Do any of you ever think about giving up this hobby?

dps214 said:

Quitting, no. But there's so many options of events, clubs, and vehicles that there's plenty of opportunities to reevaluate your priorities and change things to better align. For example, my friends and I figured out a while ago that we enjoyed it all a lot more when we weren't constantly working on cars. So we got newer nicer cars that, for the most part, just work. Yeah, the up front cost is a bit more, but everything has its tradeoffs. Don't like the low run time that scca autocross offers? Explore the alternatives, either TT or other autocross groups. And so on. There's a combination of group/event/car/class out there somewhere that should satisfy just about anyone. Also it might be easier said than done but being realistic about your goals and expectations is really helpful in determining what a reasonable amount of time, effort, and money to expend on any of this is.

Funny you mention that... I got out of SCCA autocross because I got tired of making a drive halfway across the state and standing around working the course for half the day, for 3-6 minutes of drive time. I started getting into SCCA TT for a bit- much more seat time, lots of fun to be had... but still the same problem of not having the right car to compete in. I kicked myself recently when SCCA TT essentially made the NC the car to have in Sport 6, shortly after I sold my NC... but it didn't really matter, as my local SCCA TT chapter has just started PAX-ing people into giant classes, due to a lack of competition. Which, from what I've seen, the PAX'es aren't remotely accurate and the guys who buy the most expensive cars (think Sport 1, Tuner 1, Max 1) just end up winning the PAX at most of the tracks, as the PAX isn't truly scientifically weighted. To be competitive in our local SCCA TT chapter, because of the way they've setup the PAX, without doing much wrenching, you're going to need a newer, higher trimmed Corvette or Porsche, which, unfortunately, I don't have the cash for. 

So, I turned to NASA to avoid not needing to constantly switch cars, or spending 6 figures to be able to be competitive... my latest venture has taught me how woefully I underrated how much these damn things are to build and how hard the build was going to be on my body. ​​​​​

I like competing and competition in general. I like getting faster and beating PB's. I enjoy personal growth and being around a friendly, competitive group of people. Years ago, I think I used to like wrenching, but these days, I loathe it and it's soured me on the experience to say the least. 

I think what you are feeling is normal. But it's difficult to work through, has been for me at least. 

I spent my 20's in the garage, drinking High Life and working on whatever was in there that night. I built my identity around it. 

When I moved to the PNW, I was assimilated into a group of friends that knew nothing of that world, and it was a huge culture shock. I was driving my Jeep at the time, and it took me a very long time before I started looking at the hobby again. I spent that "very long time" learning to fly fish, snowboard, camp, hike, backpack, and eventually mountain bike. 

I got married, bought a house in a HCOL area, had some kids, and realized saving for the future and living has gotten very expensive. Much more than even a short time ago. 

My house is in a neighborhood that is near an onramp. I still get that little tickle when I hear something spicy lay into the throttle to get onto the highway. I can't shut that part off. But what I do understand is that even though I'm an adult, who makes decent money, with a huge garage, what I value most of all is time and specifically time with the people I care about the most. Mainly because I know that eventually, my kids are going to want their space, and maybe I'll get lucky and some of our hobbies will align, but maybe not, and that's a big risk to take. So I'll take all of the soccer playing, bike riding, bug hunting that I can, while I can. 

There will always be another project, or project car. And someone will always have something faster, nicer, or "just the one you wanted". But not to sound too obnoxiously deep, but you don't get this time back with your family. And cars are just cars. It's metal, and plastic, and whatever else. It could burn down tomorrow, or get stolen, or get turned into scrap metal while you're waiting at a stop light. Enjoy them if you can, but if you've lost that spark, then that's okay too. Like someone said above, breaks are good, and everything is a season. 

To add, on the finance front, if your heart isn't in it for the consumables on a race weekend, think about hunting down fun projects to drive for a while and flip. That's what I've been up to for the past few years. Nothing cosmic, but spending a little time through the winter refurbing a car and then selling when I'm ready at a profit has allowed me to see a more sustainable path forward. And I like reviving something that was previous not taken care of. 

