The Longterm Effects Of Tracking A Car

Depends how you drive. Depends what you mean by "Tracked". I raced 8 weekends in one year with my 360 Challenge car and on my 9th weekend of the next year I blew an engine. The week after that I blew a gearbox. Add $40k+ to those bills. I had the car serviced between each weekend from day 1 and had the top end rebuilt after 8 weekends. Engine still blew up.

Conclusion - you track a car, you trash it. Expect a future buyer to not only demand a discount, but a lot of rebuilt stuff.

 

All things equal, I would choose the non tracked car at purchase. A discount would be in order but I would consider it. I would not know how much to reduce the price. Documentation and a thorough PPI would be in order for sure.

 

I have no idea how it affects valuation, but track time wears cars exponentially. I'd never buy a street car that's been tracked 10 times a year if there were other options.

 

To clarify, I'm not against tracking cars. I do feel bad for whoever ends up with mine when I sell it.

 

you guys are on drugs. a track car version of a doorslamer is often more expensive that a pristine streetcar. In scca for example racecars are traded all the time. They are always more expensive that streetcar versions because they have the utmost in maintenance, things like aftermarket double adjustable shocks, headers, wheels, race suspensions, secret springs,big brakes, light parts, secret set-up data, telemetry systems etc... And 90% of the guys tracking cars that have minimal mods think they drive 10/10ths are actually way under the limit of the cars. The number of drivers who think the brakes and the throttle are lightswitches just kills me.

 

Depends what you mean by tracking ie I track my cay a few times a year I do about 6 laps of a track X 3 times maybe 4 each time ie a total of say 3x6x4 = 72 laps in total at about 90% with 1 warm up and 1 warm down.
I would think that this would equate to a good italian tune up ie the car runs better after the track day.
However if by tracking you mean 60-70 laps at 100%x 10 times a year ... different storey.

 

I think we've discussed this before often

How about : it should have a premium because its not been sat in a garage

The design parameters for the car effectively include track use to the ability of the majority of drivers as they're not really that good and so not really stressing the car to the maximum

 

Big difference between tracking a car and racing ...

Tracking a car can simply mean a sensible legal way to have a bit of a hoon and thus no harm done, but racing a car is all holds barred and should mean 10/10ths and car is just a tool to support you winning.
Pete

 

That is the point here. There's driving a car on the track with the club in DE classes, or there's pounding the crap out of it with FBB and his buddies.

The first is generally tolerable and since you are likely not running at 10/10ths at all or for very long, no harm no foul. That's what these cars are built to do after all.

The second is a recipe for bankruptcy. The track rat is a highly depreciable item, until it either becomes a desired commodity, like you won Le Mans in it or something, or gets destroyed (ask FBB about that experience). Also once its a track rat, it becomes a specialized tool for a specific group of fruitcakes (like my friend FBB), who like to spend weekends in their garage fixing what they trashed the last outing, or writing a big check for repairs (not FBB).

 

My Challenge car looked great. It drove great. Barely a rock chip in the paint. I had it serviced after every race weekend. I replaced rotors every race weekend. I replaced the oil after every race weekend. I spent tens of thousands of dollars maintaining the car. I had the top end of the engine rebuilt. Then BAMMM!!!

Good Luck!

 

Engine blew up. See my prior post. Then the gear box crapped out the week after.

 

If we are talking about 328s here, I would not get too concerned. It's hard to stress the motors very much and the suspension is so soft, not a great deal of stress can be put on the chassis. If the car runs, drives and shifts great and the PPI shows the motor is in top shape with excellent compression AND leakdown numbers, go for it. I would rather buy a car that spent some time on the track than a garage queen that gets the crap driven out of it for ten miles without warming up first. Ten track events a year is a bunch though.

Dave

 

Interestingly I have never broken my cars but in wheel to wheel racing I have been smashed bad twice by other people and punched once. I have spun off the track less than a dozen times. Some believe you need to go 4 wheels off to learn. I believe you don't learn anything when you are out of control. Sneaking up on limits makes sense to me. I am too poor to go flying off the track.

