvettes, Ford Mustang Cobras, and Pontiac GXP Rs competing against international cars such as Porsche GT3s, Mazda RX-8s and Ferrari 430cs.

Racecar Cost: Many cost between $250,000 and $300,000.
Performance: All engines are tuned to produce between 390 and 450
horsepower. Top speed is 180 mph.
Event Rental Cost: The cost per race weekend is approximately $45,000 – $70,000. We realize this is a large range but that’s how it is depending
upon the team you race with.

GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series
This is a support series to the Rolex Sports Car series and events are typically held on the same weekend. In years past there were many more gentleman drivers in these classes, especially ST, but that model is
changing. Since professional drivers are already at the track
participating in Rolex Sports Car Series races, teams have found it much
easier to entice these pros to drive their cars as well. The benefit to
the team doing this is having a greater chance of winning races or at
least being closer towards the front of the pack.

Grand Sport (GS)
The Grand Sport (GS) class is made up of several high-performance cars
with minimal performance modifications, but full safety systems. Engines
are tuned to produce between 375 and 425 horsepower depending on the
car, and competition is further equalized by vehicle weights. The class features cars such as the Porsche 997 and Cayman, Nissan 350Z, BMW M3,
Subaru WRX, Audi S4, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang GT, and Dodge
Challenger.

Performance: Engines are tuned to produce between 375 and 425
horsepower. Top speedi is 160 mph.
Event Rental Cost: The cost per race weekend is approximately $20,000 – $35,000 but there are teams that charge closer to $45,000.

Street Tuner (ST)
The Street Tuner (ST) class features high-performance compact cars.
Unlike the GS class where V8s are allowed, ST is limited to four and six cylinder engines, although turbocharged and supercharged models are
permitted. Engines produce between 170 and 240 horsepower depending upon
the car. Popular models in this class include the Mazda RX8, Mazda MX-5, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Acura TSX, Subaru Legacy, Mini Cooper S, BMW Z4 and Volkswagen GTI. Similar to the GS class, only major modifications
allowed in ST are in the area of safety.

Performance: Engines are tuned to produce between 170 and 240
horsepower. Top speed is 135 mph.
Event Rental Cost: It’s possible to find a ride for as little as $6,000,
but the car will typically run at the back of the pack. The average
tends to be between $7,500 and $12,000 for a decent ride. At the same
time, it was not difficult to find teams that charge $15,000 plus.

SCCA’s World Challenge Series
This is another popular road racing series in the U.S. With this series,
there is a 50-minute maximum time limit for every race, with the number
of laps and total distance being determined by track configuration, lap
times and race conditions. Being a shorter sprint race, there is only
one driver per race.

Grand Touring (GT)
The cars permitted in GT are typically sold in the market as “sports”
cars, “sport-touring” cars, or performance versions of “luxury” cars. Forced induction is permitted on cars that come equipped that way stock,
or on cars that SCCA Pro Racing has determined need help reaching the
target horsepower range. All of the vehicles in GT are rear-wheel drive
or all-wheel drive.

Performance: Engines are tuned to produce between 425 and 525
horsepower. Top speed is 162 mph.
Event Rental Cost: The estimated average cost for a weekend is $30,000.

Grand Touring Sport (GTS)
Includes many cars eligible for the GT class, but at a preparation level
much closer to that of a stock vehicle.

Performance: Engines are tuned to produce as much as 400 maximum and as
low as 290 horsepower. Top speed is approximately 140 mph.
Event Rental Cost: This is a new category therefore there was a limited
amount data on rental costs, however, the estimated rental cost for a
weekend seemed to be between $20,000 – $25,000.

Touring Car (TC)
The cars permitted in TC are typically sold as “compact” cars, or “touring” cars. Eligible cars must have realistic seating for four (4) adults when sold on the showroom floor. Front-wheel, rear-wheel and
all-wheel drive configurations are permitted. Forced induction may be
allowed on cars that have forced induction systems available from the manufacturer which do not void the factory warranties.

Performance: Engines are tuned to produce between 180 and 200
horsepower. Top speed is approximately 140 mph.
Event Rental Cost: The estimated average cost for a weekend is $15,000.

We chose not to divulge much into the American Le Mans Series in this
article from a driver’s perspective because it is typically even tougher
to become a paid professional racer there. The LMP Le Mans Prototype and
Grand Touring (GT) categories consist primarily of factory drivers from
around the world, which makes the fight for a job even more competitive.
(A factory driver has their salary paid by the manufacturer and drives
on a factory sponsored racing team.) The series recently added two
categories much more geared to gentleman drivers – LMPC Le Mans and GTC. Here’s just one example – when I think about Corvette Racing, I
immediately associate it as an American manufacturer and tend to root
for the team partially on that basis. It’s interesting to look at their driver line-up as of 2011: Jan Magnussen from Denmark, Olivier Beretta
from Monaco, Richard Westbrook from England, Antonio Garcia from Spain,
Oliver Gavin from England, and Tommy Milner from the U.S. Five out of
six drivers are from countries other than the U.S. So not only are you competing against other drivers in the U.S., but throughout the world.

We did meet with Duncan Dayton who is the owner of Highcroft Racing and
will discuss what it’s like being a part of a team at their caliber
later in this series of article.

Next article: “When Things Go Wrong”

Facebook Comments

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)