So you want to buy a racecar? - Page 2/2

Whether you elect to purchase a completed car or procure a rolling chassis, many fundamental details must be adhered to in order to complete the transaction. For instance, in the United States, SCCA (or similar governing body) logbooks establish ownership and details of a race car. These books can only be issued by a current Nationally Registered Tech Inspector. These logbooks show the car is eligible to compete in sanctioned events and that the basic construction of the car adheres to the safety requirements of the governing body. Additionally, the logbooks provide information to quickly verify the identity of the car as well as providing a record of ownership, a history of events entered and a record of the condition of the car before and after each event. In Europe, by comparison, it is the car’s FIA Papers which provide this information. It is imperative that logbooks or FIA papers are verified to be present and authentic before completing any transaction. These are often the only legal document identifying ownership of the car. Beware of auto brokers who don’t have the FIA papers in their possession, and insist on seeing them before finalizing the financial arrangements.

Once you’ve purchased the car and made your engine and drivetrain selections, it’s imperative you find a qualified race shop to put your car together and get it properly set up for track use. Unless you’re a former race engineer, don’t even attempt assembly on your own! Remember, when you’re flying through that sweeping right hander at triple digit speeds, the only thing keeping you on the track and away from the barrier is the technician who set your car up. To this end, there is a significant infrastructure in this industry, providing a wealth of knowledge gleaned through years of professional experience. Reputable resellers like Cars International should be your first point of contact – they can often direct you to the best people to answer your questions. Work to find out who is the “expert” on a given marque and find out everything they know.

While most of the original manufacturers will have a vast amount of information about your racecar, they are generally difficult to work with from a support standpoint. According to Cars International, the exception to this rule is Ferrari Cliente, who provides extensive support to all buyers of their racecars. A buyer must recognize while support is available through some manufacturers in terms of setup and other technical issues, day-to-day (trackday-to-trackday if you prefer) support must be contracted. These high performance, highly tuned machines need specialized technical attention to all of their major systems. Even a highly capable builder/owner/driver will still need a support crew to run the car at the track. This adds further costs to the ownership experience. (As you can see, this is becoming an expensive proposition, and we’ve not even turned a wheel yet!)

At this point, it would be prudent to measure that the type of usage the car is subjected to will often dictate the type of costs a prospective owner will shoulder. Modern F1 cars can have their rev limiters set at different values. The closer the rev limiter is to “race conditions”, the more often the engine will need overhaul. For instance, in the case of Ferrari’s F2002, allowing the car to rev to its maximum will produce an engine life of about four hundred kilometers. From a cost standpoint, once the engine needs rebuilding, expect to spend £100,000 (about $173,000 at current exchange rates) to rebuild it. By the way – there’s only one place in the world where the rebuild can be carried out. (You guessed it – Ferrari!)Granted, four hundred kilometers is a long way when you consider buyers will likely not subject the car to more than a handful of laps a few times per year. (As a method of measurement, Silverstone Race Track in the UK is 5.141km long. Assuming ten to twelve laps per outing, an owner could get between six to seven trips in before needing a rebuild, even in race trim.)

In contrast, the lower the rev limiter is set, the more endurance the engine will have. Taking 25% off of redline could yield endurance gains of up to 50%. Considering the performance potential of these cars is well beyond the driving potential of even many professional drivers, lowering the rev limit will do little to diminish the allure of the car and much to save the pocketbook!

Surprisingly, gearboxes will often outlast the engines unless a more conservative approach to engine usage (as discussed above) is undertaken. In race trim, a gearbox will often last well beyond the approximate four hundred kilometer limit of the engines, though it too needs to be regularly looked after. Often, companies such as Hewland or ZF are very willing to work with private owners in support of their gearboxes, and there is also a wealth of knowledge available within the community. A word of warning however: early sequential paddle shift boxes had many more issues than modern variants, often related to software programming. As a result, many owners elect instead to run a standard “H” pattern gearbox to save on maintenance headaches. Recent developments in gearbox technology has resulted in more reliable sequential boxes, however costs of acquisition (and overhaul) are substantially more than their “H” pattern counterparts.

