I can't imagine ever stepping completely away from the hobby but the ways that I been involved have evolved over my life and I expect that to continue.
I can't imagine ever stepping completely away from the hobby but the ways that I been involved have evolved over my life and I expect that to continue.
Honestly, I am struggling with it right now. Largely cause I haven't had time or space to do it and the fact that I have two cars that desperately need work. Part of me wants to just sell everything but a lot of me doesn't. I also struggle with the environmental cost of the hobby. Most of my time for hobbies recently has been spent on other hobbies (photography and biking).
So I track every penny as well as hours, I'm spending a little over $5000 annually and 16hrs a year prepping for events most years.
I typically do 2 vintage races, 5-6 autocrosses and 4 track days. I won't do back to back weekends.
I've intentionally kept it low key.................from 98 to 2002 I did the whole serious racing thing and hated it. It took all of my play money and all of my free time........I won't go back to that.
2024 will mark my 37th season of racing.
David S. Wallens said:Sometimes I wonder if I have too many hobbies–cars, BMX, photography, guitars, zines, etc.–but I truly enjoy cars too much to let that go.
Too many hobbies and not enough space/time is my problem. And then I go and do something dumb like buy another car. Which inevitably breaks and adds to the problem. Combined with being utterly burnt out at work and it's not a recipe for a good mental state.
Part of does want to sell everything, buy a Transit 350 LWB, sell 90% of the music crap, most of the bikes, the house... and live in a van out west, riding my bikes, playing guitar and reading books... and just generally check out.
I also haven't autocrossed in ages. While I do enjoy driving the MINI at events, the problem for me is a nice day for AX is also a nice day to ride bikes... and I can't be in two places at once.
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
Your logic is why I got rid of the serious car; I was no longer going fishing or bike riding. It's like working 80hrs a week to buy that big dream house............then discovering the house owns you.
I went through the entire range of emotions on this same topic. Ended up scaling back to just car shows, curvy roads and the occasional easy-to-install mod.
It gave me back a lot of time and money while still keeping me connected to the hobby
Had almost 20 years where my life revolved around car events - crewing, HPDEs, instructing at HPDEs, racing SCCA Improved Touring...
Sold everything off when the kid arrived and my life started revolving around soccer and baseball games and family weekends at the cottage. Many of my racing buddies backed away from the sport at around the same time, so the social aspects of track weekends went away, too (and honestly, since I was never running at the pointy end of the field, it was the social aspects that really kept me coming back).
I've had a few project cars in the ensuing years, but none that stuck, and I haven't turned a wheel in anger in over 15 years.
Now that the kid is older (and just got his license), I'm getting more serious about the project car and thinking about maybe a father-son outing to a Track Night in America, or other similar event.
I was ready to walk away from car stuff and racing when I did - doing prep work on a car that I knew was going to get lapped during the race became a grind instead of being inspirational, and I wasn't going to spend the $$$ and energy required to run toward the front. Having the opportunity now to do events with someone who will see this car stuff with a fresh set of eyes seems like it could rekindle some of the fun!
I sort of have given it up. Haven't autocrossed in years. I have a family, 2 jobs, a 100 year old house, hockey, guitar, fishing, etc., and ADHD. What I don't have is time.
Right now, the only motorsport I see myself regularly doing in the next 10-15 years is indoor karting. Anything else is just too much of a time commitment and too expensive (and even karting isn't exactly cheap).
It's been 20 years since I've been able to race. I no longer feel the desperate urge to race like I used to and cars to me have become little more than transportation, almost a necessary evil of sorts. I prefer walking, jogging, and biking but, I'm not going to commute to and from work 20 miles each way on a bicycle. I guess I've already given it up.
Thought about kicking the habit entirely after being overwhelmed by 9 cars, several bikes, racing, etc. I'm in the middle of scaling back and selling things off and I'm finding that my enjoyment level is going back up as the scope shrinks. Too much of a good thing became not a good thing...
It also made a big difference for me to very clearly define why I'm doing this stuff. I'm a competitive person that sometimes forgets the importance of the social aspect. Sitting myself down and setting the expectation that this was for fun, for personal connection, etc. and not for trophies made me a lot happier. I'm still competitive in some areas, but I have to consciously narrow the scope (currently, specifically desert rally raid racing on bikes) to keep the fun stuff fun.
Honestly, the social aspect is what's missing for me anymore. All my friends that I used to race with have either moved away or stopped racing. It's no fun going by yourself. I keep telling myself I need to re-join my local SCCA chapter and actually go to meetings, which is something I never did in the past. Build some new relationships among the local racers.
I do think that, as we get older, having some kind of hobby, especially one that involves other people, is important. My mom is a great example. She's doing very well at 82, and I think part of the reason is that she's active in a couple of quilting groups. She goes to meetings, they go on retreats together, etc. She's made a lot of friends through that and it's enriched her life quite a lot. As I enter my mid-50s, I feel like I need to do more of that kind of thing. Otherwise I'll just sit around the house all the time.
Tom1200 said:In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
Your logic is why I got rid of the serious car; I was no longer going fishing or bike riding. It's like working 80hrs a week to buy that big dream house............then discovering the house owns you.
I definitely feel like the cars own me at times...
