Challenge Purchase?

While it is a good idea to have a Challenge car for track use, it might be difficult to run and maintain it. Sure it will be awesome to drive on track but you should know that it is a race car which can't be driven on public roads. You might find one at very reasonable prices depending on age and km. run but to make it run on the track might become quite expensive. First of all you need a crew to prep it, maintain it and run it for you while you are on track. Plus you need to also buy special equipment for this car or any race car such as fuel filling systems (fuel filling canisters, trolleys etc), compressed air supply (scuba tanks, regulators and adapters) for its air jack system and wheel guns. Extra wheels and tires. The list maybe longer according to your needs and time spent on track. And this crew should have the knowledge to work with these cars. So, your local Ferrari dealer may not be up to task.

So it is not an easy thing to do unless you are really into track days and want to make it a very serious hobby. If you ask me, I'd recommend for you to look for dealers/teams who will rent a Challenge car and provide all the parts and crew to run it for you for your occasional track days. It would be the easiest way to enjoy these cars without any surprises and headaches.

 

Consider a Porsche Cayman as "dedicated track car"
much cheaper
probably more reliable
just a fun
not as much panache

have fun

 

MuratC is pretty much spot on. Around 15 years ago I ran a 355c without any track support and frankly, it was fantastic - no real issues that ever slowed/stopped me. This hasn't mirrored my 458c experience. Having a crew is pretty much necessary, or at least you will need to bring a crapton of stuff with!

I do not know about the dealers over on that side of the country, but I can tell you that Ferrari of Seattle has put together an amazingly awesomely nice "gentleman's track club" type of thing -- they manage/maintain all the cars, bring crews out to deal with issues, and essentially give you the "arrive and drive" experience. It is not cheap/free of course, but it scores super high on the "awesome" scale.

Aside from spending time at various tracks around the US, it's a super friendly, great group of folks from diverse backgrounds. So it's both a social experience as well as track experience. I would strongly encourage you to ask your dealer about whether they would be able to put such a program together (or if they have one already).

Here are some examples of issues I have had where pretty much my day would have been done, but I was able to get back out there. When you pay $$$ for track time and transport etc. it'd be terrible to get out to the track and not be able to run at all. I've attached a few images from an ATF line break / field fix (once at the Ridge, once at COTA!) This video was made for our last day that shows some of the paddock-ish area at a local track out here to give you an idea of the size of the operation (there are maybe 10 total cars in the group): -- hopefully you'll see that if there are issues at all, you are going to need help to get it addressed to stay on track.

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Harry,
You absolutely can run your own 458CH car, without question. There are too many unknowns about your particular situation to advise or comment further. I have first hand experience with doing exactly what you stated you'd like to do. If you like, message me and I will gladly help you further. Don't be discouraged just yet.

Cheers.

 

Anything is possible. I vintage raced a March 87C Indycar with just a couple of buddies at the track. I did the majority of wrenching myself getting the car ready. I can't imagine you couldn't one man operate one of these for a few track days/year.

 

If you do go the Challenge route, my 430 is for sale (listed in the Classifieds here). Asking $95K and comes with an extensive list of spares and all the necessary wheel and air jack tools to handle the basics.