One of the most intimidating parts of starting out in HPDE’s is the cost. Not only are the registration fees steep, but track car maintenance costs can become quite expensive. Brakes and tires wear faster, oil and various fluids need to be changed more frequently, and other parts, like wheel bearings, go bad. On a street car, many of these would be changed only after several thousand miles. Depending on the car you track, however, some or all of these may need to be done a few times per season.
Therefore, one of the simplest ways to manage track car maintenance costs is to do the work yourself. This can also be intimidating, as it was for me. With the first car I tracked, a Mitsubishi Evo, I let a local shop handle all the maintenance. At about $100/hour, the costs added up quickly. I only ran a couple of events, though, so it wasn’t too bad. Since I decided to get more into the sport this year, I decided that going to a shop for everything would not be financially reasonable. I bought a Miata because they are famous for being easy on consumables, which means they are less expensive to operate. That being said, I knew I should start doing my own work if I really wanted to keep costs down.
Before I had the Miata, I didn’t even know how to change my own oil, but I was determined to become a DIYer. I signed up for a miata.net account, bought a Haynes repair manual and dove in.
The previous owner of the Miata had tracked the car, and he knew how to take care of it. Despite that, the mechanic at my first tech inspection pointed out a couple things that needed to be addressed. Combined with the work I already had planned to get the car ready, this was everything that needed to be completed before my first HPDE:
- Replace front wheel bearings
- Replace rear main output seal
- Change engine oil
- Flush brake fluid
- Flush transmission fluid
- Flush differential fluid
If you say, conservatively, each of the above items would take 1 hour of labor, that mechanic bill would be $600 before accounting for parts and fluids. Even if you said all the fluids could be taken care of with 1 hour of labor, it’s still a $300 bill. That’s why I was determined to do the work myself.
One thing to keep in mind with all of this is your tolerance for mistakes or mishaps. While you can save a lot of money on track car maintenance costs by DIY’ing, there is definitely a trade-off with frustration levels. I am typically a perfectionist and do not like when things don’t go as planned. When I first started doing my own work, this was a problem. I followed guides exactly, but I always encountered something that wasn’t in the guide – a bracket in the way, a stuck bolt – and I’d be lost. Add to that the fact I didn’t always have the right tool and it made for very frustrating days, where I swore to myself to just pay someone next time (thoughts echoed by my wife).
If you’re level headed or already proficient, great, have at it! If you’re like I was and think you may get too frustrated, don’t worry. Start small with an oil change, accumulate some basic tools, and budget at least 3 hours for every hour in the guide you’re following. Seriously. That will account for time spent cursing, extra trips to Autozone, and, ultimately, a clever solution.
There is definitely a trade-off with frustration levels
I won’t get into the step-by-step process for each item here, but I was able to successfully take care of it all. It took time, patience, several Autozone trips, and tons of Googling, but I figured it all out, eventually. I consider myself a novice mechanic with a moderate ability to wield a wrench, and I never would have looked at the list as something I could do myself. That is to say, if I can do it, then anyone truly can. It helps to have a cheap car that you won’t be afraid to tear into. And, of course, it helps to have a dedicated track car that can be put up on jack stands for a couple of weeks while you work on it without impacting your daily life.
Saving costs wherever possible will leave more money for HPDE registrations, and DIY can be a huge source of savings. Even if you have never changed oil before, I promise you can gain the skills necessary to maintain the car yourself. Get a hold of some repair guides and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.