As I type this, the minivan is at the shop for annual inspection, new tires and front brakes... I just finished swapping snow tires onto the MINI since I'm certain it'll be freezing cold the next time I'm able to drive the car. I'm hoping the shop will take the car since it is months overdue for inspection, pretty much every warning light is on and something is off with the brakes. On the plus side, I can give them three weeks to futz with it since I'm leaving on a 10 day trip to TX tomorrow and immediately upon return from that I go back to NH for two weeks. I have AAA towing a broken TR8 from my mother's house to my house sometime today... and that 10-day trip to TX (which also will hopefully include 4 days of mtn biking in Bentonville AR and Ashville NC on the way down and back) is to pick up a T-9 transmission kit for my Spitfire... when will I get to actually installing it? No berking clue... and I haven't started packing for the trip yet either...
And I haven't even gotten into the work the house needs.
No wonder my stomach feels like it's twisted into knots right now...
I like to keep thinking: "7 more years and I can retire and will have time to play with all of these toys..." ...and yet part of me wonders if I'll live that long...
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
I am for sure done owning a lot of cars. I currently have a 99 Ranger (running, generally reliable), Honda Element (needs some repair, leaking coolant and EGR system check engine light to figure out) and the Civic (currently in pieces). I get two cars via work (Mazda 3 and CX50) and I don't have to maintain them. I am going to sell the Ranger once I get issues with the Element fixed. I might buy something else at some point solely cause if my job disappeared for some reason I would be left with just the Element as really a daily for the wife and I. I'd rather have something else fairly reliable and fun to drive just in case.
Really 5 cars is more then I want but since two of them we don't pay insurance or for maintaining them it isn't too big a deal. If didn't have that 4 is absolute max I would own (a daily for me, a daily for the wife, a practical hauler/backup daily, a hobby car)
I've thought about taking breaks. Couple of young kids, lots of work, and no room to expand my 2 car garage/storage. But I really love the cars I have, the work I can do on them, and driving anything interesting. For my sake and for my kids sakes, I want to keep some portion of this going as they grow.
I don't think I'll ever be able to walk away completely, but I wont be signing up for any events for a while. I've spent so, so much time over the past year building, fixing, and prepping, and haven't been able to drive at a single event in that time. Did tons of work for the few events that I could make, only for the cars to blow up at, or enroute their. It's a really E36 M3ty feeling, and I just cant dive back in again to wrenching.
In reply to ralleah :
I hear you... I spent a fair sum of money to someone to get my TR8 ready for a 4-day British car drive. Only to have it die before I was even able to get to the start. I'm not entirely sure it was his fault it stopped running, but it's demoralizing either way. At least it's now back home in the garage - where if I'm lucky I'll be able to work on it in a few weeks.
I'm amazed (yet not really, since we're on GRM) that a lot of you have a LOT of cars. My personal preferred "maximum" is 3 cars. Anymore and I feel like its a waste of time, money or space. I'm surprised more people don't get burned out by having so much to do, because unless this is your life, I am sure you have a lot of other tasks/responsibilities to take care of (work, maybe kids, seeing friends, etc). I applaud anyone who can have that many cars though and take care of them all and not go insane!
I have 4 and it's tough. I want 2 or 3. I have a hard time giving them all the love they deserve with working 50+ hours weekly and having a life.
In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :
Only have 4. Its more than the wife wants, but Daily for her, Daily for me, Race car and truck. 3 fit in the garage and the crusty truck sits outside.
I have definitely considered selling everything and driving cheaper superior cars (stock) :). Actually my therapist wishes I would. I enjoy driving my bone stock scion xb just as much as my pinto. I may walk away at some point, but modifying cars is a large part of how I relate to my family. There is no question that the payoff/effort is rather low if you are doing all your own fab work and paying for parts, and the payoff is drive time. The way I have justified it recently is that having a project to think about and fiddle with keeps me occupied and out of trouble; though I have been replacing alot of my garage time with light exercise recently, and its a positive change. I'd definitely try branching out a bit and see if something else frees you up for a bit and makes you feel less trapped.
bobzilla said:In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :
Only have 4. Its more than the wife wants, but Daily for her, Daily for me, Race car and truck. 3 fit in the garage and the crusty truck sits outside.
Makes sense with this hobby. I swore to myself if I ever decided to own a race car, I'd just be forced to have a truck/SUV as a daily and tow pig.
RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) said:Makes sense with this hobby. I swore to myself if I ever decided to own a race car, I'd just be forced to have a truck/SUV as a daily and tow pig.
I have said that if I were smart I'd sell the Van plus the Outback and get a smallish SUV for a daily/tow vehicle.
Tom1200 said:RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) said:Makes sense with this hobby. I swore to myself if I ever decided to own a race car, I'd just be forced to have a truck/SUV as a daily and tow pig.
I have said that if I were smart I'd sell the Van plus the Outback and get a smallish SUV for a daily/tow vehicle.
You know, people hate on it, but if you run an open trailer and relatively light race car, the Honda Ridgeline is a nice "truck" to have. Great useable interior, unibody and can still tow race cars!
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
That's one of the reasons I only have 1 fun car right now. Between playing with it, all the DD's (mine, my wifes, my daughters) plus my KTM, it's more than enough to keep me busy. I also want to mtn bike in the nice weather and ski in the winter. I don't have the time, space, money or will to have 9-10 cars kicking around, especially if any of them aren't running
In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :
Oh no I don't tow race car. I drive it to and from. 35mpg is much cheaper than 15. Truck is for all the other things we work in/do. Home projects, messy things, etc. daily for both of us are new cars under warranty so they require no focus for maintenance
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