>And where, O Wise One, do a young man find such a women? I
>can just see the match.com ad right now:
>
>Racer looking for girl to fund his dream. Good looks
>preferred, but not necessary....

Dennis:

It would be very interesting to see what replies you might get if you posted that ad. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Doug Woods

 

Reading the budget post was a real eye opener. I really don't know how you afford this sport. What do you do, not save for kids college and retirment? Run up your credit cards and mortgage the house? Don't buy health insurance?

I just don't see how you afford it on even an above median household income. So how DO you do it?

 

I'm one of the few here that met my wife thru rallying. She was codriving before I ever did. Makes it easier to explain weekend getaways for the rally fix.
Now for her being wealthly, that is a different story.

Here is another idea:
Robbing banks. Choose an overcast snowy day and use the rallycar with proper tires as getaway car. You'll be rich I tell you.

 

>Other options include:
>-Arrive-and-drive rentals in cheap cars. Save until you can
>afford an event, then start saving again.

I did this and it was a lot of fun and zero hassles. Highly recommended. You can save 50% by sharing the car and swapping driving & co-driving duties every other stage.

>-Co-Drive

I do this and it's also fun.

- Christian

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com

 

>
>>No, you need a wife with a good income to support your (and
>>her) rally habit. Live on your salary, play on hers. Better
>>yet, find a girl friend with a big trust fund.
>
>And where, O Wise One, do a young man find such a women? I
>can just see the match.com ad right now:
>
>Racer looking for girl to fund his dream. Good looks
>preferred, but not necessary....
>
>
>Dennis Martin
>dennis@mamotorsports.com
>920-432-4845
Well, I met my wife on the side of dirt road in Denton county just north of Dallas. It was at a rally. And I had met her parents several years earlier at the Big Bend Bash Rally. Of course, Juanita was still in high school at the time and I was slightly married to some one else. Any way, go to SCCA meetings and events. You might find a daughter of a rich race car driver. Actually for rich race car drivers, go to Porsche and Ferrari events.

 

Danica Patrick is only engaged, maybe if she meets a cute red haired kid that looks good in a fire suit....

 

>>Other options include:
>>-Arrive-and-drive rentals in cheap cars. Save until you can
>>afford an event, then start saving again.
>
>I did this and it was a lot of fun and zero hassles. Highly
>recommended. You can save 50% by sharing the car and swapping
>driving & co-driving duties every other stage.
>

For example, if you rented Micah Wittala's Saturn (not very fast, but fun to drive)you could probably do an entire national weekend for under $3k, and a club event for under $2k. If this sounds like a lot of money, remember you have no upfront investment in a car, and all the time you'd spend prepping, fixing, building your ride in the garage, you could be spending working overtime at your day job or taking a second gig to come up with the money.

Dennis Martin
dennis@mamotorsports.com
920-432-4845

 

Any way, go to SCCA
>meetings and events. You might find a daughter of a rich race
>car driver. Actually for rich race car drivers, go to
>Porsche and Ferrari events.

Heh, heh... Kim's got a good lookin' daughter about my age...hmm. Then again, last I checked she's as unemployed as I am, and I already get a good majority of Kim's rally budget. How does the saying go? "Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free."


Dennis Martin
dennis@mamotorsports.com
920-432-4845

 

I am on the taking advantage of it while I can mode right now.

I live with my parents (no rent)
They pay for cable and food.

My only bills are keeping the daily driver Impreza wagon with well over 220,000 miles on it and a leaking power steering rack and I think is due for a oil change. Also insurance on both cars.

My Dad loves rally and loves sharing his passion with me. He owns the new awesome trailer we just got, and the sweet Hemi Durango that tows my car everywhere. He is also an awesome service guy.

My normal co-driver splits entry, notes, and hotel with me. I pay for everything else.

So I am running all the rallies I can while I can. Because when my dad gets tired of working on my car while I am work making the money to spend on it and paying for me to live, I sadly will have to put rallying behind me.

 

>>11) Buy used safety gear
>
>Quite likely the worst piece of advice I've ever read ... The
>one place I'd NEVER scrimp would be on safety gear!

Huh?

What's your problem with used safety gear?

Do you throw your helmets, seats, belts, suits, etc. in the trash after each rally so you can start with new ones? If not, you are yourself using "used" safety gear most of the time.

I'm not advocating buying poor, damaged, or expired safety gear. In fact, by buying used, I was able to upgrade my safety gear since I got "better" seats than I would have been able to afford if I was buying new.

Jim Cox
#558

 

Live with your parents.

Donate blood, and sperm (if you can!)

Work alot. (2 jobs minimum)

Sleep in a tent.

Rally in Canada.

 

>What's your problem with used safety gear?

With belts and helmets, you simply can't tell if they have been stressed to the point of uselessness.

Buying used, you really don't know how used the safety gear is. Clearly suits, and some stuff is OK used, but belts, helmets ... wouldn't buy used, won't lend mine out.

Seats ... how much stress have the anchor points seen? Yah, I can actually see buying used seats - if you know the history.

 

Dude, you live with your parents in a tent? That is messed up!

 

Matt, your not the famed "401"? If so, the world will be in alot of trouble in 18 years...

