Thninking of Doing the Unthinkable...

I may take a hiatus from racing. I have been wheel to wheel racing since 2002. I love it and can't get enough. But I am getting tired of burning so much cash (I could have bought a very nice used exotic and afforded to maintain it by now with cash) with less satisfaction the last couple of seasons. I am one of the types that race to win. I got a couple of wins last season, but mostly 2nds. It was my first season in a FWD racecar (and the car has issues). I HATE getting anything less than 1st. It could have been a great race, but it eats at me inside and I always over analyze, wondering what I could have done differently to get the win. Even with all of this, I still love it. I'm going through withdrawl as we speak.

There are a couple of reasons I am thinking about this. The SpecNeon I raced this year is used up. It needs 3 major areas attended to (shocks, engine, brakes). Problem is, I only have one competitor at the track that I actually race with. I just don't feel like pouring money into it. I can't afford a different racecar either. And renting is nice, but even more expensive per weekend for a front running car.

Another is the business I want to start (which is moving along at a snails pace, but hopefully speeding up soon), that I've mentioned here previously. I'm about ready to find partners/investors now that my business plan is ready to be shown. My current job is just draining the life out of me and I don't want to work for anyone else. I need this, and I think now is the time. Stars must align and I need luck, but I need to do this.

Finally, I'm instructing more and hopefully have picked up another paying gig. So I'll still be getting my track time, just not competitively. (Non-competitive track time just isn't the same, however.) And I really like the satisfaction of seeing a student have a breakthrough, or get out with a E36 M3 eating grin after driving/riding in a super car.

And it will just be a hiatus, I hope.

Sorry for the long winded rant. After writing it out, I think I may need the break.

Have any other GRMers taken a hiatus and successfully returned to racing? Thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

I'm pretty much in a hiatus now. Not really a money thing, I just climbed out of the car after a 2 hour stint and realized I didn't have fun. Not sure why, but it was time to take a break, so I did. I'll still drag the Abomination to autocrosses, not for the racing, but for the friends I have made over the years.

Do what you need to. The rest of it will come together.

If you have never worked for yourself. Do it. Don't wait until things are "just right" because they never will be. Take the chance, do it now. Probably one of the smartest things I have ever done.

I've not really raced for about three years, except one weekend in a borrowed car. This was after 10 years of not missing an event. It wasn't my choice, but the result of a couple of career moves that had me moving 4 times in those three years.

I've missed the friends at the racetrack, but not the time suck. I built and maintained my car entirely by myself, and it ain't no arrive and drive Miata.

I've found I now have time for other things, like a long-term delayed car restoration and overdue maintenance on my other cars.

I've not quit. I'm now preparing the car to race again. But, this time I'm not going to try to do every event and just try to enjoy driving the car without having it consume my life.

Take a break then. Maybe just instruct and do some track days and the occasional Time Trial.

I'm feeling the same way about the track car right now. Needs an engine, but for a VVT Miata engine I need to add a bunch of other stuff too, figuring it will take ~$3500 and there are so many other things I want to do as well. But at this point I have an $8500 Miata (money invested anyway) that isn't capable of any track work thanks to the trashed engine.

I'm thinking I may take this season to build up my infrastructure and be able to attack next season full on.

I spent something like 85 days between October 2012 and October 2013 on rebuilding my C sports racer post crash and doing 12 out of 13 events on the MARRS series calendar, winning the season championship. I couldn't let up for a second the entire year 'til it was locked, which didn't happen 'til I crossed start/finish for 1/2 race distance the last day of the last race of the year.

The financial commitment is substantial (I did the year on 4 sets of Hoosiers...or was it 5?) and I needed to buy the only set of body molds for my car outside the UK.

But the time commitment was just crazy. I spent 1/4 of the days of a year on it.

My old class is no more - we're in "P2" for 2014, and I've got a solid plan for how to run the required restrictors and still make more power than last year, and I only have to add about 65# to the car. So I should gain a few hp, a bunch of torque, another inch of tire, a little better aero, and better cross weight numbers.

But I'm not chasing a championship again - not yet. Last season left me beat - 3 class and group wins at the Labor Day double was a thing I'll remember for the rest of my days, but I was so glad after the last race to roll the car in and not have it sitting on the scale rack waiting for me to prep it again.

