this is an interesting concept, but you can use the reverse logic too!:
> 1. Find a car that will also be your daily driver.
1. implusively buy some crazy car you cant seem to imagine life without,
then decide to autocross it as justification.
> 2. Find a car that has enough room to carry all your stuff to
2. no, tires wont fit in it, so you can justify driving around on kumhos all
the time. wow, good thing this isnt my daily driver! this is really very
practical, and might as well get the nice wheels at the same time.
> 3. Run in the stock class.
3. since crazy cars are not eligible for the stock class, more justification
to buy all sorts of goodies for it. "enhance the resale value"..., maybe
all i need to win OSP is 150 more ft lbs from a S/C...
> 4. Don't buy everything at once.
4. well, since you spent all this money for no good reason, what's another
few thousand to make the car enjoyable.. i mean, i SHOULD be able to enjoy
it, and why not buy all the things you need for the first month all at once?
> 5. Keep your eyes open for deals.
5. absolutely! thats why i bought my car in the first place. hey, did i
now just drive by a really cherry looking austin healey? a little paint,
some new tires, motor, suspension and a good wash job and i am ready for
FP!! :)
-james
----- Original Message -----
From: Kelly, Katie <kkelly@spss.com>
To: <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 4:11 PM
Subject: Autocrossing on a Budget
> Autocrossing isn't cheap, but there are many ways you can at least save
some
> money. And, believe it or not, being on a tight budget can actually be to
> your advantage. Here are some tips:
>
> 1. Find a car that will also be your daily driver. That way, it will
almost
> seem practical.
>
> 2. Find a car that has enough room to carry all your stuff to and from the
> event. That way, it will still seem practical.
>
> 3. Run in the stock class. Once you make that transition to CSP, you've
just
> opened the Pandora's Box. You can NEVER go fast enough in SP and beyond.
> There are ALWAYS things you can tweak, and even worse, there are ALWAYS
> things you can buy.
>
> 4. Don't buy everything at once.
>
> 5. Keep your eyes open for deals. Subscribe to every single autocross or
> car-related mailing list. Who knows what deals there are to be had.
>
> Here's Lucy's basic set of stuff. Obviously, I've spent a lot of money on
> tires.
>
> Set of Kumhos: $400
> Borla exhaust: $100 used
> Sway Bar: $100 used
> Rims: $400 used
> Konis: $200 used
> Alignment: under $100 (C2 Automotive)
>
> For Lucy's first few months of autocrossing, all we had was the sway bar,
> rims, and tires. And Charlie Davis did a nice alignment over at Auto
> Options. I left it like that for a long, long time.
>
> Then, I just kept my eyes open for deals. I've since acquired a really
nice
> lap belt, also used, fancy ignition wires, spark plugs, K&N air filter,
> another set of rims, another sway etc. I just slowly added this stuff to
my
> collection. It's an on-going process, but well paced.
>
> The best advantage to being on a tight budget is that you won't be tempted
> to go out and buy the latest car or gizmo for the class. So, you just sit
> back and watch what others are doing and learn from their experiments. It
> sometimes annoys the hell out of them... but there's no need to reinvent
the
> wheel, right? Without investing a dime, I'll find out soon enough how fast
> the MR-2 Spyder is.
>
> Katie K.
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Scot Zediker [mailto:roadsterboy@earthlink.net]
> > Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 3:19 PM
> > To: Kit Wetzler; Kelly, Katie
> > Cc: 'Craig Boyle'; JLawre4746@aol.com; Smokerbros@aol.com;
> > jerry@moutons.org; ba-autox@autox.team.net
> > Subject: Re: SFR First Time Nationals entrants -- SFR will refund
> > yourentrance fee
> >
> >
> > When you REALLY start thinking about it, racing ain't cheap,
> > ESPecially for
> > what you're doing, Kit.
> >
> > Lessee... I paid $5800 for my Miata, $110 for the front sway
> > bar, $225 for
> > my race wheels, $500 for shocks, $1100 for my VLSD (including
> > a complete
> > rebuild), $320 for my Borla catback, $30 for a K&N, about $4K
> > for collision
> > repairs... sheesh, my trip to Nats is really costing me close
> > to 16 grand!!!
> >
> > Time to get on my knees and pray that my Cisco stock goes
> > through the roof
> > ;)
> >
> > Scot
> > '91 CS Miata
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Kit Wetzler" <kitwetzler@mindspring.com>
> > To: "Kelly, Katie" <kkelly@spss.com>
> > Cc: "'Craig Boyle'" <craig_boyle@yahoo.com>; <JLawre4746@aol.com>;
> > <Smokerbros@aol.com>; <jerry@moutons.org>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
> > Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 10:30 AM
> > Subject: Re: SFR First Time Nationals entrants -- SFR will refund
> > yourentrance fee
> >
> >
> > > > Oh, well if that price includes EVERYTHING, that means he
> > might as well
> > go
> > > > to Nationals. That's just a drop in the bucket compared
> > to all that
> > other
> > > > stuff. I've never actually calculated how much I've spent
> > on Lucy. There
> > are
> > > > things one must do to combat depression, and living in
> > denial is one of
> > > > them.
> > >
> > > It is pretty scary... I mean, I've had the M3 7 weeks now and I've
> > > spent:
> > >
> > > New Yokohama AVS Sports $800
> > > Alignment $100
> > > New clutch pedal $75
> > > new Brake light switch $5
> > > Floormats $85
> > > Jack Pads $18
> > > 4 bottles Motul brake fluid $40
> > > 7 quarts mobil 1 $45
> > > 1 oil filter $5
> > > 1 X-brace $129
> > > 1 UUC exhaust $525
> > > 1 new exhaust gasket $15
> > > 1 set Koni shocks $504
> > > 1 set H&R springs (used) $125
> > > 1 set Ground Control shock mounts $104
> > > 1 set K-Mac camber plates (used) $200 (thanks jim!)
> > > 1 set TC Kline trailing arm bushings $400
> > > 1 pressure bleeder for brakes $40
> > > 1 K&N cone filter intake + heat shield $50
> > > 2 sets Hawk Blues $350
> > >
> > > = $3615
> > >
> > > Oiy. And I still need race rubber and a spare set of
> > wheels. Whomever
> > > said racing was cheap is on crack.
> > >
> > > -kit
> > >
> >
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