I spent the last couple years becoming an instructor with just about all the local trackday groups (all but 1, but their events nearly always conflict with at least one other group’s and I can live with only instructing with: SCCA Time Trials, Porsche Club, BMW Club, APEX Academy, Park Place Events, Edge Addicts, and Eagles Canyon Raceway). So, for 2019 I was ready to do some serious track time. At the beginning of the year I mapped out the different schedules for the groups I coach with and counted up the events: 30 trackdays, about 11 autocrosses, and 3 Street Survival schools (teen car control clinics). I was going to be busy.
The beauty of instructing/coaching is that your entry fees are waived (or significantly discounted), so for 30 trackdays I only had to pay about $1000 in entry fees. Of course, coaching at event involves considerable work so you’re just paying with sweat equity instead of money. Most groups assign you 2 students, an intermediate and novice for the day so you are driving in one session and riding for 2 more, during a trackday you get 3-6 sessions (typically 20min each but some events use 30min sessions and our “Enduro” Time Trial had a 45min endurance session but that one didn’t require instructing). A typical trackday means getting to the track before 7am and leaving around 5pm, the days are long and tiring.
I hate adding up all the consumables and what it cost me, but as a recap and for educational purposes:
2.25 sets of track tires (last set will carryover to 2020) at $700 per set - $1700
1 set of autox tires - $800
1.5 sets of front brake rotors at $300 apiece - $450
4 sets of front brake pads at $175 each - $700
1.5 sets of rear brake pads at $150 each - $225
and about $40 in gas per event (including driving to the events) - $1200
So, even with a couple of miscellaneous wear items the whole year cost me about $6000 total or $5000 for just the trackdays which puts me at $175 per day (I switched tires mid-season to one that lasts much longer which would knock my tires from over 2 sets to about 1.5 sets, which would save me $10 per trackday).
I set new Personal Bests at every track and configuration that I run (3 different tracks with 8 unique configurations), and won 8 out of 9 of the Time Trials I entered. I had a ton of fun and plan on doing even more events next year (30-40 trackdays, another 8-10 autocrosses, and 2-3 Street Survival schools). I don’t have another event until January 11, which is just a couple of days shy of a month without an event (December 15th was my last event of 2019). Luckily, I live in Texas and the weather is nice enough in the winter to keep running events (as long as it’s near or above freezing without any snow or ice we can run).
See you at the track!