This year if it's nice out and I feel like going, I'll go. I'll do the Friday practices for seat and car development time, and the goal is to have a well developed P2 package for 2015 so next winter for the first time in 4 years I won't have a car to build.

Well, the hiatus is more official. The SpecNeon I raced last season sold today. So I am officially without ride. However, I will still be instructing with the local PCA chapter, the exotic car experience group, and hopefully one or two other paying gigs. While it's not wheel to wheel, it is track time and experience...and three are paying to feed the habit. It's bitter sweet. I'm going to miss the wheel to wheel, but I think stepping back for a bit will help recharge my drive for when I get back behind the wheel competitively.

Around here, we take a 5 or 6 month hiatus every year when this weird white stuff starts falling from the sky. By the end of the season, I always wonder if I'm going to start up again the next year. By the time the cursed white stuff disappears, I can't wait to get back to it.

On a personal note, I think stepping back is usually a wise thing to do. I've stepped back from other hobbies in the past and within a month or two found myself wondering why I had previously been putting so much of my time and effort into them. At that point, I usually move for at least a few years. If I ever get to that point with racing, I'll probably move on from that too. So far, the yearly breaks I have to take have always allowed me to go back at it feeling like its a privilege to get to do it, rather than the grind it sometimes feels like towards the end of the season. The disclaimer (and maybe the distinction from your situation) is that I race primarily for the fun of it and am not trying to win any sort of championship. The financial outlay and time commitment are substantially less than what you are putting in.

Please take this in the tone intended, but maybe you need to re-calibrate your expectations. You were in an inferior car and still manged second. Why do you let that eat at you? Revel in the fact that you consistently beat people who have outspent you. While I get the competitive as hell thing (I'm that way with all sports I do even though I try not to) you can only do so much with the tools at hand.

Take that for what it's worth from a guy just starting his racing career.

Man one season without a win and you're all upset? I've never got 1st in any kind of racing. Plenty of 2nds, plenty of 3rds but never a 1st. Even led an autocross up to the last round in the last event in my 'rolla before it was taken off the road for major work. Got 2nd.

Just remember: It's a hobby, and it's supposed to be fun. When it's not fun, take a break. When you miss it, come back. If you don't miss it, then don't come back, and do whatever it is you find fun.

I stepped out of racing about 7 years back and I do miss it some times. I have been racing since the mid / late 80's But time moves one. I feel we hit the sweet spot in racing when we were at it. Looking at racing now and it looks a lot more regulated and complicated.

As I said before I do miss it some times. There are great friends that I made as well as memories (good and bad) that I would not trade for anything. Winning our first 12 hour endure, winning a lemons event then shortly after that race we lost one of our team drivers at the Glen. Racing teaches you about life in a accelerated manor. Risk versus reward with the highs being stratospheric and the lows are so low it truly hurts.

All in all I am happy with my life now post racing. I have been approached to return to the track in a crew chief / consulting roll and I am still pondering it.

On a funny note I have been participating in the GRM GT6 racing series (look in the Simulation section on the forums) It is not the real thing by any stretch but it is a dam good substitute for the real thing.

Take a break and as others said take a step back and look at what you did with an inferior product. You know if you go to Mexico and drink the water and don't get Montezuma's revenge - it's kind of like that. I've been on a Hiatus but more due to the fact that Uncle Sam has different ideas for me and I had my first child. I'm now to the point where I'll drive 8 hours to go to a track day just because I miss it that bad. I play iRacing like everyday to get somewhat of a fix and my wife thinks I'm addicted. At least it's not crack or Monsters.

Take a break, save some monies, think, reflect, analyze, repeat, until you know what you want to do for sure.

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm not really upset about this. It's been coming for a while. It's just that it has finally happened, and I'm glad to see others have gone through this too. Like I said, I'll still be doing trackdays and instructing. I am very happy that I did what I did with a car that needed help. I will be back racing one way or another in a year or two. This break will also allow me to concentrate on the kart track plans. I just need that winning lotto ticket, or some unknown rich uncle to give me his inheritance...