355 Challenge Maintenance Costs

I owned a 95 F355 Challenge for 4 years and ran the car at track days about 15-20 times per year.

Your maintenance costs will depend on three things:

1) How hard you run the car
2) How much labor you can do your self
3) Where you plan to get parts (dealer vs. non-dealer)

Here is a run down of some consumable parts from a dealer:

1) Pads $275 per axle
2) Rotors $500 per rotor
3) Clutch $600 w/ pressure plate
4) Tires (new) $400 per tire (Pirelli or Dunlop)

Major costs are of course tranny and engine rebuilds:

1) Engine $30,000-35,000 (dealer and includes top and bottom)
2) Tranny $5,000 - $7,000 minimum but can be more

To give you an example, the first year or two I owned the car I didn't have the skill to push it too hard. Rotors would last three maybe four weekends before the surface cracks would get too big. Same with the tires.

By the last year I was matching lap times of the fastest guys that ran the cars in the series at places like Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, and Summit Point.

Rotors lasted less than 2 days and so did tires. In the case of the tires I could, had I chosen to, run them more days because the rubber looked fine but the tires were at least 1 second to 2 seconds slower and had no grip. The rotors could not be used after 2 days. This is about the wear rate the Challenge guys experienced.

Eventually I started sourcing used tires from some Grand Am race teams who throw them out after one session. Cost was about $75 per tire and they lasted through a weekend event. I also got in touch with the US Brembo brake distributor and bought rotors in bulk. This brought cost down from $500 from Ferrari of Washington to $367 (dealer cost).

Two things to consider with the puchase of a 355 C. One, try to do as much work as you can yourself and two get as much history on the car.

I had two friends who had terminal gearbox failures a few months after buying their cars. One had the dealer eat half the cost the other had to spend 11K of his own money to rebuild it.

These cars are not cheap to rebuild.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracing.net
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Another thought. Try a Formula Mazda ( tube frame ). They are awesome fast, cheap, reliable, and have a good support and training system in place with Southwest Mazda right there . A broken part on a ferrari ends your weekend but on a FM it usually can be fixed quickly. DeBoulle runs a 355 but also runs a FM. Ask him about either car.

 

I would personally be very reluctant to run a 355C. It is beautiful, quick and sounds great, but is quite pricey for the pace. If you want a pure track car, FM is way cheaper and faster - 1:13s are very much what you should expect at MSR (faster for the fastest). If you want to run a passenger, consider SM, or what I will introduce later this year, Turbo SM. SM will run low 1:27s and get probably 4-6 track hours on tires, 6-10 track hours on pads, 8-16 track hours on rotors and many, many hours on engines. Turbo SM will get probably 75% of the foregoing life and will run 1:22s at MSR, probably quicker when dialed in on Toyos. I am optimistic Turbo SM can break 1:20 on slicks, but that remains to be seen. IMO this is the cheapest speed available. Maybe some folks look down on the car because it is a chick car, but so be it. At MSR in your 355C please watch your mirrors for my Yellow Turbo SM - I'll be coming through! It will run with or faster than my Gallardo and is my preferred track car since it is about 1/10 the cost to run.

Even if you can do the work yourself, a 355C is faced with expensive parts costs, and that is unavoidable. For example, an off can easily shred the undertray - ask Denis Boule about that! Don't get me wrong, if I had plenty of funds, a 355C would be great, but on a budget, I think you would be sorry.

Probably the ultimate "passenger" car for track is the Radical SR3. I have been on track in my FM following a SR3 and even with a passenger it will run 1:15. I do think it can be expensive to maintain, as the motorcycle engine may have a short life. Then there is the ultra-new SR8 that I think owns the Nurburgring record at 7:18 or some such. It is $100,000 or so, I suspect, though, so not in my budget for track car right now.

Finally, I constantly see folks in sexy, exotic machinery that they are enjoying immensely. I say awesome! to that, but often the machines are used for the subjective enjoyment rather than absolute speed. Depending on the significance of this factor for you, the 355C might still be the way to go.

Me, I need the speed and ability to flog the car, something I am not sure I'd do with a 355C.