 

Tow car is my daily driver.
Tow dolley saves on renting a trailer and space.
Found a sponsor to supply parts for free.
Picked a car that was cheap to run.
Picked a car with not much power saves on tyres/parts.
Drive it to finish, saves on parts,big rebuilds/crashes
Cut cars up and sell the parts on Ebay.
Look for bargain tyres and buy in bulk.
Got a sponsor who pays a small amount towards running costs.
Buy the local tyre dept guys beers for Christmas, they mount my tyres for free when the boss is out!
resell old belts on Ebay ($150) to dune buggy guys,covers cost of new belts.
do all my own work.
Have a very good Co-driver who covers half of all the costs.
I have the gift of the gab, it helps!
Put company names on the car for free services.
Add that little lot up and I rally for next to nowt and have so much fun doing it.

 

Ho do I do it?

-Suffered for 8 years to get my wife through pharmacy school so she can earn big $$ and help with costs (she usually picks up the rooms, towing fuel, and food)
-Race a cheap (and unpopular!) car
-Do all the work myself (Ok, I didn't make the cage or skidplate....I did everything else)
-Tow vehicle is also daily driver (for wife if you can believe it)
-Drive crappy car to work (same type as rally car, makes for common "pool" of spares when (not if) it breaks down)

The biggest part of my equation is having a very supportive wife who enjoys being part of the circus. Without that it would be hard to say how much rally I would be doing.

One suggestion: Never put yourself in a position of financial or emotional distress to make it to an event or to chase a National series. Plenty of people have done it, but I seriously doubt the satisfaction of winning a car race lasts long enough to make the rest of your life miserable. Rest assured that I took my own advice, this is why I'm not running events on the opposite side of the continent and my debt is still manageable.

 

Man, ya'll jus gotta pimp mo hos!

 

1. Good paying job
2. Forgiving wife (easier to ask for forgiveness than permission)
3. Bag lunch every day
4. No other vices (smoking, gambling, drinking)
5. Quit golfing (kinda ironic that I'm building a Golf)
6. using ebay, etc to full potential for parts.
7. Doing it myself ('learn to do by doing' is my motto these days)
8. Beater car with 35mpg for daily driver

I'm sure there's more, but that's a short list. I know the whole arguement about buying rather than building, and it's a good one. But I now have intimate knowledge about my car that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Plus, by building slowly using ebay, online classified, etc, I've been able to put a relatively small amount of money towards the car each month. My neighbours, friends, co-workers have $10K snowmobiles, or $700/mo car payments, or a cabin/motorhome....I choose to spend that money on rally instead.

 

The common answer on here is "scrimp here" and "save here".

That may net you a rally or two, but whether you drink water or Guiness isn't going to save you enough money to run a whole championship.

I agree that you can live lean and come up with some extra cash, but not at the scale necessary for a full season.

For full seasons (8-10 national level rallies) you need sponsorship or access to someone with lots of disposable income/trust fund, etc.

Period.

Except for Randy. I don't know what he knows that I don't know.

 

I think one problem with rallying is that the cost to do a full national season is far greater now when compared to an average income than what it used to be 15 years ago. Certainly here in Australia you couldn't do the 6 rounds of our national championship for under $300,000 in a top privateer car, and the factory teams are spending nearly 3 times that per car.

 

dude- he skimps too. He just doesnt admit directly it on a public forum.

JC
#595
www.gnimotorsports.com

 

>Reading the budget post was a real eye opener. I really
>don't know how you afford this sport. What do you do, not
>save for kids college and retirment? Run up your credit cards
>and mortgage the house? Don't buy health insurance?
>
>I just don't see how you afford it on even an above median
>household income. So how DO you do it?

Motorsport is not cheap!
Either you have the money or you don't.
Maybe I should say,... it depends where your priorities are.
How bad do you want to be a Race/Rallye driver that will never make it to the WRC without a very good sponsor backing and unlimited supplies of luck?
You are doing the right thing by thinking things through.

Whiplash Rallye Sport
(Rallye isn't a Crime)

 

>
>>No, you need a wife with a good income to support your (and
>>her) rally habit. Live on your salary, play on hers. Better
>>yet, find a girl friend with a big trust fund.
>
>And where, O Wise One, do a young man find such a women? I
>can just see the match.com ad right now:
>
>Racer looking for girl to fund his dream. Good looks
>preferred, but not necessary....

You just have to look in the right places, Dennis. Richard found one. So did I. I can name others...

And we're all having fun at it, too...nobody stays home on rally weekends.

Bruce

 

-Wait 21 years and spectate until you can afford to race. Thats what I did.
-Regional events. We only race the local events (under 600 miles away from home).
-Chili dogs on the grill (we are always giving them away). It is tailgating rally style.
-low cost prebuilt rally car and low cost parts cars. I pick up parts cars all the time. I now have 4 full cars and parts from 3 others. (theme for sanford and son is sung to me often by my neighbor)
-Drive the tow vehicle or a parts car daily to work
-Run the events to learn and have fun. Push a little harder each rally until you roll, then rebuild (this also saves money on entry fees of rallies you miss while rebuilding).

I am putting twins through college now and another starts 2 years from now. I married a girl who use to spectate POR with the guys. They are my priority! I do not plan on getting rich or poor rallying. It is a sport and hobby that is a blast, high energy excitment! If this ever gets boring, maybe I will try riding a great white shark next, that looks like fun.

 

Wow, that's one of the most arrogant statements I've ever read.