A word on your health, please take care of yourself. Stretch every day if you can, even just a little (takes me less than 10 min), and find a hobby that is fun and physical. The best workout should look like play. I'm almost 40, and I work with lots of people around my age, and I'm no athlete, but damn some people really let themselves go the wrong way, and that's a hard road back. 

roninsoldier83 said:

I like competing and competition in general. I like getting faster and beating PB's. I enjoy personal growth and being around a friendly, competitive group of people. Years ago, I think I used to like wrenching, but these days, I loathe it and it's soured me on the experience to say the least. 

You hate wrenching on cars................so buy something that you don't have to wrench on.............simple as that.

Sell the project. Trying to get all the money spent on a car will never happen; it's like placing another bet trying to get back the money you lost.............it's gone and you're never getting it back.

By something you find fun and drive it.

I've been a slave to a front running car............I will never go back to that.

So this is one of my races from last year. I didn't win and I still had such a great time. I drove the car for all it was worth...........and came home with a huge grin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFW-mX0HSms

Tom1200 said:

roninsoldier83 said:

I like competing and competition in general. I like getting faster and beating PB's. I enjoy personal growth and being around a friendly, competitive group of people. Years ago, I think I used to like wrenching, but these days, I loathe it and it's soured me on the experience to say the least. 

You hate wrenching on cars................so buy something that you don't have to wrench on.............simple as that.

Sell the project. Trying to get all the money spent on a car will never happen; it's like placing another bet trying to get back the money you lost.............it's gone and you're never getting it back.

By something you find fun and drive it.

I've been a slave to a front running car............I will never go back to that.

So this is one of my races from last year. I didn't win and I still had such a great time. I drove the car for all it was worth...........and came home with a huge grin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFW-mX0HSms

 

 

I'm considering selling the project.

For the record, I actually have a couple of other cars that I enjoy driving, that require nothing. I have a great-condition AP2 S2000 that's essentially stock (a couple minor tweaks here and there, but pretty much stock), I love that car and have kept it longer than any other car I've ever owned. I used to autocross it. Although I'm hesitant to track it, in the event of a money-shift or other mechanical failure, F22C motors are now going used for $6000+... which is a bit rich for me. Not to mention the car is now becoming worth a good bit of money. I also have a 128i- I bought it with the intention of TT5, but after I fixed it, I found I absolutely love it as a street car and don't want to ruin it with track mods. 

With the current project car (Integra GS-R), the only reason I haven't sold it yet is because it's so close to being done/fully prepped. I've done quite a bit to get it there: 

-I've replaced every suspension bushing- all the control arms, you name it, all new. 
-Every motor mount. 
-Fully rebuilt JDM B16b Type R transmission w/LSD (these things are expensive and tough to find). 
-All maintenance items: timing belt, water pump, every leaking seal, spark plugs/wires, all filters/fluids, drive belts, etc. 
-Repaired every minor issue that's come up (leaks, sensors, etc). 
-Upgraded the cooling system- bigger Koyo radiator, all new water hoses, an oil cooler (and temp gauge to monitor it). 
-Baffled, extended capacity oil pan. 
-Pricey and rare CARB/street legal bolt-ons (intake/exhaust/header) to max out power for the class. 
-Fully adjustable control arms, new inner and outer tie rods, new bearings, endlinks, etc. 
-Bigger adjustable rear sway bar, Whiteline caster kit (wasn't happy with previous caster). 
-Brake pads/rotors/lines to take track abuse. 
-Found a pricey OBD1 ECU, a jumper, had a Hondata S300 soldered in and paid a small fortune to get everything dyno tuned. 
-I have a few sets of wheels (to run different tires on) to run in a couple different series and extended wheel studs and spacers to run them. 
-Already put in the effort to get the fenders to accept the wheels/tires. 
-The car has been weighed and dyno certified, so I can legally run TT6. 

