I have been investigating the cost to run a single entry at Le Mans in 09 and have found that things have really changed. In 1971 Mr. Chinetti offered me a seat at Le Mans in a 512S and what was left of the car after the race including spares for 22K. The even stranger thing was that at the time I had never driven any car on a race track.
jim, who would you have been co-driving with? tony a. or morton, or ??? and yes, times have changed. pcb
Jim, that's the figure he needed for the total effort for that car, right? Wow... The tire budget for a GT car at Daytona is near twice that, now.
That's the number he asked for the ride, the car and the spares. In almost an after thought he asked: "You have a licence right?" This happened at the NY Auto Show. The 512S and a Black Daytona were on the stand. He was willing to sell me the Daytona for 18K. After the show he told Coco to let me drive it through Central Park. Different Times.
It's actually much more depending on team. I was part of the #64 JLowe Racing team that came in 4th place (GT3 Porsche). Our car was part of the Racer's Group 7 car team. We spent close to 100K in tires for that race (includes testing). The total effort for one GT class team can be as high as $500,000 for the Rolex 24.
So a new Daytona was $18k at the time. A quick perspective in todays money would make the car and ride about $700k US for a one race deal.
Whoops! I was going to say three times, but figured $65K might be too high. I'm remembering the old Goodyear 430 days... Jon, good to see you posting. Coming down South anytime soon? VIR in April?
I have some friends who are tire engineers at Goodyear who would disagree with you. The gross may sound pretty good, but the costs involved really limit the profit. The tires are hand made and insurance costs are pretty stiff. The Darrell Russell crash in NHRA in 2004 had a multi-million dollar settlement.
Sounds like Mr. Chinetti was looking to unload a soon to be obsolete race car. Before the boom in vintage racing, there was almost nothing cheaper than an obsolete race car. Kurt O.
Absolutely! Every time I watch the film Le Mans I wonder what it was like to be hauling down the Mulsanne in a 911 doing 150 or so, at night, in the rain, and have a 917 or a 512 rifle past at nearly 250. Kinda makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Kurt O.
