Original: So You Want To Go GT3 Racing Part 1
Author:? Stephen Kilbey
Translator: Eric Lu
topic of this series Dailysportscar.com and editor-in-chief Graham Goodwin authorized BEC Motorsports to perform Chinese translation. repost is not allowed without consent!
Racing has never been a cheap sport, and it will never be in the future.
From the past to the present, the quality of racing cars has been constantly improving, but because of this, the cost of participating in motorsports is also rising. With the global economic situation still not fully clear due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the future of motorsport, especially the sports car competition that Dailysportscar (hereinafter referred to as DSC) focuses on, has never been so uncertain.
Since various automakers will use their funds more carefully than before the outbreak (just look at the movements of Audi, Porsche and Bentley in the past few months), in the next few years, maintain this The task of the number of racing cars in this sport is likely to fall further on the private team and gentleman drivers.
This transformation process will inevitably cause harm to the sport, and some problems will be more noticeable. The scale of the competition is likely to become smaller, and the funds used by some rich people to participate in the competition will also be reduced.
No matter from LMP1 or down to local cup and club level competitions, it seems that everyone will feel the economic pressure brought about by the epidemic more or less.
However, if you want to truly understand the cost of motorsports and the ins and outs of getting a car to compete, you must be engaged in the sport, or spend a few hours to "torture" those engaged in this sport People. Therefore, DSC spent a considerable amount of time talking with representatives of the teams, drivers, engineers and manufacturers to understand how difficult the days will become after the restart. All people will remain anonymous, so that it is convenient for us to list some straightforward and honest facts and statistics.
Calculating the cost of the car and the future challenges is a grand proposition. There are countless variables in this process, so DSC decided to only focus on the GT3 platform. GT3 is a global event platform that has received strong support from major manufacturers and small private teams. GT3 has also become the focus of the news, because Porsche announced in June that it will withdraw from the IMSA Defender Tektronix Sports Car Championship. This has led to a further impact on the GTE market at the car manufacturer level, leaving many people unaware of the top GT events after 2020. What is it like. Therefore, this will be a very meaningful case study, but the purpose of this series of articles is not to show that GT3 is at a disadvantage compared to other competition platforms.
However, before discussing this issue further, the important point that needs to be explained is-the cost of racing is a very complicated topic with almost unlimited variables. The numbers mentioned in this article are described by people who directly participate in the sport, but this is not a conclusive conclusion. Can these things be done with less or more budget? of course can. Therefore, this article can only provide "approximate" figures. Of course, all figures are absolutely accurate, but "other budget levels are also possible."
Chapter 1: Pick a car, any car
The length of the interview recorded for this article totals more than 15 hours, and the author’s biggest gain is: any car It is a miracle that the race can be successfully held, not to mention that there are hundreds of different races around the world for fans to watch.
The list of items that need to be considered when preparing the budget for the GT3 competition is amazing, and all items will come with considerable costs, which is almost beyond doubt.
Let us start with the car itself.
is just nowThe basic cost of some GT3 models is very different: the models under the Volkswagen Group are relatively cheaper and produced in a large number (the price of a car is about 340,000 to 400,000 euros), and Italy is the most representative The price of the brand's car is much higher (generally about 650,000 euros, the price of a full match is 700,000 euros).
"When you participate in a race like GT3, you are paying to drive the car you want." A team owner explained, "Anytime, when you are not for one When you pay for a car you like, you must either encounter a price that is so cheap that you can't refuse it, or you will encounter a very competitive car, and then you will not consider the problem of the racing brand. "
" But in 80% of the cases, you just want to drive a Porsche to compete, or a McLaren; you drive a Ferrari, maybe because you heard about the "Prancing Horse" when you were young, you Want to be a part of this racing tradition; some people like Nissan GT-R or Honda NSX because they have used them in games, and these cars are great."
"The next point is important. If you Take the money you spend on racing cars as the variable X. Whether you drive a mass-produced car brand or a niche manufacturer to participate in the race, if you want to achieve good results in the race, the money you will spend will probably be X Multiplier. To do this well, it’s definitely not a cheap thing.”
It’s not cheap to race with some manufacturers: “Sometimes you feel that the price you pay for a certain brand is better than for racing cars. The price paid is more." A team owner said, "Maybe Brand A has more racing traditions. They know that they can charge more than Brand B because people will pay anything to race with Brand A. "
However, don’t be fooled by the basic price of the car, because a GT3 car is converted from an offline state into a complete endurance race specification (including number plates, quick refueling tank, traction control system and tires). Pressure monitoring system), which can increase the price by an additional 50,000 to 70,000 pounds (about 55,000 to 77,000 euros).
