If you post online that you would like to race in a class like Spec Miata: You may hear that you need a $40k car and $5k budget per weekend for a crew, on-site bodyman, a set or two of tires per weekend, lavish hotels, constant rebuilds, a stacker trailer, 3500 dually pickup, etc. It’s as entertaining as it is frustrating when someone online tells me that exactly what I’ve already been doing for years is impossible. I’m opening my books for this post: I’ll share what I spent on each part of my race effort this year, and how I got it ALL done for under $7,000. I don’t write this post as a way to brag from my high horse made of trash, but to encourage YOU that you may just be able to afford racing after-all.

This $7,000 budget is my operating/consumable budget for a year, after I’ve already been racing for several years. If you’re looking to break into racing, the list of required purchases is pretty significant (and I will touch on that below).

It is absolutely true that racing is an expensive hobby, even feeling comfortable calling my effort “affordable” does show the very fortunate financial position I am in. However, I want you to know that a successful race effort does not need to cost several thousand dollars per weekend. The truth is: If you have a bit of knowledge, time, the ability to camp, and an absence of terrible luck: You can absolutely put on a competitive, full-season race effort on a shoestring budget.

My 2023 season was a monumental one, I was able to clinch the 2023 NASA NorthEast Spec Miata Championship in a competitive region averaging 20 SM per race. I participated in the entire season’s calendar including a few extra test/practice days: And I did all this for less than $7,000. $7,000 is NOT an insignificant sum of money, but it’s far from the “$50-100,000” you may hear.  

---

There are different levels of club racing across the US. There are regional race series from multiple clubs. A step above regionals, SCCA has its Majors and one more step, the “Super Tour”. National Championship races exist from NASA and the SCCA (Runoffs). There are other clubs, track based-series, and special events as well. I am competing at the regional level with NASA. The regional level can have some serious competition (as I believe my region does), but regional racing is also the place where people go to actually have fun. You aren’t towing across the entire country for regular season events. With regional races, people actually hang out and talk freely in the paddock. We sit in the shade and talk between races, we give advice and share notes. At night, we make Pizza and BS around the campfire. We stay up late into the night, often projecting the day’s race video onto an enclosed trailer while throwing beer cans at the image when someone misses a shift, brakes too early, or doesn’t dive into a gap. Most of us don’t retreat to swanky hotel rooms to review data, later dressing up to visit the fancy local specialty restaurants.

I’ve been called a “budget extremist”…. Something I’ll wear with pride. Most of the people running regionally are spending a fraction of the budget that serious operations do, but my budget is a smaller fraction still. A mix of frugal choices, stubborn refusal to buy things, and dumb luck. I have no gripes or ill-will to people spending large sums of money on their race operations, we all play our parts in this series and the diversity is one of the things that makes Spec Miata great. My big request to all of you is that we collectively stop perpetuating the rumor that the top 5% of spenders in Spec Miata are the norm for the entire class nationally.

---

A season’s Budget:

Despite the common joke of “NEVER add up what you spend on this hobby and DEFINITELY don’t show it to your significant other” having written expenses helps me keep things in perspective. Watching the numbers inevitably add up helps keep me in check – “Sure, my original suspension bushings should be replaced, but the car feels fine to me, I certainly don’t need them. I’ll wait for a season when I don’t have much else going on” Budgeting means I can spend smarter and not need to skip a weekend to make up for a purchasing splurge elsewhere.

I’ve been doing some form of expense tracking since 2019. This season I ramped it up. I dedicated a single credit card to racing related expenses and tracked everything on a single spreadsheet. I’ve had to estimate some costs and I’m sure I missed a few, but this is certainly the lionshare of all spend. I’ve rounded-up a lot of my numbers to try to account for missed spend.

Note: My “Day job” is Teaching High School Art, not working in accounting. I spend a lot of time around people who spend their whole day deep in corporate budgets. To them (and possibly, you, the reader), I would like to apologize for what I’m sure will be a show of impressively misused finance terminology below. 