The car is on OEM ITR springs and a set of Koni's. Literally, the only thing the car needs to be competitive is a more aggressive set of coilovers (I was planning on ordering 2-3 months from now)... or so I thought, until my latest round of breaking things during "final mods" this past weekend, which led me to order several unexpected items to try and track down what I broke installing the new beefier hubs/axles... if I wasn't so painstakingly close to having the car fully prepped, the car would already be posted for sale. 

I think if I got the car finished, I'm pretty confident I could win a regional championship and I would enjoy the competition. But the path to get there has beat me up, physically, mentally and financially. I'm not sure if the juice will have been worth the squeeze to get it, just to add a piece of plastic to a dusty shelf in my garage. 

Like I said, I've invested so much time, money and effort that I feel trapped more than anything- like if I don't finish what I started, the last year worth of building, the giant pile of money and hundreds of hours I put in the garage will have all been for nothing. I think the main reason the car isn't for sale already is on principle, not liking to give up on what I started, even if I truly no longer want to take part in the process. It's like an unhealthy marriage, with a spouse that potentially has severe daddy-issues, an unhealthy shopping habit and access to your bank account. I should really file for divorce from this project and move on. If/when I do, there's a solid chance I'm not going to be interested in a project car for a very long time, potentially ever. 

I've received a ton of great advice here. Regardless of what I choose to do with this project, I'll likely start looking into rental track cars and co-driving in the future, to avoid another full build at all costs. 


That looks like a good time! That's a good place to be in, brother! 

I do often think about how much money and effort this hobby takes compared to everything else and if it's worth it. There are lots of people who spend the same or more on other hobbies, including many I would consider particularly boring, but even though my racing budget is relatively small it's at least one order of magnitude beyond anything else I do.

You also have to accept that in most classes you're not going to be able to contend for the top spot without spending huge money, whether that's by upgrading your own car with parts at least as expensive as whatever the front-runner has or replacing it entirely with something more ruleset-friendly like "the car to have." I just assume that the top spots are beyond reach until proven otherwise by myself, and have fun with a car that I enjoy and is good for things other than getting a trophy in a specific class.

If you don't like wrenching I'll say +1 to getting something that will cut down your need to wrench. That's what I did with the Toyobaru because I don't have the kind of space, time, or help available that I did when I was running needy old cars composed of rare relics and fabricated one-offs. The up-front cost was devastating but it does need way less wrenching, gives way less trouble than even a restored old car does, and most parts can be had locally off the shelf.

And the scary thing is how much room there is for expense to increase...if you're doing any kind of wheel-to-wheel racing it can be tricky to keep your annual budget below 5 digits and it could even get up to 6. A few weeks ago I spoke with a guy who takes his son around to different top-level karting events in North America with a trailer rig and mentioned that the annual budget was more than a gross full-time minimum-wage income around here. He described himself as "not a rich guy" like much of the competition, which could be a reasonable thing to say, but it still seemed like an unreasonable amount of money to spend on a hobby even for an adult, especially one who isn't rich.

Hi, my name is Larry and I am addicted to motorsports and vehicle related things. I’ve had this itch since watching my first Indy 500 in the mid-1960s.

I’ve posted related stuffs here a few times. The projects (more than 10) may be different but the “high” is likely similar.

There is no denial. It is highly UNlikely I will enter a 12 step program – unless it gets me the funding to race again.

Paul Newman is somewhat of a hero and he raced until he was 83. I’ve still got time.

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

I'm pretty sure that BMW of yours handles way better than my Datsun..............drive it as is and have fun.

I get the reluctance with the S2000........this is what keeps me from flipping my garage fleet into one really cool car. 

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

You are not alone. I have had to get more introspective about my mental (not physical... yet) health lately too.  On the automotive hobby front, It's far too ingrained in me to think I could give it up, but I'm also finding myself a bit lost and in need of a renewed sense of direction. One of the hardest things to do when facing change, is to stop letting the past dictate the future.

I've looked at what I can do with my time if I quit after that POS makes me mad... I'd rather be dead than take up golf, traveling, fishing, etc...

IMHO, you need to step away, and see if you miss it. My last auto cross was 2012, and my last track day was the fall prior to that. I got skin cancer and had to take a break, and found I didn't miss it. 
 