Keith Verges

 

Hi Shawn,
I've lapped with you at MSR before in my GT3. I've considered exactly the same thing you’re looking into, even thinking about the Silver car in Houston which is very appealing.
I’m still undecided, but I’m now leaning away from racing a Challenge car. I had "de-raced" my Cobra fully intending to find a 355C to race with NASA, largely motivated by the marginal safety of my Cobra’s cage.
But after racing the primitive Cobra for 5 years the experience of just lapping in my GT3 and seeing what a modern well designed track car can do is invigorating. And the best part is I can just drive home at the end of the day. Now that I’m learning to drive a rear engined car I’m going much quicker in the GT3 than I ever did in the Cobra and having a great time.
I’m sure I’ll miss the racing, and some of the appeal is the newness of the experience, but for now I think I’m holding off on the 355 Challenge. I think Keith may have the best advice with the Mazdas. I’d love to try FM, but the rotary engine is kind of a turnoff, and the ProMazda’s are I’m afraid over my head.
Mark McKenzie

 

Z06 will be a great choice, but will still eat tires and brakes faster than SM and Turbo SM. Be sure to get a transaxle cooler, figure out how to duct air to the brakes, and add an accusump. I don't know how well it cools, either, so keep an eye on that. You should easily break 1:25 in a Z06.

 

NuroZ,

I run a 348 trackcar and a 04 Z06Z16. Racing is expensive, trackdays are cheap. If you want the speed you have to dump streetcars period. Even a viper is a pig compared to FM. The radical is really not a streetcar. IMO the problem with racing is you have to be kinda dedicated to join the FM ranks for example and then you can't just run your FM in a group of streetcar/racecars on the weekend at the local track because 1) you would be so fast it would be like a time trial (a yawner) 2) you don't want to get hit by a viper in your FM. So if you are like me who likes to race when I get the itch you need a modified streetcar. You will likely race in large groups with mixed classes on the track. So anything can be fun and racing a 348 IMO is really cheap but I do my own work and I can rebuild a clutch for 50 bucks even Jon's ex-355. Costs are hugely related to what you can do yourself. The Z06 is the way to go not because it is cheap but everyone knows how to go fast in them so you don't have to spend your life figuring out how to have fun. Racing a Ferrari set-up is anybody's guess.

 

Bob is spot on about this. There are ways of reducing costs. One area is parts. Most dealers charge about $500-$600 for rotors (each). I was getting them direct from the Brembo distributor at dealer prices around $360 each. In the case of tires most places like Woodman you are looking at $350-$400 per tire, more at the dealer ... $500+. I finally started getting them from Grand Am teams for $75 per tire with one heat cycle.

If you can do most of the fluid changes (gearbox, brake fluid, oil....) yourself you save a lot of money. Same on the brakes. A dealer will charge you about 1 hour per rotor to put the new discs on the old hats.

The things you CAN'T do yourself are the things that will kill you. As stated a gearbox rebuild is 5-10K and a rebuild of the engine is 20K minimum but in most cases 30-35K and up.

As someone else stated in the 360 vs. 911 thread.....most racers don't give a sh*t about the badge on the front hood................we just all want to go faster than everyone else.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracing.net

 

FYI, if you are interested in a great Z06 track/race car (eligible for SCCA T1 Regional or National):

#75 04 Black Z06 black interior built beginning of 2004
Fully prepped by NayKid Racing, best Z06 prep you can get!
Only 11 total races on this car
Custom PCM Cal 373 hp at the rear wheels
All new (1 race) wheels bearings, control arms, calipers, hangers, tie rod ends
LS1 trans
All coolers, pumps, radiator, springs, bars, bearings new in 04
2 sets Kodiak Racing wheels
Sparco Seat, belts
Fire system
Lightweight 3080lb
$59k obo
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"I must admit I will not have a lot of monetary "breathing room" after the purchase"

My 2 cents: I've owned too many race cars, probably as many as anyone here (risky to say on fchat), and I think the lack of monetary breathing room may diminish your enjoyment of the car.

My experience has been that I like to leave a lot of room for expenditures on things like:

- non consummable spares, to have on hand (ex. extra wheels)
- consummables spares, brake pads, rotors, etc.
- tires, expensive and don't last long, I like them fresh
- preventive maintenance, including safety items (ex. axles)
- emergency maintenance - ex., the dreaded over-rev
- performance tweaks, whether it's paying a shop to play with the alignment, or installing new go fast bits, or lap timers and data goodies, etc
- the general expenses associated with running the car regularly, from tow vehicle and trailer to travel expenses to event fees etc etc.

For me, these are perhaps hidden but quite real and substantial costs of race car ownership.

Good luck in your search, will