paraspinaldocs

I have not made a commitment as of yet but Iam thinking of either running supercat light or supercat. Excluding the cost of the original boat, etc. What is the typical budget for a season that most of you in these catagories are running? I understand there are alot of variables but a range is all that Im looking for. Any help is much appreciated. I have not asked any of the guys I know personally as of yet as I just wnated an idea of whats happenning out there. Thanks.

MANITIE

Email RACEDAD.....Mike S. and his dad have been racing for a long time....they have raced in all Orgs....and have been racing in SCL for a while....he will give you good info....

paraspinaldocs

thanks.It will be nice to compare witha few differnt teams.

SpecialFX

The minimum direct race cost for a cat team is approx 6-7 K per race with minimal crew or volunteer crew, this includes diesel for the hauler, a driver, race entry and race gas, hotels food etc. Some Teams spend 20K per race or even more. Of course this does not include other associated costs like insurance, storage, boat maint and repairs upgrades, new props, overwide permits etc. The Mercury engine packages in Cat Lite and Cat 850 are very dependable and will go at least 2 seasons before rebuild, race support from Mercury is excellent. Racers enjoy special pricing and rebates on new equipment. Call Jim Goerlitz at Mercury for details. hope we see you on the race course!

bidpro

I agree Gorlitz is very good for support. The $6-7K race estimate in my opinion is way, way low. I raced my Super V for 2 years nationally and the costs were significantly higher than that and that does not include scheduled service and unscheduled maintenance and repairs and (hopefully not but to be realistic) likely extream repairs (almost all of the CAT teams have been upside down a time or two). You need at least 2 Guys helping you at the races and its a lot better with 3 (on and off the trailer at the crane, etc) also the most competative teams get a new boat every couple of years so factor in amortizing the equipment over 2 years and your estimated loss for a used, canopied race boat when you decide to give it up. Reality in my opinion you should budget a minimum of $20K per event if you don't eat at Ruth Chris's AND if you don't barrel roll the boat at least once a year.

GR

THEJOKER

Your insight has always been accurate and somewhat entertaining. Your onboard video from 1998 on Speed Vision is some of the best I've ever seen.

boatme

Dave,

There goes the neighborhood

skaterdave

first look at where you live and figure out mileage. a daully gets between 8 to 10 towing a boat. a rv or tow rif going to get less than that.

we were spending over 2 k in diesel fuel to do any race outside of florida. cat and cat lite entry fees are about $2500 a race. that would be 5 k just to show up. $600 to $1000 in race fuel. hopefully you got alot of friends so crew costs would be just hotels and food. plus paying for memberships for the crew.

and like bidpro said, if things do go wrong be prepared to flush alot money down the drain. one of the big things that has been talked about is if you end up on your lid the additional cost of recovering the boat. the race orgs don't seem to have this worked out too well and alot of racers are getting screwed on top of having to do the repair costs they are getting hit with recovery bills.

insurance is 7 to 10 k per year. hopefully you got a 40 x 60 garage for storing the boat. regular maintaince on the boat and tow vehicles.

daredevil when you going to start racing outside the state of florida???

paraspinaldocs

Thanks for all of the input and it is a vague question. I understand all of the dynamics and really appreciate all of the estimates and variables thrown in. Those amounts listed dont seem that bad but then again as many stated thats if nothing goes wrong. Problem is if nothing goes wrong then your nto racing and I should stick with Poker runs
The part about barrel rolls and going on your lid...yep thats a given and fully expect that. Not saying that to be reckless and intending on hurting anyone but just stating that yes most cats do like to show their bellies at times.
As far as boatme comment is concerned ---bite me hahaha. Great input guys and thanks. Im just playing with the idea right now and thinking of how much blind side my sponser and business partner with.

paraspinaldocs

Daredevil,
You might want to be a busines partner as we are killing this market and things are going through the roof in OUR investment world.....Always open arms to accredited investors into the private equity fund... But as far as sponsors I think your on your own...LOL I think Im eating up the budget just on other ideas so far If I dont get this race situation going within a reasonable time frame I will get back into the Pokerrun circut for another year and then it gives more time to prepare this current idea.We shall see.