Loved driving, especially autocrossing. But organizing was just too much after a long time doing it for my club. I even was the host for a national convention I didn't get to really enjoy. And after years of struggling to get lots, it got to a point that when our club members complained but didn't help find lots, I reached my breaking point. I've thought about quite a few challenge projects, but after spending so many years putting together a vintage racer that I got to auto cross once, I don't think I can do much for projects. It's actually a stretch to "restore" my Miata, but that's been going on for 4 years now after getting a new commuter car in 2014. 
 

I love car Tech a lot, really enjoyed that part of my career- which is why I'm still here. And still watch some racing.

We are down to one Alfa after a peak of 7. And some would surely tell me to sell it because we barely drive it. But she just celebrated 50 years in June, mostly with us. She's not going anywhere soon. One Alfa and one Miata is pretty good. 

You guys have stated the reasons I want to go back to stock AWD rallycross.  Drive it, maintain it and enjoy it.  

roninsoldier83 said:

I might like driving, and I still enjoy competing, but I do not enjoy wrenching anymore... and I don't have the funds to pay someone to properly build me a car. 

Renting is not as "cost-ineffective" as people percieve. The main factor is if you crash/wreck the car, you have to pay for the damages as opposed to putting the repairs on the backburner while you save up. I adopted a super minimalist lifestyle when I was renting race cars and it worked out fine for me because I was living in an apartment with no real ability to build a car. Its also great because if everyone around you quits the class you race in, you are not commited to it and you don't have to deal with selling a race car. Endurance racing is even more cost effective than renting in typical sprint classes (like Spec Miata/B-Spec).

I'll also say this again, you could consider a co-drive. I've been offered a lot of co-drivers and I'm not even a good autocrosser (perpetually midpack). Autocross community is very friendly. Co-driving allows you to drive a "competitive" car depending on who you co-drive with, or ultimately you get to compete against someone else (the other driver).

Personally, I hate having to own a car and build it for a class only for it to become obsolete the next year. That's why the cars I mostly drive on a daily basis are just things I feel like owning. My NB1 Miata is not competitive in STR (now STX), my NC2 probably won't be competitive in STX either but I don't care. I just like owning them. Also it allows me to build the cars the way I want them without being constrained to weird class restrictions. (IE: You can't change a steering wheel or it'll bump you up a class or something)

For me the hobby is "enjoying my car" and for that the answer is no.

Competition is peripheral to that.

I'd like to give up working on it, that has curbed any lofty ideas about power or engine swaps.

Gave up a long time ago.

Changing from CSCC rules to SCCA rules made my compitetive mod class car very uncompitetive.

Changed gears and built a SP class car the next year, got my butt handed to me. Spent winter building the best cheater car I've ever built, then grenaded the engine three races into the season.

I'm all done spending mega dollars and stressful hours to win a 40 dollar trophy.

Also, I'm really not that great of a driver.

I spent a couple hours today doing a tune-up and mounting the snow blower on my garden tractor. I rather enjoyed that!

Good thread. I think a major theme here is that to be truly competitive in any form of motorsports requires money and time.  If your main motivation is winning, it going to cost buckets of money and hours/days of time. I've been turning this around in my head lately; I road race in a great Spec class, trying to minimize the wallet racing that I saw in other classes. But the same dynamics still apply; the guys at the front of the pack are paying for race teams to prep and set up the car, using fresh slicks every race, taking advantage of every practice day available, etc.  My job pays me well and gives me the opportunity to do this sport but it is also incredibly demanding on my time and sometimes doing a three day race weekend and finishing in the middle of the pack just feels like a 2nd job. I'm having to reconcile that I'm just not as committed as they are and I that to enjoy this hobby I need to give up on "competitive" and just remember how it felt when I first got into this hobby and every time in the car was a huge thrill. I have to admit that it's difficult. 

I don't know what I would do without projects and race cars. If I am not in the shop in the evening I am watching something on a screen and that makes me angry with myself. I am almost 58 and racing and projects are a big part of my retirement plan.