With a trackcar or racecar the chassis is the only thing that is not expendable. Everything else is just parts. What people fail to realize is that true trackguys maintain their cars to a very high level because they want the performance. I hear guys running 355 streetcars with rediculous leakdown numbers and heavy weight oil to reduce the smoking. A real trackguy could not live with the loss of horsepower and torque. A trackguy like me will cornerweight,align, and maintain my suspension in my racecar after every race and on my once in a while 550M which sees the track I do all that stuff at least once a year. I could not live with slop of 10 year old rubber bushings. How do you street guys do that?

When I raced my 348 I changed the timing belt and timed the cams every year and anything I saw along the way that was not 90% was changed because it could otherwise fail on the race track. Gearbox oil was changed every 4th race, engine oil every race and I sent out for oil reports for wear evaluation. Any of you street guys do that? It is rare that my cars fail to complete a trackday or race because my maintenance was extreme. I also had some go fast goodies built on secret proprietary knowledge of those sellers. Racecars often have set-up data to go with the go fast goodies which are invaluable if you want to go fast and not reinvent the wheel. We racers pay a premium for that information to go with those parts. We pay more for a used championship winning car with all the data than a newly built and untested car of the same make and model. We don't care if president obama owned it. We care if it won races.

 

I like that...... Fatso, are you the alcohol or non alcohol fruit cake? Where does Plugzit/Vince fit in?

 

I agree with Pete. Average Joe (like me) cutting a few laps here and there isn't going to destroy the car.

 

You have to look at the individual car and owner. There is no "general rule" since no two car-owner combinations are the same. A "track rat" car is not the same as a car that has been tracked, so can't be compared, just as it can't be compared to a race car. Less mechanically sophisticated buyers should (and usually do) buy garage queens, then whine about seal repairs etc. More mechanically sophisticated buyers can buy whatever they want and like. Just like pure street cars, tracked cars vary widely in desirability and condition. I happen to prefer a car that has been driven enthusiastically over cosmetically "perfect" examples with cylinders full of carbon. I'd rather see the car in its' natural state than "detailed". Square unscuffed shoulders on tires disgust me.

 

From my point of view, a lot depends on how you drive if you are doing a "track day" event, not a full-out wheel to wheel racing event. Most drivers doing track day events don't run at 10/10ths. Yes, you drive more aggressively than on the street, but from my own experience, I never felt I was pushing a car to the limits, nor my driving skills either. Some guys do try to go full-out, and some of the end up planting into a wall.

Trying to generalize between cars driven at a full racing level vs. guys going out and taking some "spirited" laps on a street car is like comparing apples and washing machines. It's two entirely different things. YMMV, but tracking a car at the many track day events out there does not necessarily mean you are trashing the car. Some might, but most don't. They just go out and have fun. I tracked an '84 Mondial QV for a couple of years, and the car loved it. I never pushed the car to its limits, just enjoyed the feeling of getting out there and doing what I can't (or won't) on the street, that is, pushing it harder and enjoying that seat of the pants feel of aggressively running it through the gears and the corners.

 

The long term effect of tracking a car is that you will have significantly less money in your wallet -period. That said, the car will be worth less to the next person, but will be worth more to you as you recall the fun you had.

 

Unless you win Le Mans, Daytona or Sebring in it, the effect won't be good.

CW

 

When i track the car, i want fresh fluids and everything up to spec, recent bearing pack, belts, carb and timing adjustments, and suspension & brake bolts checked, so when i run the car as hard as i can, i don't have to worry about popping a hose. Most street guys do not do that kind of maintenance or at least as frequently.

If the leak down numbers look good, the car hasn't been whacked, the gear box shifts well and the ppi shows nothing significant, I'd say, no harm, no foul - it is a good car.

Now, if the trans makes noise, there are a couple of bumps, the leak down is less than reasonable for a car of that age, well then a bit of a discount might be in order. I'm guessing the ppi will show a fair number of deferred maintenance items as well.

After all, it is the most fun you can have with your cloths on

The car was not made to be driven to the market - it will do that - but that is not where it really shines

chris

 

Well put,exactly my sentiments,I always feel that my car runs better after 25 broken laps at about 8 /10 ths equal to an Italian tune up