---

The shortcomings of looking at someone else’s annual budget in motorsports:

Your mileage will absolutely vary. It’s impossible for me to definitively say “This is what a season of Spec Miata costs” as the list of expiring goods, wearing items, and incidental occurrences like Damage, is extensive. I will say, that this season has been more or less right on track with my last few season’s total costs.

For Example: For the 2023 season I replaced several expiring safety items, but they should last for 5 seasons. I also had to buy a new fire system, but it should last 10 years with biennial servicing. Late 2021 season I bought a new (to me) race engine, that I hope will last several seasons. In my experience, total yearly spending (Minus the year I bought an engine) tend to average out quite close to each other. Long Term planning meant I didn’t buy an engine the same year much of my safety gear expired. The true budget-killer would be something like a catastrophic mechanical failure or worse – a large crash. For me, that could mean a hiatus of some length. However, in my years of racing I’ve so far been fortunate enough to avoid any major damage ::knocks wood:: so no expensive unexpected repairs, And none of the rare, though not impossible, complete car write-offs.

This season’s spend falls in line with the previous few. I did not pinch pennies this season purposely putting off maintenance or needed replacement to create a sensational blog post

For Me: The 2023 race season consisted of NASA Northeast’s full schedule of 11 points races over 6 race weekends. I also participated in 3 more noncompetitive weekends. 

Don’t believe me? Here’s the Breakdown-

---

Entry Fees: $4335

The entry fees for race weekends vary pretty widely – between $675 for 3 days at New Jersey Motorsports Park and $855 for 3 days at Watkins Glen. I’ve heard that clubs have been getting saddled with price increases by both the tracks we rent and insurance companies, so I expect our own entry fees to rise accordingly. 

This is a substantial sum of money, just for the ability to get on track. Rest assured, the organizations are not raking in easy cash here, your cut is going towards covering their colossal event (and pre–event and post-event) costs.

Entry fee money is typically considered a non-hackable item: Whether you have a $9,000 spec Miata or a $209,000 Porsche, you are both paying the same entry fee. However, the one way that you might be able to hack away at this cost is by working for your organization. While Racing doesn’t usually have the same volunteer/reward structure of HPDE track time, there are often still a few roles where you can work off entry fees. I include full price for this post, but I am not paying full price for my racing because of the amount of work I do for the club.

Instructing on practice weekends is also a very popular way to get cheaper seat time between races, provided you are someone who can be a good instructor for a beginner (some racers are fantastic instructors, others are NOT meant to get back into a car with a beginner). You also need to be able to give your student ample focus. While you are doing testing and tuning, you need to reserve time (and focus) for riding and downloading with your student. Best case scenario: You get free track time, the student gets a highly skilled instructor, they learn a path to racing, and everyone has a fantastic day. 

---

Consumables: $2016

Tires: $0* In the past few years I would get one set of stickers (new tires), and one cheap 5-10 heat cycle set for a season. I’ll also use the previous year’s tires for practice days/sessions. This may not be absolutely ideal to win races, but worked out well and kept me reasonably competitive. With the Toyo RR’s that we’ve run in NASA racing, and the general competition on a regional event, there’s no need (or benefit, usually) for a set of new tires each weekend. 

Through the season I’d build up enough contingency with decent finishes to take a significant chunk of the cost, I only paid anywhere between $100-400 to pay the remaining balance. Typically the scrubs (used tires) I would get were either free, or $1-200 for a set if they were more lightly used. Sticking to 1 set of stickers is not a competitive death sentence, in my previous seasons I had multiple top 5 points finishes with just one set.

*For the 2023 season, I was able to start the season on a fresh set I had fully earned through the previous year’s contingency, not paying a dime out of pocket. I began the season with strong finishes and was able to earn a second free set that I started using mid season. Most people aren’t able to reliably win all the tires they need to race, but you also don’t need to spend thousands of dollars per year on tires.

If you’re running on a budget “you gotta win to win” with contingency prizes. The better I finished, the fresher my tires were. The fresher my tires were, the better I finished. 

However much you wish to spend in a season, I can’t say there is any reasonable need to have more than two fresh sets and one used set to get through a season. The Toyo RR feels best for the first 6 or so heat cycles, but they’re still quite good through the first dozen. They are still plenty drivable to and over 20 heat cycles. Some tracks are faster with fresh rubber, but others (like Watkins Glen) aren’t any slower with old tires, so you can save the fresh rubber and run an older set.