I was old when I started, first autocross at 62. I'm either going to stick it out as long as I can, or I'm done. I'm 68 now, and if I quit, it's over. I'm going to get what I can, while I can.

I mainly autocross a 99 Miata sport in E Street, so I've got a competitive car and I'm in the class that has the most stability and affordability. 

Even running an E Street car, I can't justify the cost, but it gives me something outside of work and I've made a bunch of friends. It's cheaper than fishing boats, and way cheaper and easier than racing horses (my first career).
 

I also daily an 08 civic coupe with the 1.8/five speed. A friend gave me a deal on some used koni sport shocks, a rear sway bar and some RPF1 wheels. It's super slow but handles great. I run it in H Street and because it doesn't require a roll bar, I can track it. I'm always way down in power compared to the rest of the H Street cars in any event, but having to drive it really well in order to be competitive is still fun.

As for wrenching , I don't really enjoy it that much anymore. I figure I've got to work at least another four years, and I think I'm starting to get some arthritis in my right hand. That's four more years of doing surgery. I work on my own stuff because it's one of the ways I can afford this hobby. 
 

I want to get a newer old truck, and a flatbed trailer and start towing to events. That's going to be a big financial stretch, but I want to stop running the miles up on the Miata. I put 500 miles on it in one day this month. 

I've probably had more bad luck than good, ESPECIALLY in 2023, with my car habits. But for me, it's still the most joy I get out of anything that's not related to family or human relationships, and has consistently gotten me through the hardest times of life. Giving up on it has never been an option, it's just in my blood. 

Many of the reasons listed here is why I love vintage racing.Yes there are serious competitors but 75% of the folks are just out there having a good time and mostly show up to hang out with friends.

I love running my Formula 500 for autocross as well as vintage racing. It's just an awesome car to drive. It's not quite fast enough to beat my buddy's shifter kart but it's great thrill to drive

I am on year 36 counting motorcyle racing and still love it. I will be 61 in a week and I don't see myself giving it up anytime soon.

The key for me has been to run cars you love driving; that way whether you are running 1st or 21st it's still worth it.

I went from autocross to hill climbs. Then to track days. Then to W2W. And then my back account started to revolt. So I went back to track days...and had my first crash. After putting the car back together, I sold it. Haven't done any motorsports since. Not from fear, but just rethinking what it was I wanted to do.

In there somewhere I took up motorcycles. I don't ride them fast, but the sense of speed I think satisfies a lot of the 'thrill' for me that I no longer have to drive a car at 10/10ths.

I'm also not hugely competitive, nor supremely talented. Racing is kind of pointless once you realize you have no chance at being a front-runner.

I enjoy wrenching, but not on anything made after the 1980s. So, I bought a 1960s American car to make into what I want. Carb, manual brakes, crank windows, etc.  I love it. I enjoy working on it. It helped me find my happiness, along with working on the motorcycles. 

I only wish I could, but it's an addiction. I have so many projects that he end of the tunnel is nowhere  in sight. I'd love to get rid of a bunch of them, concentrate my efforts and funds to get one or two completed and enjoy them. Anyone want a 914 Outlaw project, a Corvette Kart, a rust-free MGB rolling shell or to go vintage racing in a nice Triumph Spitfire???? 

We gave up with the SCCA after our first event. Our local autocross group was/is great.  We stopped because of life getting in the way.  Our first ever event had multiple mens classes with a single car in it.  They decided to only PAX all the womens classes. So the wife went from 1st in class to 4th due to the PAX.   A slower class actually won first.   The men with the single car in their class all got 1st place trophies and points.  The organizers of the event said maybe dont have a woman run in the woman's group, Like what?     Then we saw the SCCA region representitives at a trade show thing, and asked them about it, and their thoughts.  We were told, literally, if you dont like it, tough E36 M3.  We have never given another dime to SCCA for anything

Can't speak to the competition part, I quit that years ago.  I would rather sail, my hobie is cheaper and there are 2 great lakes half an hour away.  But on the wrenching part, I feel your pain.  Still doing almost all the work on our cars, between 2 20 year old subies and a gen 2 prius there is almost always something to fix.  Last weekend a 3 hour brake job left me sore for 3 days.  Typical for any work on the cars for the last few years.  But I still love wrenching though not as much as I used to.  

