In reply to Tom1200 :
Sobering to see how it adds up, but much appreciated for the insight.
In reply to Tom1200 :
Sobering to see how it adds up, but much appreciated for the insight.
In reply to sourcedlewk :
Shoot me an e-mail, it's my username at gmail. The Barber event is December 12-13. I know a few good teams that are not outrageously priced, they're simply trying to help pay for their racing by spreading the costs around. I've raced an entire weekend with teams for as little as $800 for about 4 hours of seat time. It sounds high on the initial, but when you factor in that you're not working on a car, not towing it anywhere, not storing it somewhere, buying all of the ancillaries to have for working on a car at the track, etc., it's not that bad. I had a car that I was running, and I priced it where all I had in doing an event was the sweat equity of working on it, and the time to tow it to the track and back. It worked well for me, and let me go to quiet a few tracks. Since I haven't had time to work on my own car the last couple of years, I've found a team to race with that I work well together with and enjoy hanging out with. I show up, write a check, drive. There's plenty of guys like me out there, so that's another idea to consider when building a car. If you can fund it with the input from others, you can do more.
Re Spec Miatas there is few right now on the Spec Miata Facebook Discussion Page at sub $10,000 for NA's. The beauty of Spec cars is they hold value for the most part given proper maintenance and updates YMMV.
sourcedlewk said:In reply to RobertElder :
Disregard my previous, I found 2 local series within an hour and a half of me - good call.
Glad you found something local! I won't force feed anyone on here karting, but I would suggest going and checking out a proper kart track and seeing how you and your buddy like it.. Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP) is one of the more popular kart tracks in the country and even their rental league is probably a great chance to race with your buddy (even in addition to real race cars).
Karting info can be harder to find, but there are some great resources on youtube and https://forums.kartpulse.com .
Briggs & Stratton's 4-stroke "LO206" engine package lends to very competitive and affordable racing. Versus two strokes & shifters, a complete engine package is about $750 and is sealed from the factory so there's no hot engines being built for people willing to spend a ton of cash. There is very little maintenance and they run on regular pump gas. Most clubs also run a harder tire compound on these vs. the 2 strokes so they will last half to a full season. This lets you go practice or race for a day for typically less than $100.
I bought my lightly used kart for around $2,500, and another $1,000 would easily get you set up with all the safety and support gear to go racing. I know here in Florida I could race nearly every weekend at one of the tracks within a couple hour drive.. There's definitely something to say for racing a purpose built machine, and racing often vs. only once every couple of months in cars. If you're looking to race though - I would at least take the time to head out and rent karts to see if you and your buddy fall in love with it or not.
A few quick kart vids.. then I'm done trying to sell anyone else on karting vs. cars. There's a place for both, and I want to do both 
Don't sleep on the rental league nights too... they make for some great racing, and you don't need to purchase any gear to race. After doing it more often (and sim racing) I ended up with my own helmet, shoes and gloves but these locations provide helmets and the other items are niceties but not required (well ok, you need to wear SOME FORM of shoes).
Video from my local rental league: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QnbuZBhN2Oxw-hkgh9f5J_iJ3-JDrlpb/view?usp=sharing
In reply to Rons :
Yeah funnily enough I just ran across one for 8 grand on craigslist - but I've found better deals in formula vee so I'm looking there too.
In reply to RobertElder :
Oh I absolutely don't want to disparage the rental leagues - I did one in the UK (fantastic one as well, you race in Rotax max karts that go 70 mph), just looking for something more than that is all. Cheers for the vids and links, it looks like a blast.
Lots of good info in this thread so far, one important thing not mentioned yet. If you decide to go the SCCA/NASA route, you'll need to get a comp licence. Not sure what your recent track experience is, but NASA will want you to be at a certain HPDE level first, before they let you take the test. SCCA wants to send you to a school, which will be a few grand. Your SCCA region might run an alternative school (usually considerably less), but you'll have to bring your own car (and a crew).
Most of the enduro series are a bit more cavalier about the licensing. Usually, there's just a short driver's class the night before (I think), and you'll be on your way
In reply to sedrat :
Yeah that's been one of the huge barriers for me. I managed to find one for about 500 or so, and frankly its a bullet that I'll have to bite sometime soon, but one that will be in the later stages of this project. I've had some great help from this forum regarding champ car and the like so I'm considering dropping some dosh for seat time, so ur insight about what they need re licensing is helpful.
The Buccaneer region of the SCCA holds a driver school in February at Roebling Road. Guaranteed the entry fee is under $500. That's plenty of time to get a spec Miata, get some safety gear and go get a license. Run a year with the SCCA and you can race at least once a month, that license will then transfer over to any other series. Down here in Central Florida region, SCCA is the big dog, but NASA gives you more seat time for less money over the course of a weekend. Good luck, and don't forget there's a reason Miata is the answer.
In reply to sourcedlewk :
If you are looking at Formula Vees also check out F500. 8K will get you a good F500 (snowmobile drivetrain), don't be afraid of two strokes or the CVT driveline. The two stroke motors are super reliable and the CVTs are the worlds cheapest close ratio gearbox. You can also autocross a F500 in F-mod. F500s are the fastest of the non winged single seat race cars.
You may want to look at vintage racing as well. NA Miatas are accepted, you could also run a vintage formula vee. The vintage race organizations generally don't have separate schools, you do a ground school Friday night and then observe you throughout the weekend. Novice drivers are only allowed in certain cars, a Miata or a Vee fit that bill.
In reply to tooms351 :
That's really helpful man, I've seen some vids of Roebling Road and its not that far away from me - so this could end up being the one I'll go to if anything.
In reply to Tom1200 :
Yeah I've been having a look at some of the F500s - seems like a different driving style to the FVees, more aggressive than the unsettled Fvees which seem to demand less input in the turn. Its currently a toss up between them - I'd have to see which are more popular in my region, and currently I'm finding better deals for FVee. Would you happen to know anything about the running costs between the two?
In reply to ddavidv :
Using the 8k budget and GOPRO Motorplex as an example, anyone can buy a brand new, top of the line LO206 kart. The Entry fee you mention, I know a guy who can run 5 races total cost at said club. Hard to beat that!
In reply to sourcedlewk :
For sure find out which class is more popular in you region.
As for driving styles; having driven both FV & F500 it's not so much that you are more aggressive with F500 it is more of a case of the shorter wheelbase.
I went with F500 because I wanted something faster than FV but didn't want to spend Formula Ford money.
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