Saving your best tires for competition sessions helps make them last. Some people feel the need to practice on the best rubber to get an accurate feel of the car, while I do understand this, it’s simply not something I value enough to burn up so much tire. This is not just my opinion, I know many people on both sides of this argument.

My first couple seasons I ran almost exclusively on cheap or free old tires from competitors. 

A note that the above paragraph is track, regional, and driver dependent. In the Northeast, NJMP Lightning likes new rubber, Lime Rock seems to like newer rubber but not as much as NJMP. For the average racer, you won’t see much (if any) advantage at Watkins Glen on old tires vs new. NJMP Thunderbolt has brand new pavement but seems to me like there may not be a huge advantage to fresh tires vs slightly used. These factors play into how many tires you’ll need to put on a true competitive effort. 

A second note: Toyo is Phasing out the RR tire during 2024, and trying to introduce the “R”. We will likely be running the R for the 2025 season, and how it actually performs will be anyone’s guess. I know that no one in the paddock will welcome a tire with less usable heat cycles than the RR… so here’s to hoping it being “faster” won’t mean it compounds out like a hoosier.

Brakes: $90

Brakes are another place where contingency prizes go a long way to keeping my budget down. There are other popular options for brake pads, but I’m happy with how my Hawks perform and their contingency has been great to me. With Hawk Bucks, I typically end up only needing to pay shipping for brake pads. Even at full price, Hawks are on the cheaper end of available options.

In a typical season I’ll plan to use two sets of front pads and about half of a rear set of pads. If you’re not able to get any contingency prizes or discounts, expect around $450 in pads.

Brake rotors in Spec Miata are cheap, I’ll jump on rockauto.com and buy the cheapest rotors I can find, typically about $60 to my door for the set. If I’m feeling spicy I’ll replace them every year, but there’s been a few times I’ve used the same set for two seasons. 

Gasoline in racecar: $930

I see a big variation in spending with gasoline over a weekend. How many practice sessions I run, HPDE only vs Race, if a race is all green or we have an extended yellow, etc. 

After Sunday’s race I typically dump all remaining fuel into the racecar to then burn at the following weekend. 

Because I’m generally carrying over extra fuel from one weekend to another, and not taking notes on it, it’s tough for me to nail down an exact “How much money I spent in fuel that weekend”. I personally follow a very loose guide of – Every minute on the schedule is one pound of burned fuel. So every 7 minutes on the schedule is 1 gallon. A 35 minute race is 5 gallons. Using this, estimating $5/gallon of gas, my 120 minutes of scheduled track time for sat+sun burns 17 gallons, which costs $85. A high estimate for me turning a lot of laps on Friday’s practice is 10 gallons, so $50 in fuel totaling $135 for a 3 day track weekend. All of these numbers are based on driving flat out, every possible moment on track that I can, they’re inflated but I’d rather overestimate than be under.

Overestimated racecar fuel tally for the 2023 season: $930

March NJMP test+ school 2 day: $85

April Watkins Glen Race 3 day: $135

May NJMP test/instructing 2 day: $85

June NJMP Race 3 day:  $135

June Pocono test/instructing 1 day: $50

July Lime Rock Race 2 day: $85

August NJMP Race 3 day: $135

October Watkins Glen Race 3 day: $135

November NJMP Race 2 day: $85

Gasoline & Tolls in Hauler: $811

We can’t talk about a full season budget without mentioning the cost of fuel to get to and from an event. In the 2023 Season I averaged 12.5 mpg when towing, and gas prices seemed to hover somewhere over $3.50 per gallon. I’d rather overestimate than underestimate here so I calculated based on 12mpg and $4/gallon. 

