On 12 October, vafred@erols.com wrote:
> 1500 has been my dailey driver for 8 years now and I have replaced the
> alt. and last week the clutch. I drive about the same mileage as you, but
> when you autocross, you may be looking at a whole new ball game, thats a
> lot of wear & tear. For 3K you should need nothing, that is pretty close
> to top price for a nice driver. Just my .02
It's no secret that the biggest cost of owning a new car is the
depreciation... this is, of course offset by reduced maintenence costs
(hopefully). And if you get an older car - the big cost is maintenance. So
you try to strike a balance. I will point out that some of the financial
magazines indicate that owning and keeping a car for longer periods winds up
costing way less. See Money Magazine's articles about "how to be a
millionaire" for reference.
I think we're all pretty much in agreement on the cost of new vs. old.
However, I wanted to touch the autocross thing.
There are two schools of thought WRT AutoX. There's the fun aspect and
there's the competitive aspect.
If you go just for fun, you don't have to really beat on the car. In this
scenario - you can even use street tires and try to work up to "personal
best" or some other criteria. The cost really is pretty low. And I might
point out that the wear and tear on the car is really not that bad - it
shouldn't be. Even the SCCA rulebook defines the concept not in terms of
competition, but rather in terms of precision. So, as long as you are trying
to beat nobody but yourself, your wear and tear should be pretty low.
>From the competitive angle - well, you can beat on things - you can try to
outspend your competitors, you can try for FTD etc. Once you get hooked into
this, you can spend some really serious dough. And you can beat the hell out
of your car. However, the stress still is relatively low to say - road
racing. And we all know (I hope so, anyway) that road racing is def. going
to cause wear and tear. In contrast, however, I know serious national level
autox competitors that really don't spend that much money fixing things on
thier cars compared to what they might spend on improving the performance...
they've attained a balance of spending, so to speak. But my point is - even
at the most serious levels of competition - it is possible to drive
competitively and not destroy your car every time.
Now, I'm not saying which model I prescribe to, but let's say (for sake of
argument) that I fall into the competitive ranks. Even though I've spent $$$
thousands in the last couple of years, almost all of the mechanical failures
I've had are totally and completely due to my ineptitude (this may be a
little harsh) as a mechanic. But you know what? I've not had _any_ actual
breakdowns as a result of driving the car hard. In fact, I really think my
current car responds in a positive manner to being driven hard. This might
come as a surprise to folks that have seen me drive my TR6.
I have brought up similar discussions in the past - when I had a car payment
for my newest car, I paid _way more_ in cash payments each month than I paid
for in maintenance of my TR6 even though at the time I drove them similar
amounts (both cars about 10k miles per year.) From a cash flow standpoint -
a good used car is way less expensive than a new car. But there are
tradeoffs, and the biggest one for an older car is that you need to do a lot
more tinkering and preventative maintenance which equates to time. What this
costs is very relative to who you are and what you do. In other words you
pay with your time.
I would encourage folks on this list to get the Triumph out at least a few
times a year and go to a local autocross or driver school and see what I
mean. As long as the car is safe, and as long as you really do the
maintenance required, driving it in this manner will not reduce the life of
the car...
Now, do I drive my TR6 everyday??? No. I work in the stolen car capitol of
the free world (not really, but pretty close) and I share roads with some of
the worst and most agressive drivers just about anywhere... this is a bad
combination WRT my "baby", so - no thank you. I will point out that when I
did work "out in the country" I used any excuse I could to drive my TR6 to
work. It ran way better when I used it all the time... If my financial
situation was a little different - I'd love to drive my TR6 everyday (or a
Spitfire or a GT6 or whatever). FWIW - Loren Williams - my daily driver is a
similar GM product to yours. Typical appliance car that handles pretty well.
But I really don't care (now that it's paid off) if I get "love taps" and
"door dings" now. I'm getting a set of tires and wheels for it so I can
autocross that car too.
What can I say - I'm hooked.
It was more than $.02 worth, but there you are.
rml
Bob Lang
TR6's and a few Generous Motor products too.
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