WWGRMD- Building or Racing?

I am conflicted.

I have a vehicle idea in my head, that I really want to build, but it is in no way a serious race vehicle- I could autocross, track, rallycross, challenge it, etc. but it would be mostly for hoonassery and in no way would it be truly competitive at anything.

I also want to race, competitively, in stage rally. Obviously this would be an expensive undertaking.

I can only, maybe, afford one or the other. Last time I had such a conundrum, I tried to split the difference, and I don't feel like that was the right choice. I'm well aware that this is a "search yourself, figure out what YOU want" type of problem, so I'm not asking for what you think I should do. What would YOU do and why? Or, in past similar instances, what did you do and why?

A dual-use vehicle for "grassroots" sports is a lot cheaper than even the cost of a proper dedicated race car itself - never mind the DD you'll also need to own. So first decide if you want to spend your cubic dollars by the crate or pallet.

Assume the vehicle build is so involved (it would be) that I'd spend en equal amount on tools/supplies as I would to keep a racecar running. Oversimplified, but makes it easy to think about. EIther way, the "other car" isn't a DD.

I am in a phase where I'd much rather be racing than fabricating a car I wouldn't be able to drive for a long time.

I already have a log booked race car so "What would I do"?

Go racing.

I personally would do option A, because I don't have nearly the money to pursue a racing career. I also am an auto-x guy that needs to save up some money so I can do an occasional rally-x, track day, and compete in the Grassroots challenge.

OK, well to get back to your original question, in a similar instance I took option 1, although lower costs (due to the fact that grassroots racing is less of a spending competition and I can DD the vehicle) were a big part of it. If the costs were magically equal and the car couldn't be a DD, I definitely would've gone with option 2.

I would build the hoonassery car (good word!). My reasoning would be that to be competitive in stage rally in means you are dedicating a lot more than just money to something. Time, travel, vacation, family will all have to be dedicated to the racing effort.

I would make sure my hoonassery car was still fun to drive on the street, and then I would take it to any and all racing events they would let me into. I'm just not BA enough to dedicate nearly my whole life to racing.

Plus, I think I like building almost as much as I like driving.

rcutclif wrote: I would build the hoonassery car (good word!). My reasoning would be that to be competitive in stage rally in means you are dedicating a lot more than just money to something. Time, travel, vacation, family will all have to be dedicated to the racing effort.

Depends how much you have to spend. There's a guy who competes in stage rally here who doesn't really do anything but drive up to the pit area in his SLK the day of the event, take his racing gear out of the cutest little suitcase you've ever seen, put it on and then step into his Porsche. His involvement into his own racing effort doesn't take much more from his time than that.

Or course last time I saw him do that, the Porsche came back from the stage 15 minutes later on a trailer with a wheel smashed in. Ended his race weekend, but just a minor inconvenience to his life.

After building a bunch of projects cars - as much as I learned and enjoyed the builds, I want to spend the time and energy with a working, racing vehicle - so do you want to drive or wrench?

After having a dedicated track vehicle, I decided it wasn't worth the time and effort for me, at least not now.

I'd rather have a fun, competent street car that I occasionally auto-x/HPDE with.

GameboyRMH wrote:

rcutclif wrote: I would build the hoonassery car (good word!). My reasoning would be that to be competitive in stage rally in means you are dedicating a lot more than just money to something. Time, travel, vacation, family will all have to be dedicated to the racing effort.

Depends how much you have to spend. There's a guy who competes in stage rally here who doesn't really do anything but drive up to the pit area in his SLK the day of the event, take his racing gear out of the cutest little suitcase you've ever seen, put it on and then step into his Porsche. His involvement into his own racing effort doesn't take much more from his time than that. Or course last time I saw him do that, the Porsche came back from the stage 15 minutes later on a trailer with a wheel smashed in. Ended his race weekend, but just a minor inconvenience to his life.

Quite true, although I will point out that that guy likely does not have to decide between owning a stage rally car and a hoonassery car. He just has to decide which he would rather drive on any given day. And by the sound of it they might both be Porsche's...

rcutclif wrote: Quite true, although I will point out that that guy likely does not have to decide between owning a stage rally car and a hoonassery car. He just has to decide which he would rather drive on any given day. And by the sound of it they might both be Porsche's...

Almost exactly right. His hoonassery car is a GD STi.

Building. You can do whatever you want. Racing usually has rules.

I am in progress of building the car of my dreams, to someday have lots of varied fun with. Building this car had really become non-optional for me. There are simply too many things to learn, ideas to try, and hypotheses to test for me to have done anything else. It's easy for me to justify the time and cost when it's spread over a number of years, even if that means sacrificing other motorsport activities during that time. It would be much harder for me to justify the time and cost required for a dedicated race car, with the limited amount of total seat time involved. This works for me because I enjoy and am rewarded by my build every bit as much as I am by competition and high performance driving. If you're not, then this path might not work out quite as well for you. Sure I miss the driving experiences right now, the same way that I would miss the build if I only had a dedicated racecar...Actually I would probably miss the build even more than I currently do the driving.

Okay, you can afford the time/money to do one or the other. Can you afford to replace/rebuild the stage rally car if you stuff it into the scenery?

Building is fun. Racing is funner.

The thing about racing though is that both the car and driver need to be competitive and the car needs to be built to the class rules to ensure a level playing field.

Get the race car and race!

Build the car if you still feel the urge after racing.

“Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting.”

eastsidemav wrote: Okay, you can afford the time/money to do one or the other. Can you afford to replace/rebuild the stage rally car if you stuff it into the scenery?

Depends on how bad I wad it up, but your comment gives me an idea: what if I used the hoonassery project as a way of biding my time and collecting tools, supplies, etc...

I'm not sure this thread is making this any easier

I would build hoonassery rallyx car, build tool and parts stockpile for events, build rallyx skill set, build network in rally community, codrive with someone who owns a stage rally car, build my own stage rally car, race it. If I had the money to do any of it.

Racing, but mainly because I'm not that fond of the "build" part.

Depends on the day, some days its racing other days its building. Sometimes (dare I say?) its neither, I'd rather just be outside enjoying the day than sweating and working on stuff or rushing around to make it to an event.

In reply to fidelity101:

You've summed up my feelings exactly.

Have you raced stage rally before? I did one rally, and found it didn't suit my taste. I did not enjoy being responsible for the life of my co-driver. I do, however, love co-driving, building, and wrenching.

YMMV

I'd rather make memories than accumulate stuff. Thus, racing (or even just track days) over building though I enjoy both.

I have a lot more fun telling driving stories over a beer than "remember that time I dropped my 10mm wrench between the transmission and the tunnel?".

To add, however: I once made participating in stage rally one of my life goals. Then I did the math on what it would cost for me to get there. Ultimately removed it from the list. Some dreams just have to remain dreams unless the Powerball comes through.