Why are track days so expensive?

As told by an American enthusiast

The cost of a track weekend is kind of elusive, but it does add up. The price the organizer charges is based on a lot of different things, but the major cost is the facility itself. A place like Circuit of the Americas is much more expensive than a place like Summit Point. I love both places, but understand why CotA is more expensive.

After you’ve paid for the entry fee, anywhere from around $100 for some events, to $1000 for others, you have to consider the cost of fuel ($50-ish for a tank of fuel which you’ll go through in anywhere from 1–4 sessions depending on how “thirsty” your car is), tires (you could end up destroying a $1000 set of tires pretty quickly if they’re typical all season tires), brakes ($200-ish for the set of brake pads you’re going to obliterate since they’re street pads and not track pads), food, hotel, and other travel costs depending on how far away the track is. Did you include track insurance for your car? That’s another chunk of change depending on your experience level and the value of your car.

Let’s look at it as an experienced track day enthusiast with a BMW M4 at a place like Texas World Speedway with a typical organization…

Track Day Provider - $500

Racing brakes - $100 (good for several weekends, prorated)

R compound tires - $200 (good for several weekend, prorated)

Fuel - $100 (two full tanks of fuel bought off site)

Hotel - $200 (two nights…we start early in the morning)

Food - $100 (this includes beer after the first day…budgets vary)

Travel to and from the track - $100 (100 miles each way at 50¢/mi)

We’re up to $1300 and we haven’t even added in track insurance. Your rate will depend on a lot of things, but I think we can guess $700 is pretty reasonable. There’s your $2000 for the weekend.

Are you going to use the provided instructor? Some organizers charge a nominal ($100) fee, and often require it for beginner/novice participants. Are you going to use your own private coach? Depending on who you use, it’s anywhere from $500/day to $5000/day. Someone like me, a current pro driver in a major US series without a championship will run about $1000/day plus expenses (hotel, food, airfare, rental car, etc.). Someone with a Daytona 24 class or overall win will probably run about $2500/day plus expenses (some more, others less). LeMans winner? F1 driver? You’re getting into rarified air, and expect to spend easily $3000-5000 for a single day.

About 10 years ago, I heard a guy at an SCCA race weekend complaining about how much he spent racing his Boxster. I asked him which part, Porsche or racing, he thought was going to be cheap. I got a blank stare. I think he eventually processed it, as he’s no longer racing or doing track days. This sport is not for the financially less fortunate. Even using a well prepared Miata, you’re going to spend money on tires, brakes, fuel, repairs, maintenance, data loggers, video recording devices, coaching, travel, and more. A friend who races in the Pirelli World Challenge in the least expensive class (TCB) spent just over $30,000 last year, and didn’t even make every race weekend.

Racing, and by relation track days, is an expensive sport.

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