In contrast with the issues of running a modern car, many vintage open wheel cars can offer the same type of thrill to the owner with far less cost. Before traction control, ABS, launch control and computer controlled “no lift shift” were common in open wheel racing, the cars were much simpler to work on. Though the engines and gearboxes are highly evolved, tightly toleranced pieces of engineering, the lack of computer controls means they’re still easier to work on than modern cars. Often, these older cars will run up to a thousand miles between rebuilds – far more excitement per £ (or $) than the modern cars. Rebuilds are often in the £15,000 range, so even subsequent maintenance costs are less painful. Along that line, spares are both more plentiful as well as being less expensive. While they may not draw as much attention at the track as the more modern machines, from a driver’s point of view, these older cars are still incredible fast, highly developed and competitive cars. (Not to mention, from a practical standpoint, these cars still have limits well beyond the capabilities of most drivers!)

Still other opportunities abound within other open wheel communities: all of the support classes to the “mainstream” open wheeled series are also available on the second-hand market. Cars from “Indy Lights”, Formula Atlantic, F3000 and F5000, to name a few, are plentiful and quite inexpensive (by comparison to their F1 / Indy / Champ Car counterparts) to run. Many of these cars can be found on the market for prices around $70,000, fully set up and often with many spares. Of course, operating costs are still high and a support crew (though smaller than the F1-type cars) will still be required. Most drivers will be just as quick around a track in a car from one of these classes as they will in an F1 or Indy Car.

All of the cars listed above would be eligible for entry into the BOSS super cup series, should the owner decided to become involved in racing. While an expensive proposition, as mixing it up with other drivers on the track introduces the possibility of damage and/or injury, for many owners, running in the BOSS series is an aspiration. From a competitive point of view, the less “authentic” cars are generally quicker than the more “authentic” cars, given advancements in technology since the periods in which the cars ran. Statistically, in terms of safety, BOSS events are safer than traveling on the world’s freeways/motorways. Still, as with any form of motorsport, significant risks both to the body and the pocket book abound.

Other racecars: While most of our focus to this point has been centered on open-wheel cars, many excellent examples of sports, Can-Am and Le Mans racers can also be found in the second hand market should you prefer a racecar from one of these series. Many of the same information presented above about securing FIA/SCCA logbooks, finding experts and gathering information applies just as much to these types of cars as it does to open wheeled examples. Acquisition costs are highly dependent on vehicle history (more so than open wheeled cars), though running costs are somewhat lower than their open wheeled counterparts. Further, more historic race series exist, should the prospective owner aspire to race his car. As a side benefit, these cars generally get more invitations to historical events, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK or Monterey Historics in Caliofornia as there are fewer well-maintained examples of historically significant racers in the community.

Once you’ve decided on a car, you have a choice in finding a source to provide it. Factories often sell prior cars in order to generate additional revenue, and you will generally receive the most “historically accurate” example of the car you’re after. Unfortunately, originality does not necessarily translate to additional value in the resale market, should you ever endeavor to sell the car. Furthermore, cars outside of the factory are often faster in competitive settings exactly because they’re not been maintained to original specifications, instead taking advantage of developments in technology. Many cars in the resale market have been modified several times since their creation at the factory and are much quicker for it. Beware, however, of any work not carried out by well-established race preparers.

In our opinion, for anyone seriously contemplating a race car purchase, we suggest you speak to the experts at Cars International. This organization has an extensive amount of professional connection within the racing community, and as such can help answer just about any question about historic race cars a potential buyer could have. Not to mention, Cars International regularly drive their cars at exhibition events around the world, and as such are very familiar with the practical aspects of operating historic race cars. Furthermore, they’re proud to support the cars they sell, extending to all aspects of ownership, including driver coaching, mechanical support and providing a single point of contact for subcontracted systems support. Paul and Jonathan are a goldmine of information for serious buyers of historical race cars.

Oli and I would like to thank Cars International for spending the day tirelessly answering our questions and allowing us to present the information to you, our dedicated readers. If you’re looking to buy a racecar, please let they guys over there know Oli and Jeremy sent you!

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