Haha Mat I wish the 08 was what is holding back the budget.

Wife wants a house in Nedlands which is sucking up all my "fun related" budgets lately.

I could sell the 08 but then what would be my daily - I like to have a nice car day to day to drive in.

I set the budget around what I thought at this point in time I could afford to drop without caring too much, lets call it casino money. So if the track car rolled and caught fire and I'm not hurt I wouldnt care too much.

Whillst I could afford to drop 50 - 60k if the 08 went up in smoke, it would bother me. A bit like the much larger amount I have dropped on shares in recent times

I hopefully have learnt from when I was younger when I would get into something, drop bulk coin on the best stuff and then lose interest 6 months later only to sell the stuff off half price.

Slow and steady for now - buy a budget car, learn how to drive and after a couple of years re assess.

__________________
Arguably my Automobile is Awash with Alliteration - Subaru Sti S202

I agree that it is an awesome car but it would be a bit like buying a group B car with intentions of racing it. It does not fit any current classes. While that might not be an issue for things like dutton / ahg etc you will run into the same problems as this guy is when you go to sell it. If it was a 2 door I would love to buy it, put your hollinger in it, strip out even more shite and see if you could not get it down to under 1000kg. Put a twin scroll engine in it with 300kw atw and then go play dutton.

Also I am not up with the Group A regs but how many specific bits has it got on it that would be a pain in the ass to get hold of now the car is 15 years old? i.e. the steering rack that the S2000 corolla blew up in forest rally - $10k as it is out of the corrolla wrc car! I think if you bought a car like that you would want to keep it true to what it was built for. i.e. you dont want to put all sorts of other parts in it because then it is not eligible for anything.

Brendon

__________________
Losing is worse than death. You have to live with losing....

I was in a similar position myself. Drove the latest offerings from Subaru and Mitsubishi, the sti was a nicer (more involving - and ugly) drive, the evo was quicker flat out (but boring).

Undertaking house renovations as well means i only wanted one car, which i use daily for the work commute (and sometimes spending all day in the car) as well as a fun machine. Given the asking price for the latest awd wonders on the market i decided jdm was the only option, and now undertaking a build on an S204.

__________________
www.racewars.com.au

The cost is not really building the car. take what you budget, add 50% then double it and you will be close. But at least that is a finite number.

The biggest killer is the running costs. The old adage is whatever you spend on your car you need to budget about the same to run it each year and enter events.

Rubber is about $6 per competitive KM
Fuel is about $0.75 per competitive km
Brakes (pads and rotors) are about $3 per competitive km.

Thats assuming you dont hit anything and there is no wear and tear on your engine

Doing an event like targa west, (assuming you are based in perth i.e. no travel costs for you or car or crew) and assuming you will only go through normal brakes / 6 tyres etc i.e. no wear and tear on engine / turbo will cost about $15k for 300 competitive km's. And if you win you get a $100 trophy.

If you want to do targa tassie from perth you would want an absolute minimum of $25k in your pocket. if you are serious it would be far more than that. i.e. you rock up with 4 sets of tyres in different compounds and make a decision on the morning of the prologue on which tyres you are going to run for the whole event.

__________________
Losing is worse than death. You have to live with losing....

Yeah...drove it last night...not bad though a little rough...

Also this... http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/sale-cars-only/25394-1997-subaru-sti-ra-b-reg-sale.html... not sure if it's still for sale...

And the Jap S202's are interesting...

__________________
No Subarus currently owned

Cheers Steve

I am leaning towards S202 and have found what everyone said here - working out to cost more than I thought. Even have to buy tyres when it arrives!

If I stretch the budget then It will stay fairly stock for a while. Best thing would be the abundant aftermarket for parts - unlike the 08.

Brendon - your scaring me, whatever you do never tell my wife about those costs

I was talking to someone getting ready for Targa and was amased at the expense - non of it on the car (Entry fee, Helmets, suits, tacho, etc etc)

__________________
Arguably my Automobile is Awash with Alliteration - Subaru Sti S202

Group buy ex Japan?

__________________
No Subarus currently owned

How are you bringing it in? I'm looking at something similar, but with the rules for getting a b-reg in becoming quite hard, it keeps getting put off.

__________________
[COLOR="Gray"]550Nm off a 2L... Just wish it was in the dak dak...[/COLOR]

I always knew motorsport is expensive but breaking the topic down like that really brings home the truths - cheers

S202 jappy would be awesome. Would love to move my car in that direction with some surgery.

Loving the topic - refreshingly informative for once

__________________
05 STi Spec C Type Ra
04 LL Bean Outback

yeah thats still for sale i rung it at the weekend then found out i need a rally license

but at least i know the in's and out's of group b, troy explained it all to me