I like to tinker but haven't A/X since 2010 and don't see myself for the next 5 or 6 years. Last wheel to wheel was 2008 and not sure when I'll do that again. I like cars though, so I buy, tinker, sell, wash and repeat. Kids, house, work. teatv

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GameboyRMH said:

I do often think about how much money and effort this hobby takes compared to everything else and if it's worth it. There are lots of people who spend the same or more on other hobbies, including many I would consider particularly boring, but even though my racing budget is relatively small it's at least one order of magnitude beyond anything else I do.

You also have to accept that in most classes you're not going to be able to contend for the top spot without spending huge money, whether that's by upgrading your own car with parts at least as expensive as whatever the front-runner has or replacing it entirely with something more ruleset-friendly like "the car to have." I just assume that the top spots are beyond reach until proven otherwise by myself, and have fun with a car that I enjoy and is good for things other than getting a trophy in a specific class.

If you don't like wrenching I'll say +1 to getting something that will cut down your need to wrench. That's what I did with the Toyobaru because I don't have the kind of space, time, or help available that I did when I was running needy old cars composed of rare relics and fabricated one-offs. The up-front cost was devastating but it does need way less wrenching, gives way less trouble than even a restored old car does, and most parts can be had locally off the shelf.

And the scary thing is how much room there is for expense to increase...if you're doing any kind of wheel-to-wheel racing it can be tricky to keep your annual budget below 5 digits and it could even get up to 6. A few weeks ago I spoke with a guy who takes his son around to different top-level karting events in North America with a trailer rig and mentioned that the annual budget was more than a gross full-time minimum-wage income around here. He described himself as "not a rich guy" like much of the competition, which could be a reasonable thing to say, but it still seemed like an unreasonable amount of money to spend on a hobby even for an adult, especially one who isn't rich.

I agree that in order to be competitive in most classes, you have to spend a huge amount of money, either in parts or on up-front car purchases costs.

The last year I autocrossed my S2000, I took 2nd for the season in a very competitive local CS class, to a driver of an ND2 who has trophied at Nationals a few times. He would frequently beat me by 2-3 tenths throughout the season. When the summer season was over, we co-drove the same car at a test and tune day- in his defense, we co-drove my S2000, in my defense, he owned an S2000 for over a decade and trophied in an S2000 at Nationals, so technically he probably had more competition experience in the S2000 than I did lol... we each got in over a dozen runs and our fastest times were within hundredths of a second of each other.  It was a confirmation to me that if I wanted to beat him, I needed to sell my beloved S2000 and buy an ND2 Miata... I love Miata's... but not as much as I love my S2000. I searched all over the country for my S2000- it's a relatively mint condition 2008 in laguna blue (fairly rare)... I would have trouble finding another one like it to say the least... nope. I haven't had a car payment in quite a while (I'm not interested in one either!) and I wasn't willing to drop $30k in cash on an ND2... which, in retrospect, would have been cheaper in the long run, as the ND2 barely depreciates and you never get your money back on mods... hindsight being 20/20 and all. 

I agree with a previous poster that ES and STS are pretty stable. I bought a 1999 Miata Sport that I built for ES- I flew out to Florida and limped that poor car back home. Mistakes were made with that car and the suspension geometry was essentially messed up to the point where it couldn't be repaired (it's a long story). Otherwise, I would have kept that car. 

