Finances of track days.
- Thread starter Greenhorn
- Start date
Mechanikrazy
The Newb of Newbs
Lots of people have already given great advice. I don't see where you posted what type of car you have though. Unless you have a pick up truck or real SUV, the bike carrier is probably going to be too much tongue weight on the tow hitch.
If you have towing ability, I would strongly recommend renting the U-haul motorcycle trailer. It is $15 a day, and it will give you a chance to evaluate your options before spending money on buying something pricey.
In terms of initial trackdays, I think you can keep it fairly low budget. Run some Q3+ or Q4 tires, and don't stress. Besides from trackday fees and tire costs, the biggest costs that people often don't think about are:
lodging
gas
food
If you're living the comfortable life, you'll easily spend $300 just on these three items per weekend.
Depending on how far you are towing, the gas money for your car and the bike does add up. It is really an afterthought, but I do spend probably $80+ on gas alone per weekend.
Lodging is another huge cost, as others have mentioned. I sleep in the back of a station wagon now. When I did not have a tow vehicle, I used to rent Ford Transit vans from Enterprise commercial trucks and just string up a hammock inside. Otherwise, you're likely spending $50+ a night for a room. For a weekend, you will easily spend $100 on a room.
Food. Either you can pack your lunches and drinks in a cooler, or you can buy stuff nearby. Restaurants for 3 meals a day. Drinks after the day is over. Snacks. Water. If you eat out and buy everything there, you'll easily spend $100+ for a weekend.
If you have towing ability, I would strongly recommend renting the U-haul motorcycle trailer. It is $15 a day, and it will give you a chance to evaluate your options before spending money on buying something pricey.
In terms of initial trackdays, I think you can keep it fairly low budget. Run some Q3+ or Q4 tires, and don't stress. Besides from trackday fees and tire costs, the biggest costs that people often don't think about are:
lodging
gas
food
If you're living the comfortable life, you'll easily spend $300 just on these three items per weekend.
Depending on how far you are towing, the gas money for your car and the bike does add up. It is really an afterthought, but I do spend probably $80+ on gas alone per weekend.
Lodging is another huge cost, as others have mentioned. I sleep in the back of a station wagon now. When I did not have a tow vehicle, I used to rent Ford Transit vans from Enterprise commercial trucks and just string up a hammock inside. Otherwise, you're likely spending $50+ a night for a room. For a weekend, you will easily spend $100 on a room.
Food. Either you can pack your lunches and drinks in a cooler, or you can buy stuff nearby. Restaurants for 3 meals a day. Drinks after the day is over. Snacks. Water. If you eat out and buy everything there, you'll easily spend $100+ for a weekend.
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I would tackle the question of trackday/racing expenses with a top-down approach. Figure out exactly what your financial tolerance/willingness to spend is. That determines your entire budget and from there you can figure out the details and what is and what isn't worth it for you. I really really loved my track and AFM (just a season) experience as I made some very good friends along the way, but I also wish that I had automatically budgeted some of my income to investments/financial security along the way.
I literally stopped contributing to my 401k, stopped saving money, stopped everything so that I could be at the track 20-30+ weekends a year.
I do not recommend doing that unless you are so wealthy that money is of no concern (probably not the case, otherwise you wouldn't have started this thread).
I'm not a financial advisor, but I'm in a much better place now and how I'm approaching my track/racing now is I automatically invest/save 60% of my annual income. That money literally never hits my spending accounts. The rest of the 40% income is spent on mortgage, food, living. That way I can spend that 40% down to $0 on racing/tracking and not be worried about my future.
What I want right now is to buy a 28' travel trailer + diesel superduty truck to go to the racetrack. I *could* do it if I reduced my 60% to far less, but I am sticking to my rule, so what I am doing instead is renting out a room in my house and using that rental income to cover the payments for the tow rig/trailer. That way I never ever break my 60% rule.
Doing something like that years ago would have allowed me to enjoy tracking/racing while also putting me in a much better place financially. It took me 3-4 years of no motorcycling to make up for my younger years of blowing money without planning ahead.
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inthewoods
Well-known member
Going to the track with a travel trailer is a PITA along with the additional expense.
chrisweir.com
Home Loans for Riders!
I've raced big bikes and small bikes. Supermoto bikes are
There are many go cart tracks that run track days open to supermoto. So...
When running supermoto I crashed several times and the most costly repair was a throttle tube, brake lever and handlebars.
Supermoto for the win! Something like this could work, you could try dirt riding too, and it comes with the rack you may be able to work with!
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/d/hayward-2009-klx250s/7165776289.html
- cheap to buy
- cheap to maintain
- easy on tires
There are many go cart tracks that run track days open to supermoto. So...
- 10 to 15 track days on a set of tires
- $40 to $80 for the track day itself
- Ride an easy to repair bike which keeps tip-overs inexpensive
When running supermoto I crashed several times and the most costly repair was a throttle tube, brake lever and handlebars.
Supermoto for the win! Something like this could work, you could try dirt riding too, and it comes with the rack you may be able to work with!
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/d/hayward-2009-klx250s/7165776289.html
inthewoods
Well-known member
^ there fine for small layouts. Not so much for the big stuff and I'll disagree there inexpensive to run.
chrisweir.com
Home Loans for Riders!
What? A disagreement on the barfs???
Not cheap, but inexpensive relative to a big bike.
cg_ops
1-Armed Bandit
Not necessarily - I had a lot of fun re-learning how to ride on WR250 at Sonoma and THill. I rode it like a sportbike, too. Definitely had to use the nimbleness to my advantage b/c I was down on power compared to literally every other bike.
The nice thing was that the 2 times I laid it down it was fine to keep riding immediately after. AND you have the flexibility to ride it sumo style if you want
youtu.be/fghj1VrZlHg
R3DS!X
Whatever that means
One thing that doing the kart tracks helped me with was getting comfortable with trying different things with low cost of failure. got more comfortable passing people, trying different lines, reading people riding style to find out where i would be able to get by easier. also finding the limits of traction and getting comfortable with things being a wittle caddywhompus, finding ways to be more consistent.
Damnit now i want a supermoto again
Damnit now i want a supermoto again