Planning on buying a 458 Challenge-- any advice for a newbie?

Both were already race prepped and good to go. I bought the first car from a guy who spent $170K building it. He listed it for $120K, I bought it for $85K. I converted it from a regular 3 pedal 5 speed to a sequential shifter 5 speed (still a 3 pedal manual but you pull the lever towards you to down shift and away form u to upshift). In the practice day of my first ever race it was the first time I tried the sequential shifter and I messed up a shift and went into 2nd instead of third and blew the clutch. I was used to pulling back when going form 3rd to 4th so when I did that on the sequential it went form 3rd to 2nd and blew the clutch.

The car was out for the weekend (team could have replaced the clutch on the spot but we couldnt get the parts in time). I didnt want to waste my race weekend I had been looking forward to and already spent a bunch of money on organizing so I bought another car that was at the track listed for sale so i could race that weekend. The second car was a 3.8L (engine upgrade) and had some add'l tricked out parts (it had about $200K into its build) so I've mainly been using the second car.

Both cars were already fully raced prepped I just added add'l items (switch from manual to PDK on the second car, added AiM system, smarty cams, cool suit, new race seats, new seatbelts, upgraded fire suppression, car wrap on second car, graphics on first car, rear view camera (not much visibility out of the rear view mirro with rollcage, ducting ework, smarty cam, halo seats etc), upgraded cooling system, integrated existing motec system to do more functions, more wheels, in-car adjustable sway bar system, replaced stock wiring harness to bring to race car standards (rewired entire car), new dash and switches, replaced rollcage padding, repainted engine compartment, new steering wheel, I cant even remember the rest...

I'll probably put the first one up for sale in the next month or two. Bought it for $85K put a bunch of things in it, prob list it for $85K what I paid.

 

I'd go with a car that you can easily find races with good sized fields and lots of events so that you can get the seat time and experience with lots of other cars. Also it enables you to pick and choose tracks and dates since there are plenty of events to choose from. When there are fewer cars in a field the races can end up being more like competitive DE days once the field separates. At an event like PCA with 50-70 cars theres always plenty of people to battle against, pass and be passed by.

 

Lucas was a good starting point but I didnt really get the adrenaline rush from it. For me the cars werent fast enough, the cheap street tires didnt have enough grip plus the track we were at (PBIR) is a very tame, safe track that doesnt do much for me. With those factors my Lucas experience was great for learning discipline but didnt give me the thrill I like from closed cockpit cars. The programs instructors were excellent. At the racing school my two instructors were both current pro factory drivers for Mazda. At my race, my instructor was Pippa Mann who was in this years Indy 500 (the only woman racing Indy). Pretty impressive team of instructors.

Overall Lucas Oil Racing was more about precision and repeatability and less about bringing the car to the edge, car control, and bravado. In short it felt like large go-karts instead of an all out race car experience. About the only place you could really pass was draft passing on the back straight or late braking into turn 10 unless someone screwed up elsewhere. For that reason I'll probably do some occasional Lucas races as fill-in but not planning on making it part of my regular schedule.

Disclaimer, I am an adrenaline junkie, I do like to bring it to the edge, and I do better the faster and riskier the track, so for me it is not the best fit, but for some it may be a great experience. Also I didnt do as well in the formula car as a closed cockpit cars, I finished 4th in 2 of my Lucas races (field of about 12) and crashed DNF in one of them. It was my first event in open wheel and I had only been in them once before (for the 3 day race school about 6 weeks before my first open wheel race).

If you dont own a race car it is definitely a great way to get into the sport and do some racing for low cost, low investment, no commitment and to gain head to head experience. Also I only did Lucas oil Rqcing school and then the Lucas race at PBIR (both were at PBIR) which to me is the most boring track I've been to. Maybe at Road Atlanta, VIR, Sebring, the experience would be much different. I liked all the guys that ran the program so if you've never done it and are interested in racing I would definitely give it a shot.

 

The other thing I learned once I started racing in my limited experience is how inadequate a street car (even a Ferrari) is on the track. I havent brought my 458 on the track since and never will because there is no point. My cayman blows the 458 doors off. A race car is just so much better, faster, safer (and less expensive). It makes me smile now when I hear about Ferrari or any other manu talk about how great their cars are on the track.