Overestimated hauler fuel cost tally for the 2023 season: $760

March NJMP:  $60

April Watkins Glen:  $150

May NJMP:  $60

June NJMP:  $60

June Pocono:  $50

July Lime Rock:  $85

August NJMP:  $60

October Watkins Glen: $150

November NJMP: $60

Thankfully, tolls are a relatively minor part of my tow costs. No tolls to NJMP. $7 to WGI and Pocono, and a lofty $30 when towing to Lime Rock – $51

Motor Oil: $128

Oil Changes are $32, with $7 filters from Mazda and a Gallon of Rotella T6 for $25. I replace the oil and filter about every 2 weekends, 4 times this season.

Other oils/lubes/etc: $57

I’ve messed around with intervals a bit, but now I’ll swap diff and transmission fluid once a season. Diff oil is about $15, and while the transmission only needs a hair more than two quarts, I usually buy 3 totaling $42. 

Long Term Consumables: $170

This category is for big items that will hopefully last more than a single season. Depending on how you drive, the car’s history, and your luck, these items may last you several years or half a season. 

Engine: $0  For my first 5 years of racing, I ran the junkyard engine that came with my car when I bought it. That engine was still fine (though about 10hp down on frontrunners) when I pulled it, and remains tucked away as a spare. At the beginning of the 2022 season, I bought a used race engine and the goal is to get 5+ years out it. Depending how you would like to calculate that I can count the $2800 I paid for the used engine all in 2022, or spread it over 5 years for about $550. Since I try to do one large purchase per season I’m choosing to keep those large purchases within the year that they happen. As I mentioned earlier, each year’s total budget has ended up being pretty close to others after you add everything up.

Transmission: $0 Wear rate varies wildly based on the driver and the tracks you frequent. Thankfully, the Northeast seems to be as gentle on equipment as I am, and my transmission is entering its 8th year of SM competition (with an unknown racing history before that). All along, I’ve kept my eyes open for cheap or free transmission spares and have built up a little stockpile of spares for when mine finally starts acting up. My 3-4 shift is starting to get challenging, I’ll likely toss one of those spare transmissions in sooner rather than later before a 4-2 moneyshift knocks some valves around.

Wheels: $170 While some wheel retailers will claim that wheels are annual consumables and should be disposed of regularly, I choose to just inspect and run mine. In the last 8 years I’ve retired one wheel due to on-track contact and two from wicked bends. Thanks in no small-part to Spec Miata’s minimum wheel-weight rule, manufacturers had to make minimal sacrifices in strength in the name of weight. 

With several sets of wheels (1 competition set, 2 scrub sets, and 1 wet set), the load is spread across many wheels. My newest wheel is at least 5 seasons old, with most having lasted 8-10 years. Many have some collection of small bends, but those are hardly noticeable (if at all) when driving. I’ll continue to keep an eye on wheels for cracks or bends but so far I’ve seen nothing. Across the SM paddock, others seem to have similar results.

This season I picked up an old set of Team Dynamics wheels because I’m a sucker for the look on NA Spec Miatas. They’ll let me keep a second set of scrubs mounted for off practice days and weekends. Also got some Lime Green paint to make them match the livery, $170 total.

Incidentals: $0

Mechanical Repairs: $0 As our cars are driven hard, there is a clock ticking on all of our vehicle’s components. While there are many shops who push for “timing-out” and replacing pieces on a regular schedule (and bill heavily for the work), I opt to inspect and replace as needed. That said, I don’t see all that much wear happening around my car. After several years, my balljoints and original bushings remain mostly fine, control arms look okay, and on and on. 

Perhaps I’ll have one season where every single event a small piece finally lets go and ruins race after race, but so far I’ve done just fine. You may end up needing to replace items, but with relatively inexpensive parts a $100 brake caliper or $30 tie rod isn’t going to balloon a budget. If you can find cheap lots of parts, a cheap donor car, or buy a racecar with an extensive spare pile, replacing parts may mean just grabbing from your bins.

This season I didn’t have any notable failures aside from one hub that went bad during a non-points “fun race”, which did force me to pit early, but caused no more damage. 

A significant way I keep down incidental repair costs is to keep my eyes open for cheap spares. Often, if you’re in a rush to replace a part, you’re stuck overpaying for the convenience. I do the opposite and build up stockpiles as I find cheap listings and partouts. For Example: I’ve found crusty but serviceable OEM hubs for free, and got others as part of a large lot of parts where I paid pennies on the dollar. End up with parts/wheels/panels you can’t run in Spec Miata? Sell them and toss that cash back into the season’s budget.

