Best place to get rid of a "track" car?

Gents,

The time has come to part ways with my miata.

I recently moved to NYC, and as much as I want to keep the car it's simply not practical -- cheaper parking is at least $150 (in queens/brooklyn somewhere so pretty far away) or $350 (in manhattan) and insurance is hugely expensive. So if I want to keep my HPDE "habit" it's a cool $3k a year before I even leave the parking lot. It was bought as a track car and it was built as such by the previous owner (no power steering, no radio, no AC, nothing). I can't imagine that the car would be attractive to people on CL, but outside of listing on miata.net I'm not sure where else I could list and not get a bunch of low ball offers. Given that most of you are far more knowledgable about motorsport and the market I would appreciate any advice you may wish to impart. Thanks much!

Does your favorite track have garage rentals?

Otherwise, advertising in GRM/RacingJunk is probably your best bet. There's some guy with a massive collection of cars in Nevada that probably needs this!

Javelin wrote: Does your favorite track have garage rentals? Otherwise, advertising in GRM/RacingJunk is probably your best bet. There's some guy with a massive collection of cars in Nevada that probably needs this!

The original goal for getting a track car was to avoid paying huge sums of money to rent something like a spec miata at a track, but now if I want to continue I may not have a choice...

Thanks for the tip on RacingJunk -- I've never browsed before. As for the guy in NV.. I doubt my car will be of any interest to him! It's just a Miata!

I was going to say .... at the track.... 4 sale sign in the window ....run it and pass lots of folk ... someone is sure to notice

I doubt it'll be a big enough difference to sway you, but until recently I was paying about $200/month to garage my car between 8th & 9th ave, btwn 49th and 50th.

Put it in storage in the Poconos. Should be about $90 a month enclosed, $65 outside.

peter wrote: I doubt it'll be a big enough difference to sway you, but until recently I was paying about $200/month to garage my car between 8th & 9th ave, btwn 49th and 50th.

If the car was anything but a track car I may consider it, but it's just not worth it for what I use it for... Maybe one day I can afford a house in the burbs and jump back in the game.

This thread needs more details about the car...

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Put it in storage in the Poconos. Should be about $90 a month enclosed, $65 outside.

I would LOVE to do this, except I'd also like to try other tracks around the area (NJMP, Watkins Glen, etc.) and I gotta keep the car registered / insured if I were to drive it on public roads. Also, according to google maps the time to poconos from the city is around 2 hours, so it's not too convenient.

Apexcarver wrote: This thread needs more details about the car...

94 M, 130k on car, 55k on engine, drivetrain mostly stock, pretty fresh suspension bits.

Something I have been thinking about doing myself to enable having a formula car while living in an apartment...

Can you rent a storage unit and house the car in it? For you, looking over in NJ or somewhere...

Been wondering myself if those places would allow that...

Javelin wrote: There's some guy with a massive collection of cars in Nevada that probably needs this!

I'm glad you didn't say "non-working", otherwise I would have thought you were referring to me .

Not that a working Miata drivetrain wouldn't be welcome here...

Apexcarver wrote: Something I have been thinking about doing myself to enable having a formula car while living in an apartment... Can you rent a storage unit and house the car in it? For you, looking over in NJ or somewhere... Been wondering myself if those places would allow that...

I've looked on CL for parking spaces and basically the cost of it is inversly correlated to the distance to public transportation. So while I can get a spot for $100 it comes down to a question of convenience. Also, insurance is just really, really expensive around this area, and unfortunately that doesn't change no matter how much I pay for parking. Lastly, I can only participate in events that are on weekends, so that drastically cuts down on number of events. So in my mind to pay 30-40% of the car's value in insurance/parking every year is just not worth it given how little I could enjoy it.

Find the local Spec Miata prep shop and let them know. They might know someone.

Gotcha,

Try scca forums (seem to be 503ing at the moment?)

Miata.net is a good one.