This does not involve the spare parts needed in the race. The team’s spending on spare parts per season can easily reach 100,000 Euros.
“Buying a complete spare parts package may cost 200,000 pounds (219,000 euros).” A British team owner told DSC, “If you test in another country for two to three days, Without the support of the manufacturer, once you encounter a major accident during the test drive and want to continue the next day, you need to spend a lot of money to prepare spare parts. This means that if you want to build two The racing team has a decent spare parts package. Before you buy anything other than the racing car and spare parts, it is easy to exceed one million (Euros)."
"Even if the team only plans to send one Racing cars.” Another team manager added, “You may find that it might be more cost-effective to buy a second car as a spare part.”
When the car’s “upgrade kit” is released, the team will also do so. More money is lost, because most of the spare parts left over from the previous generation car cannot be fitted to the new car and must be deregistered.
"Ferrari 488 GT3 has recently launched two upgrade kits, one in 2018 and one in 2020." A driver told DSC, "The new upgrade kit is 70,000 euros. This kit is just for You get a better performance balance calculation method, so this kit does not have any technical advantages. But the problem is that you have to use the latest cars to participate in the race, because they will make the old cars slower.”
"If a gentleman driver bought a brand new car for 650,000 pounds (714,000 euros) in 2019, he would spend another 70,000 pounds (7.68 Ten thousand euros) to upgrade, there is almost no choice.”
This is the role of paddock politics. If you don’t buy an upgrade kit, then you will almost never get the results you want because the manufacturer doesHope the old version of the car beats the new car. "If you really win with the old car, then other opponents in the paddock will complain." An experienced driver pointed out.
In addition, the worse problem is that sometimes the upgrade kit does not achieve the expected results in terms of racing performance and driving.
"If you really win with the old car, then other opponents in the paddock will complain."
"I don't mind that the car will be upgraded every few years." A European The team’s boss said, “But the last upgrade kit actually made the car slower and harder to drive until we got a balance of performance. It’s too wasteful...”
Racing upgrade kit It is generally regarded as a means for automakers to generate revenue, not really to make racing cars more competitive. As a manufacturer representative described it, this is a "product life cycle strategy."
In addition, you have to consider the differences in the running costs of different cars. It is extremely difficult for us to give an accurate price. This is because each racing car uses a completely different set of parts (with different service life). On the other hand, it is also because car manufacturers have become very strategic in giving numbers in order to attract customers.
Judging from the conversations during the writing of this topic, the current Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is considered to be about 12-14 pounds (13-15 euros) per kilometer; while the Ferrari 488 GT3 is It’s about twice as much. Some teams think it’s 30-35 pounds (32-38 euros) per kilometer, and some others think it’s higher.
"30 pounds (32 euros) per kilometer? Impossible! The real figure should be 39 pounds (42 euros)..." a Ferrari team owner told DSC.
Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan are said to be 12 pounds (13 euros) per kilometer, and the McLaren 720S GT3 is also around this figure, but it often depends on how you calculate the operating costs. A former manufacturer representative set McLaren’s figure at 16 pounds (17 euros) per kilometer, but a team manager who operated the (global) 720S GT3 project last year set the figure at 36 pounds (39 euros). "
"Most fleets only look at the operating cost per kilometer, but if the logistics cost is added, it is a huge number. "The project leader of a certain manufacturer's customer fleet said, "If you look at Audi, they have already counted it, and their price per kilometer is about 12-13 euros. If you look at McLaren, it’s 15-16 pounds, so it’s almost 20 euros per kilometer. "
" But this number fluctuates, because it depends on the content contained in the number. Manufacturers don’t care how much fuel or tires are consumed per kilometer, all they report is the cost of maintaining the life of the car. Our goal is about 14 pounds per kilometer, but it is almost 16 pounds after the operation. In order to persuade you to buy their car, manufacturers will always try to give you a range, but the actual number is always the highest in this range. If a manufacturer says 20-25 pounds (27 euros) per kilometer, the actual number will be 25. "
" The operating cost is really jaw-dropping. "An active factory team driver added, "You can think of it this way. You make a lap at Silverstone just to make sure the car is okay. For the more expensive GT3 racing car, that lap was about 200 Euros. Just two minutes, this does not include tires, fuel, staff and logistics support. "
Picking a car is just the beginning. If you are building a team from scratch, there will be a lot of equipment needed for the car to drive from the garage to the track (the tire gun is 6-7 thousand pounds each, and a fuel tank requires About 8 thousand). If you want to buy a good transport truck, this truck alone will cost you 250,000 pounds.