Crash Repairs: $0 – Crashes happen in racing. When you’re racing on the ragged edge, bumper to bumper, in large fields… then more crashes happen. Thankfully, the relatively low speeds of Spec Miata means that most contact is pretty light. However if you find yourself getting into repeated contact on track, those bills can add up quickly. In my entire time racing I’ve been lucky enough to avoid any serious damage. I have replaced both bumpers just to freshen them up from standard rubbing, but otherwise my car still holds 100% original panels and paint. 

Like mechanical parts, building up a stockpile of body panels can help save you significant money when you do have crash damage to repair. Having the knowledge and ability (or bravery) to tackle body repairs yourself is another way to save significant body shop labor bills. 

Planned Replacement: $560

I mentioned how items like engines and transmissions can be considered long term consumables, but in auto racing we also have many items with specific expiration dates. Helmets last 10 years at most. FIA rated belts need to be replaced every 5. FIA rated fire bottles are accepted for 10 years total but also require servicing every two years. 

These items end up being a significant part of a standard racing budget. 

For the 2023 season, these were my big expenditures: My Window Net, Harness, Hans Tether, and Fire System all had to be replaced. I wheeled and dealed, saved a few bucks by becoming a Brand ambassador, and stuck with all budget gear, it all ended up costing me $560.

Labor: $0

Labor, an elephant in the room: Shop rates have grown well over $100/hr. You could smash my season budget with mechanical labor after a single weekend.

If you wish to put on a budget race effort, you must do your own maintenance and repairs. Period, no debate.

You do not need to be a master mechanic to begin racing, but basic maintenance knowledge, an ability and time to learn is an absolute necessity. I recommend being a good friend; Sharing knowledge when you can, and bringing lots of beer if a friend offers to show or help you do some other work. If another racer lives close by, volunteer to come hold a flashlight while they work on their own car, most would welcome the company. Read my various budget racer guides. YouTube guides can be a great way to begin growing your knowledge, especially trusted, knowledgeable sources like A+ Racing. Get comfortable working on your own car, and build a support network of other people in the class. 

While I’ve been on the receiving end of endless generous support from both shops and knowledgeable individuals, the 2023 season was one I pulled off largely by myself solely working out of my home garage. With two small kids occupying most of my daily hours, this meant lots of late nights in the garage after bedtime. I did not spend any money this year on shop labor. 

Accommodations and Food: $0

Accommodations: $0 Sleeping at the track has potential to add thousands to a season’s budget, a budget killer close behind paying shop labor. A simple way to avoid paying for hotels? Bring your own accommodations: Over the years I’ve been coming to the track, I’ve had many different configurations: Sleeping in a tent, in the back seat of a truck, in the bed of my truck, tossing an air mattress in friends’ enclosed trailers, and on and on. For what ends up being a 3 day (Thurs Night, Fri Night, Sat Night) stay, that’s $3-600 I’m not spending every weekend. Paying for hotels could end up climb beyond the price of a season’s entry fees. The added bonus of staying on track is hanging with friends and not needing to drive to a hotel after an evening’s paddock revelry.

Would I sleep better, and possibly perform better on track if I escaped to a hotel for rest and relaxation? Most Likely, yes. But we’re not out here out working towards a seat in Formula 1, we’re here for the fun, and many weekends the off-track antics rival the on-track fun.

As I age and am no longer in my early 20’s, I needed a more conventional bed than curling up on a mattress in the back seat of a pickup truck. Coming for 2024 – I purchased a 2003 Chevy Express and have been converting it into what seems to be the ultimate track hauler & camper. 

Food at the track – N/A You got to eat, right? I haven’t gone to lengths to track food expenses at the track, simply because I need to eat whether I’m at home or at the track, so I don’t believe it’s fair to add that to a track-only budget. Now, If I was going out for fancy, expensive dinners (that I don’t usually do) I would count it, but I’m not doing that. 

