While the prices of purpose-built race cars continue to esclate, Howe Racing Enterprises looks to buck that trend with its HR6.
“I hope for it to be a car more [for the general] populous,” says Charlie Howe, who designed the HR6 with Turn Key Motorsports engineer Jack Rinke. “The current road racing market has gotten very professional, and the prices …
Cool! Still too rich for me though.
There's definitely a market for this.
If I can learn to live on about 4% of my annual income I might be able to buy one.
On a serious note I know of at least 4 people that would fit in the target market.
Tom1200 said:If I can learn to live on about 4% of my annual income I might be able to buy one.
You can sleep in a car, but you can't race your house. 
Tom1200 said:There's definitely a market for this.
If I can learn to live on about 4% of my annual income I might be able to buy one.
On a serious note I know of at least 4 people that would fit in the target market.
I’d agree. It’s not for everyone but for those seeking a new tube-frame car, it does seem to hit a sweet spot. Looks like it will retail for about $15,000 more than a new MX-5 Cup car.
Looking at the Howe site right now. Looks like a rolling TA2 chassis retails for $94,000.
My new Legend car with a new motor was about ten per cent of that. Can't imagine what that one would do to a marriage.....
In reply to J.A. Ackley :
Wrong forum.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
J.A. and I discussed that. I think it’s also part of our world. It’s towards the upper end but it’s also reflective of what we see at track events.
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:My new Legend car with a new motor was about ten per cent of that. Can't imagine what that one would do to a marriage.....
J.A. and I discussed Legends cars. Does something like this compete or compare? Or is a Legends its own unique thing with no equal?
In reply to David S. Wallens :
It may only be about $15k more than a new MX-5 Cup car, but also looks to only be about $15k less than a new complete TA2 car. Sure it splits the difference there, but to what end vs just jumping to TA2?
Driven5 said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
It may only be about $15k more than a new MX-5 Cup car, but also looks to only be about $15k less than a new complete TA2 car. Sure it splits the difference there, but to what end vs just jumping to TA2?
FWIW I hear you can get a retired NASCAR for under $30k....
In reply to theruleslawyer :
How about a used NASCAR for half that? And one driven by Tony Stewart during his rookie year?
Seriously. The Grand Prix that he drove in 1999 sold for $15,400 at Mecum last year.
Driven5 said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
It may only be about $15k more than a new MX-5 Cup car, but also looks to only be about $15k less than a new complete TA2 car. Sure it splits the difference there, but to what end vs just jumping to TA2?
That’s a good question. How do the running costs compare?
I was just poking around while eating lunch. You can’t even buy a new 911 for $115k. A Z06 goes for just a few bucks less.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
But you can buy an older 911 Cup car in that price range... and it has arguably been fully depreciated at this point.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to theruleslawyer :
How about a used NASCAR for half that? And one driven by Tony Stewart during his rookie year?
Seriously. The Grand Prix that he drove in 1999 sold for $15,400 at Mecum last year.
Nice. I just saw the one Emelia Hartford bought recently.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I really want that. I'd love to register for a track day as driving a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix and then wheel that out of the trailer.
Rodan said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
But you can buy an older 911 Cup car in that price range... and it has arguably been fully depreciated at this point.
You can. I was just comparing new vs. new.
If you want a fully built, purpose-built, turnkey full-size race car, rather than buying used or building your own, the price point is going to be near this car. It's where we're at.
I'm not here to judge what one can afford or whether one prefers new or old - I'm only here to show what's available and provide enough information for one to make an educated decision.
P.S. - Legend cars are a solid option for scaled down, purpose-built new car that retails for well below the average price for a new street car.. I used to promote legend car races.
If you want to harass this guy on the cheap, build a modified LFX or LSX-powered car with a beefed -up version of a Locost chassis and put some aftermarket fiberglass on it.
My brother recently moved to Tennessee and says that used stock car chassis (plural) are very inexpensive for what you get. That seems like a far better use of funds - far more appropriate for "GRM." This assumes that a track or autocross toy is the goal and not a serious effort in some series.
In reply to J.A. Ackley :
That's because despite not having a class yet, this is apparently not intended to just be a track day or weekend warrior race car. They're pushing it more like a stepping stone along the professional motorsports path. If it would actually be a more bang for the buck way to do so, that's still Grassroots. So unless old NASCARs and old 911 Cup cars have a venue to do that, they're ultimately irrelevant for that purpose regardless of how much of a relative bargain they might be.
But that's also where I still don't see the point. You've already got MX5 Cup and TA2. I'm not really understanding what significant price vs performance vs visibility gap this is filling. It's being marketed as making it significantly more affordable as a privateer (Grassroots) effort, but how so? It seems more like an attempt to drum up support to get an org to start a spec class based on this so that they don't have to compete for customers like they do in TA2. Maybe if they highlighted more about why this is would be so much cheaper than TA2, other than running an uncommon engine with 2 fewer cylinders.
Legends are certainly in a class of their own. Did I see that they're still under $20k new? The more I've thought about them, the more sense they make to me. I wonder what it would take to convince the local tracks to run some kind of basic 'roval' configuration for them once or twice a year.
For the roof shape it looks like they just took a mold of a 2.0L Toyobaru. What's the body made of? Wrecked HR6s could become a good source of cheap lightweight Toyobaru roof panels...
In reply to GameboyRMH : I think we both thought the same thing, it looks just like a Toybaru. Like NASCAR was going to run them and this is what it would look like. Maybe NASCAR could use these to bring back the old DASH series....
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:If you want to harass this guy on the cheap, build a modified LFX or LSX-powered car with a beefed -up version of a Locost chassis and put some aftermarket fiberglass on it.
On an autocross course, yes. On a big track the Locost will hit an aero wall at 90-ish mph and will lose a ton of time down the straight.
You'll need to log in to post.
