Basically I agree with Cary. I have built three race cars: 1950 MGTD #50, a 1957
Alfa Giullietta #55 and my current TR2/Devin nearing completion. They all cost
more than I could buy or sell them for. I currently race a yellow Alfa Duetto
#62 . I bought it as a race car and wound up spending significant money to get
it right. The point everyone who has been giving you advice has missed ? you
don't have the money in one chunk, but could do it over time, plus your sweat
equity. That's exactly where I was, and am. Unless you have a lot of driving
experience, I would do nothing more than an appropriate roll bar, fuel cell,
fire extinguisher, master switch thorough disassembly and crack testing of
everything short of the radio antenna and whatever else the rules of your target
race group specify. Buy a set of speed rated tires in the appropriate size for
the rules, tune the motor, get the antifreeze out and go racing. Trust me
there's always someone to race with. Besides you can drive the car, much safer
for your efforts, on the road and improve it over time. I did this with the
"IMSA" MG, as it became known, and would up running up front. Good luck.
Bob Colaizzi
EISANDIEGO@aol.com wrote:
> Over the past years, there have been a number of people who have come
> onboard to FOT who were planning on building racecars. I wonder how much
> progress they have actually made on constructing the racecars and whether the
> perception that they are saving money by building a racecar from ground-up is
> really true. We welcome these new enthusiasts, but I wonder how many of us
> are thinking in the back of our minds that the new enthusiasts would be
> better off purchasing a current racecar.
>
> My first observation is that good used vintage racecars sell for about
> 50 to 75% of what it costs to build an entirely new competitive, reliable,
> and safe (emphasize competitive, reliable, and safe) racecar. I am not sure
> that you could purchase the parts of some of these cars for the price at
> which they are being offered for sale.
>
> My second observation is the purchasing a well sorted out used racecar
> can be a much more positive introduction to racing than sorting out a newly
> built car (which depending on the expertise of the builder, may be in the
> paddock more than the track). The fun for some of us is driving.
>
> Cary
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