"It is very expensive to be fully equipped, but in the final analysis it depends Your customers, really. "A team owner explained, "We are not talking about young silver drivers, we are just talking about ordinary gentleman drivers, from 30 to 60 years old. Whatever your clientAre they 35 or 60, some people want to be their best every time. They want to win the game. "
" Similarly, you will also meet some drivers who race to get the thrill of racing. This is a way of release, and they are just happy to be part of it. If you meet the second type of people, then operating costs will be greatly reduced. They don't need the lightest tires, the fastest tire guns, and they don't need a lot of data recording and sensors. They only need to have the most basic cars and parts, and then go to the competition. "
" But when you want to win, its cost will increase exponentially. Even in GT3, you also need more equipment and technology, you need better everything, this is the uniqueness of this sport. To make a car run fast, you need a complete team, not just a single component. This is a synergy between racing accessories and people, and it must be seamless. "
" Winning Wimbledon does not require you to use a £1,000 tennis racket, and playing basketball does not require you to wear a pair of Air Jordan shoes. But in racing, you must have better equipment. If you want to be faster in the pit lane, having an F1 tire gun is very helpful. "
The staff cost of operating the team will also be very high. Some teams pay a low salary for weekend technicians, such as £15,000 a season, and some teams told DSC that their expenditure is close to the 50,000 mark. .
Besides, you can’t just use a few people to solve the problem. A team based in the UK that uses GT3 cars to compete domestically and internationally told DSC that their annual expenditure on staff is about 830,000 pounds, only 7 full-time staff, the rest are called to help on the track on different weekends.
Before you pay for the competition and the running costs of the car, you also need the workshop to store and maintain Your car, even if you only need a small workshop, the annual cost may be 100,000 pounds (110,000 euros). "This does not include equipment. We spent about 20,000 pounds on equipment in the workshop ( 22,000 euros), they are not used for any form of manufacturing work, just to maintain the car. A team owner said.
You may also find yourself in addition to all this but also need to spend a small amount of money on insurance, but insurance is a huge source of frustration for the team. Many team owners Tell DSC that this is a huge expense, but it can only be exchanged for a very small income, which is almost not worth paying for.
"The racing insurance you choose is all done by a dedicated broker. Human operation. There are four or five mainstream racing brokerage companies in the market, and their (quotations) will surprise you. A fleet owner revealed.
"Our fleet has storage insurance and transshipment insurance, which covers everything in the workshop, freight and transportation. These expenses are normal. Although not cheap, they are not absurd. Is it almost 8,000 (GBP, 8,700 euros) or 12,000 (GBP, 13,200 euros) a year? "
"Then it's on the track. Although you don’t have to insure the car, most people do. The key issue is the level of protection you get. If it is a 500,000 pounds (549,000 euros) car, it is difficult to insure the car for 250,000 pounds (274,700 euros). You can never insure the full value unless you insure multiple policies, but that is extremely complicated. "
" So, for example, if you insure a car participating in the British GT Championship, and you choose to insure it for 150,000 to 175,000 pounds (164,700 to 192,000 euros), there will be 25,000 ( GBP, or 27,400 euros). So if I write it off and save 150,000, I can only get back 125,000 (GBP, or 137,000 euros). If there are more losses afterwards, I have to pay for it myself. "
"You can also take out fire insurance. This is a separate insurance, so it is also an additional cost, which is part of the fleet budget. It's crazy, it's hardly worth your insurance. For the £150,000 British GFor the T tournament, for the protection of seven games, you need to pay a premium of 40,000 (GBP, or €43,800), maybe more. "
"If someone from another team hits your car against a wall, they have no responsibility. You are the one who pays for the damage. "
" So, when you subtract 40,000 from 150,000, and then subtract 25,000 (pounds, or 27,400 euros), you will only save 85,000 in a major accident. (Pound, which is 93,300 euros). And in different accidents, your car's damage will also increase. Most of the car's dents and scratches are not covered by the insurance because they are all under the deductible. "
"Insurance only protects you when you encounter a major accident. In the past ten years, our fleet has only had one accident that exceeded the insurance amount. There is no responsibility for an accident on the track. If someone from another team hits your car against a wall, you will pay for the damage. "
"This is completely different from driving on the road. ”
The picture in this article is from Dailysportscar
Translated by BEC Motorsports
Not reprinted without permission
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