Local autocross club type forums.

Racingjunk is a no-brainer.

Are you a member on Corner-carvers or the like?

http://www.roadraceautox.com/

It sounds like my daily driver without power steering or a radio, lol. Probably with safety gear though (on my purchase list).

Advertise it in GRM and if its priced well it should sell quickly.

Apexcarver wrote: Something I have been thinking about doing myself to enable having a formula car while living in an apartment... Can you rent a storage unit and house the car in it? For you, looking over in NJ or somewhere... Been wondering myself if those places would allow that...

I tried that, some will let you park it outside for an exorbitant amount. Most won't let you park it in a unit unless it is completely drained of fluids, or just flat out won't let you.

The place where I store my stuff allows you to store cars inside the unit (at least they do on paper), but IIRC unless it's drained of fluid, you have to put a tarp under it. Not that bad.

The issue is still insurance. Your insurance company won't write a policy for a place you don't live. I store my car at my parents place in CT. By putting my dad on my insurance policy, my premium is based on being parked in CT, not NYC. My insurance company is the one who suggested this, surprisingly, so it's not like I'm fooling them. But it is a little backwards...

I would LOVE to do this, except I'd also like to try other tracks around the area (NJMP, Watkins Glen, etc.) and I gotta keep the car registered / insured if I were to drive it on public roads. Also, according to google maps the time to poconos from the city is around 2 hours, so it's not too convenient.

Don't have to go to the Poconos. Find some U-Store-It place in northern NJ where the rent is lower and park it inside a storage unit. They have garage doors on those things for that purpose.

Fifty bucks a month for essentially a garage stall would give you a place with lights and a concrete floor whare you can work on the car as well as park between race weekends. Just be up-front with the rental place about what you intend to do and they may even willing to help you out with a storage unit specifically setup for that purpose.

Extra power outlets and improved lighting plus easier drive-in access are examples of such things. As a younbg GI, a friend and I maintained his racecar out of a storage unit for almost two years, and we were not the only folks doing that at that particular storage company. So it does work.

if it is against the rules then PM me, but post how much you want because I am interested!

vern2point3 wrote: Don't have to go to the Poconos. Find some U-Store-It place in northern NJ where the rent is lower and park it inside a storage unit. They have garage doors on those things for that purpose. Fifty bucks a month for essentially a garage stall would give you a place with lights and a concrete floor whare you can work on the car as well as park between race weekends. Just be up-front with the rental place about what you intend to do and they may even willing to help you out with a storage unit specifically setup for that purpose. Extra power outlets and improved lighting plus easier drive-in access are examples of such things. As a younbg GI, a friend and I maintained his racecar out of a storage unit for almost two years, and we were not the only folks doing that at that particular storage company. So it does work.

The problem is insurance, which is going to be $2k a year. The parking cost is just incremental, but still expensive. I guess an alternative is that I rent a uhaul and tow the thing to tracks so I don't need insurance... Given that I'm not going to more than 3-4 events a year, the rental cost may be no more than 500 bucks? Hmmm.. that makes this decision much harder all of a sudden!! Thanks for the inspiration!

Keith wrote: Find the local Spec Miata prep shop and let them know. They might know someone.

Apexcarver wrote: Gotcha, Try scca forums (seem to be 503ing at the moment?) Miata.net is a good one. Local autocross club type forums. Racingjunk is a no-brainer. Are you a member on Corner-carvers or the like? http://www.roadraceautox.com/ It sounds like my daily driver without power steering or a radio, lol. Probably with safety gear though (on my purchase list). Advertise it in GRM and if its priced well it should sell quickly.

Thanks much guys. Will def try out these routes if I don't end up keeping it!

Unfortunately, the best place used to be the GRM classifieds.

yeah, wish that would come back .....

u could start here by posting a pic of the car in question

register for the forums at sccv.org, and post it for free there. Also try hillclimb.org forums.