GT Racing Prize Money (or lack of?)
Discussion
I've been trying to find out how much it would cost to run a GT4 race team in the Blancpain or British GT (or similar) championship and how much money these teams make from racing in these championships in things like sponsorship levels and prize money.
Granted this is not very precise and im not asking someone to produce a full itemised breakdown - but even rough numbers are proving hard to come by.
I assume the teams in this level of championship are businesses and they are self sufficient (not just doing it for the love of it with a lottery win doing the bankrolling).
Would I be ridiculous for thinking a budget of £500,000 would be around the right mark or is it a proper multi million pound operation to race at this level? I dont even know how much the cars cost - I have heard the GT3 costs are starting to spiral out of control and GT4 is now taking over as the entry level class for amateur racing teams.
Any one got any ideas or in the know??
Granted this is not very precise and im not asking someone to produce a full itemised breakdown - but even rough numbers are proving hard to come by.
I assume the teams in this level of championship are businesses and they are self sufficient (not just doing it for the love of it with a lottery win doing the bankrolling).
Would I be ridiculous for thinking a budget of £500,000 would be around the right mark or is it a proper multi million pound operation to race at this level? I dont even know how much the cars cost - I have heard the GT3 costs are starting to spiral out of control and GT4 is now taking over as the entry level class for amateur racing teams.
Any one got any ideas or in the know??
Ok so done a bit more searching and found a couple of things:
Mclaren 570S GT4 car priced from £159,900 excl taxes
British GT Chamionship
- GT4 entry price £20,000 for season
- Tyres roughly £420 each (per tyre not per set)
- Fuel £2.81 per litre + VAT <--- OUCH!!!
Im sure someone would be able to work out approximate season long costs for tyres and fuel given those base prices. I'm also assuming that a Mclaren 570S GT4 would be one of the more expensive GT4 cars - a Ginetta G55 i expect would be cheaper.
Mclaren 570S GT4 car priced from £159,900 excl taxes
British GT Chamionship
- GT4 entry price £20,000 for season
- Tyres roughly £420 each (per tyre not per set)
- Fuel £2.81 per litre + VAT <--- OUCH!!!
Im sure someone would be able to work out approximate season long costs for tyres and fuel given those base prices. I'm also assuming that a Mclaren 570S GT4 would be one of the more expensive GT4 cars - a Ginetta G55 i expect would be cheaper.
You are missing the crux of how the business model works.
The teams you see operating GT3/4 cars in Blancpain and its SRO controlled derivatives (such as British GT) largely don't see sponsorship and prize money (which there isn't typically) as their primary income stream - it's what the drivers pay them to park their arse in the drivers seat which makes the business work.
The figure you need to find (and the truth will be very hard to come by) is how much a paying driver is laying out for his season in say, Blancpain Sprint.
The teams you see operating GT3/4 cars in Blancpain and its SRO controlled derivatives (such as British GT) largely don't see sponsorship and prize money (which there isn't typically) as their primary income stream - it's what the drivers pay them to park their arse in the drivers seat which makes the business work.
The figure you need to find (and the truth will be very hard to come by) is how much a paying driver is laying out for his season in say, Blancpain Sprint.
fair point - im pretty new to GT racing and I most probably am missing the simple point that this form of racing doesn't work in the same way as others from a business standpoint.
If the drivers are all essentially paying chunks of money to sit behind the steering wheel of these cars and these chunks of money are a team primary source of funding, it doesn't seem like a sustainable business model...
I am probably missing something pretty obvious though!
If the drivers are all essentially paying chunks of money to sit behind the steering wheel of these cars and these chunks of money are a team primary source of funding, it doesn't seem like a sustainable business model...
I am probably missing something pretty obvious though!
Thing is it works like just about all other forms of racing, even in F1 a large proportion of drivers are bringing money to their team, same is true in WRC, Indy car etc, I wouldn't have thought there's any driver in BTCC being paid by their team. In fact is sportscar racing there's a much higher proportion of drivers earning a wage, normally the 'am' driver in a team paying the 'pro' to drive with them.
I was lucky enough to get involved in the 2015 British GT4 season. We had a sponsor who bought a car, and ran it with Team Parker. Ultimately, that was going to cost around £180-200k to run the car and pay the entry costs with around 7 test days in between (we were trying to win :P). That ended half way through the season unfortunately, but I managed to buy myself into another seat for 3 of the remaining 4 rounds.
I've subsequently done a race this year in European GT4 (the GT4 equivalent of Blancpain), and that was £30k for the whole car (£15k each) which we managed to get through sponsorship. It can be cheaper but if you want to be competitive, it's in the region of that per weekend.
From a team perspective, you tend to find that those involved have a vested interest, either wanting to race themselves, or having a friend or family member who wants to race. Running the team is a means to allow them to race by getting someone with personal or sponsor money into the other seat to pay for the majority of the cost. There are a few teams out there who do run for profit, but it's modest, and a fairy edgy existence.
I've subsequently done a race this year in European GT4 (the GT4 equivalent of Blancpain), and that was £30k for the whole car (£15k each) which we managed to get through sponsorship. It can be cheaper but if you want to be competitive, it's in the region of that per weekend.
From a team perspective, you tend to find that those involved have a vested interest, either wanting to race themselves, or having a friend or family member who wants to race. Running the team is a means to allow them to race by getting someone with personal or sponsor money into the other seat to pay for the majority of the cost. There are a few teams out there who do run for profit, but it's modest, and a fairy edgy existence.
gorgerak said:
Im sure someone would be able to work out approximate season long costs for tyres and fuel given those base prices. I'm also assuming that a Mclaren 570S GT4 would be one of the more expensive GT4 cars - a Ginetta G55 i expect would be cheaper.
The Porsche Cayman GT4 cost €140k new and that's at the lower end of GT4. McLaren's 570S GT4 is about €160k. Manufacturers seem intent on raising the bar on GT4 costs - witness the latest Mercedes which is going to cost north of €200k.On the other hand, there's a decent used GT4-spec G55 on racecarsdirect.com right now at £50k
https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/71044/gi...
gorgerak said:
it doesn't seem like a sustainable business model...
Welcome to motorsport!Super GT has prize money. Roughly £5000 for the winning driver. They present it on a ridiculously huge scratch card type affair during their podium ceremony (which takes hours).
I was once told "if i want to feel how a race team feels take your monthly wage out and set it on fire - sometimes a little bit of it won't catch fire and you can save it and be slightly better off on next months burning. Other times it goes up a good 'un and takes you to hell in a handcart".
I was once told "if i want to feel how a race team feels take your monthly wage out and set it on fire - sometimes a little bit of it won't catch fire and you can save it and be slightly better off on next months burning. Other times it goes up a good 'un and takes you to hell in a handcart".
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