I typically raid my pantry and bring simple breakfasts and snacks that are already staples. Since I work with the club in various capacities, they provide lunches. Saturday Night the club typically throws a BBQ/Dinner party for the whole paddock. Friday evenings I break out the pizza oven and feed the Spec Miata crew, staff, and whoever wanders over. This Pizza dinner typically costs $50-100 of ingredients to put on, but participants insist on tossing a few dollars my way which usually cover most or all of these costs. 

Memberships – $179

Between my general NASA Membership and Race License renewal, I’m paying $179 per year.

Voluntary General Costs – $400

This is where I have all my luxury upgrades, my Vain improvements. This category has items like Track photography, upgrading fuel jugs, power strips for camping, and upgrading camera mounts. Some of these purchases are “research” for the blog, like testing a few different metal camera mounts looking for a cheap recommendation to make.

This category is one that has HUGE potential for being blown out on improvements for camping, cooking, tools, etc. However, I keep my mantra of “Money spent here means less left for go-fast improvements.” If I spend it here, it’s because I really want it… The majority of this category has been spent on purchasing photos.  

Breaking-in costs: N/A

This post is about a season’s operating cost. It’s important to mention that there are a LOT of costs that are largely (though not completely) one-time purchases that you need to consider if you’re looking at racing for the first time.

If you’re just getting into racing you’ll need to purchase some obvious big ticket items like a racing car, tow vehicle, trailer, race suit. But you’ll also need nomex socks, gloves, a balaclava, and more. If you don’t have a camera you need one, but you should probably get a couple. Don’t own a transponder? be prepared to shell out cash for the world’s most overpriced piece of basic electronics. You can choose to spend as little or as much as you want on much of these, but even budget-priced or second-hand items add up.

I’m not adding any of these to my season budget as this is all stuff I’ve owned for quite some time at this point. 

---

Money in:

Finally, a column out of the red and into the black. I finished the 2022 season 3rd in regional points. If you’re lucky enough to finish a season on the overall points podium, there are a few additional prizes. Mazda Generously awards $1,000 for third, which covers a considerable chunk of my consumable budget. Paid out in January, I count the previous year’s award towards the budget, so 2024 will be starting with a sizable $2,000 chunk from 2023’s 1st place finish.

---

So HOW do people spend $20-50k a season? For one, LABOR is huge. Indiscriminate tire purchases are huge. Hotel bills add up quickly. Fancy dinners “Because we’re already spending so much, why not?”. Intense maintenance schedules can make “consumables” seem out out of hand. None of this is a problem, really. We are all doing this from different backgrounds, with different skillsets, and time constraints. My combination of basic mechanical skills, garage space, driveway space, and time flexibility are what let me get it done. Also, fun means different things to different people. While I enjoy working on my car occasionally, some would much rather cut a check. While I don’t mind running parts until they start to fail, others feel the need to have a 100% new vehicle for every season.

Realistically, I tell people that if they keep a tight budget, $10,000 for a full season of racing competitively may be doable if they’re doing their own work, don’t have any big issues (crashing or large mechanical problems) and stay focused on keeping a tight budget. Can it be done cheaper? Absolutely! Remember that excluding entry fees, I paid barely $2500 for this entire season. Driving smart is a big factor in all this, overdriving or risky passes can quickly add up to big repair bills. I’m not saying I make zero risky moves in the car, but I have backed out of more than a few sketchy situations in the name of keeping the car straight and on the pavement. No matter your budget, a healthy dose of that mindset is what can help keep our racing cleaner and greener.

A springboard for this season being so competitive on such a tight budget was a continued cycle of contingency prizes. We aren’t really just racing for plastic trophies, these prizes add up to cover pretty significant chunks of a budget. If you’re getting no help, expect a couple hundred dollars on brakes per year. You can fork out almost a thousand dollars for a set of fresh Toyo RR’s, or piece together a season on cheap scrubs and drive that little bit harder.

What if this is all too much for you? There’s no shame in missing a few weekends. If your only option is racing a half season, or maybe two weekends, so be it! Perhaps you race a bit, then instruct on other weekends to build driving skills without taking as big a hit to the wallet as a full race weekend. What’s important is that you’re at the track, I hope to see you all out there soon!