After I sold what was left of the 1999 Miata, you guessed it, I picked up a 1988 CRX Si that I built to run STS. I love Miata's and almost went on a search for another 1999 Sport (they're tough to find...), but figured I would try something different... When I build the CRX for STS, essentially anyone who was running STS locally left the class... leaving my STS-centric CRX in a class of 1. That's not a lot of fun and certainly not worth making a 1-2 hour drive across the state for. So, I started doing SCCA TT, running in Tuner 5. I found I prefer the amount of seat time in TT and stopped going to SCCA autoX. I was having fun with a couple guys in T5, but then the guys that ran it decided they were going to lump everyone in Tuner (1 to 5) into a large PAX category, that's based on some arbitrary numbers they came up with, having nothing to do with anything the SCCA ever came up with. All of the T5 guys (myself included) then essentially came in at the bottom of every event... with guys in T2/T1 always at the top, by huge, insurmountable margins- not based on driver skill or prep, but inherent disadvantages/advantages of their PAX setup (especially the boosted cars, as we're at 5000 ft elevation). I talked to the organizer about dropping the PAX and running in our own respective classes; to which he essentially stated it was done to help other classes not feel like they're running alone... Again, driving hours across the state, just to come in at the bottom portion of the rigged PAX, with no chance of actually being competitive, isn't my cup of tea. The other guys that were technically in T5 soon stopped attending and so did I. Due to some unforeseen personal reasons, I ended up selling the CRX and I actually took a while off (for financial reasons). 

Before I sold the CRX, I had actually purchased an EK hatch (before issues forced me to sell the CRX). I know a lot of people are now starting to appreciate the EF Civic and CRX, but after driving them all, I actually prefer the EG and EK (and DC2) over the older EF's. I felt like the EK was a better version of the CRX and didn't want it to be as rough to drive as my CRX... I basically wanted a CRX that was a better street car. When financial things started to come together, I started putting together a mild street build... and soon, I had a b18B engine and transmission sitting in my garage lol... I was getting ready to throw them in when I found a 1996 Integra GS-R, in outstanding condition, for a very reasonable price, locally. I figured the Integra was a better place to start, so I bought the Integra and sold the EK. To be clear, I liked my EK a lot, a DC2 GS-R just made more sense to build/put my efforts towards. 

As my personal and professional life settled down, I found I had unfinished business with TT. Although, with the silly local PAX classing, the SCCA was out. I started doing autoX with a local league that was based on drivetrain and power-to-weight ratio- it was still a drive, but there was lots of competition and there is NO working the track, at all (they have full time employees that shag cones in golf carts!)! They have split schedules, so if you run in the morning, you can literally just show up in the morning, run and leave- or hangout and watch the guys in the afternoon. With the little bit of work, the Integra was competitive, but wasn't even close to fully prepped, so I still had some time to make up to catch the fastest guy in the class (who trophies at Nats on a regular basis in his STS CRX- oh the irony lol).

I found I wanted to run with this autoX league, but also wanted to compete in TT... I was contemplating a full build of the Integra when I stumbled across a dirt cheap E82 BMW 128i 6MT w/sport package. There was a lot wrong with it, but it looked like it would be the perfect car for NASA TT5. I got to fixing everything on the car and something strange happened: I fell in love with the car, and so did my wife lol. It kind of became my daily, and I didn't want to ruin it with track mods... but I still wanted to compete in NASA TT... so, I decided I would bite the bullet and build my Integra. How hard could it be? How much could it really cost? I found out the hard way. 

All the builds over the last few years have taken their toll on me, both mind and body... and finances lol. 

I considered the Toyobaru a few times. I came close to picking one up to run SSC or STX... but when I started to get away from SCCA autoX and decided I preferred to run TT, there isn't anywhere to really run them locally for me. They were definitely the "car to have" in SCCA TT Sport 6... then they got bumped up to Sport 5, where they're likely still the car to have... but my local SCCA TT chapter moved over to that silly PAX system (all Sport classes 1-6 lumped in together). I'm out. At that point, I might as well just run open lapping days. They make too much power stock to run NASA TT6... they can be competitive in TT5, but when doing the math, the BMW's make more sense, as they're cheaper and their inline-6's are much easier to squeeze power out of. And no matter what, if you're running NASA, it doesn't matter which platform you start with, they're all going to cost a fortune to build and will involve quite a bit of wrenching time. 

Either way, I've done this to myself. I have no one else to blame, but looking back, I'm not sure if it's been worth it and I'm hesitant to keep going forward. I should probably take a break.