Intro
This is the first of a multipart series of budgeting in stage rally for new people getting into the sport based on my experiences. Motorsports is an inherently expensive activity to participate in but understanding the costs involved will help you budget better, know where to cut costs, and understand the implications of cutting corners should you choose to do so.
Part 1 is going to take a look at competing at the last event we did in 2019, the Tour de Forest Rally in Shelton, WA. Tour de Forest was a one day regional event and the most affordable event we did in all of 2019. The focus will be on the hard costs associated with the event and ignore reprep of the rally car, licenses, insurance, etc. Those topics will be covered in a different article. Let’s assume you have a rally car ready to go and you and your friends (codriver, crew) are ready to go rally. In this scenario we’ll be starting from DirtFish in Snoqualmie, WA as our start point for figuring out mileage but a little simple math and you can plug in some details to get a more accurate representation.
Costs
Entry Fee: $490
Early entry including bank fees for paying online. Definitely take a look at event supplemental regulations and see when the early entry fee deadline is. This saves you money and helps the event out so they can better plan their logistics. For this event the regular entry would add another $95 to the cost.
Lodging: $300
For this event we elected to stay the night before and night after the rally to make a more relaxing schedule. We split an AirBnB with another team to help with the costs. It also affords you the opportunity to cook food in the kitchen rather than going out to eat. Unless you’re grabbing fast food, this can be cheaper and allows for a healthier option. For the more budget minded you could just get one hotel room Friday night at the host hotel for $104/night + tax and cram the whole team in one room. This is fairly common. For the even more budget minded you can camp, sleep in your trailer, you name it.
Towing fuel: $80
250 miles / 10 mpg x $3.20/gallon. 200 miles round trip from DirtFish to the Ridge plus some extra for getting around (50 miles) and getting 10 miles per gallon towing. You can also use the IRS rate of $0.58 for mileage to help take into account wear and tear on the tow vehicle and trailer (250 miles x $0.58/mile = $145)
Recce fuel: $32
150 miles / 15 mpg x $3.20/gallon There’s a couple ways you can do this. The most accurate is to map out your full recce route starting from your accommodations and ending where you’re going to park it. The organizers can help here and you can get mileage from supplemental regulations or a recce route book. You can also just take a look at the stage mileage and transit mileage and double it for anything not repeated. In this case the entire route was repeated so it should be pretty close to what it was for actual two pass recce. I think this is good enough for a budget estimate after adding a buffer but you may want to be more accurate.
Other fuel: $60
Need to get a recce car there? Crew? Don’t forget to add that in.
Race fuel: $180
60 stage miles / 4mpg + 64 transit miles / 8mpg + 10 gallons = 15 + 8 + 12 = 45 gallons. 45 gallons x $4.00/gallon = $180. Easiest to just use the Stage Schedule usually found in the Supplemental Regulations and compute using your stage fuel rate and transit fuel rate plus some buffer. I’m using E85 if you’re curious about the numbers. Understanding your car’s fuel consumption rate for stage and transit is important for knowing how much fuel to bring, how many fuel cans or drums, and how much fuel to put in the car at refuels.
Tires: $1000
Plus mounting if you’re getting a brand new set of Hoosiers in the 205 size. You can spent a lot more here too if you went with 10 brand new tires using four on the first loop, four on the second loop, and had two new spares in the car. On the other end of the spectrum you could use up your used tires from previous events or found some good used ones from another team. Good used generally run anywhere from $50 to $150 depending on the condition. Keep in mind that the more worn a gravel tire is, the less “bite” it has on the surface and will decrease your overall performance. If you’re just trying to finish, run whatever gravel tires you can get your hands on that are in decent shape for cheap.
Food: $300
We use $15 per person/meal as the generic formula to budget food and is a good rule of thumb. We had a four person team (driver, codriver, and two crew) with five meals between Friday night to Sunday morning. This might sound like a lot but don’t forget waters, sports drinks, snacks and post event beers for the team.
Media: $20 – $60
Photos are always good to have for the memories, helping out your sponsors, and getting photographers to keep coming to events. Single photos generally are $20-30 a photo. Chris Daley Photography was offering a $60 photo package for the event. Prices can vary however, especially for national events. On the other hand, you don’t have to spend money here and that’s acceptable too.
Miscellaneous: $200
It’s always good to have a little extra room in the budget for things that pop up. Forgot your tarp at home? Need to make a run to the auto parts store? Having it in cash helps but technology like Venmo is making this less necessary. Don’t forget you may end up having to hire a wrecking service come get your car out of the woods if heavy sweep can’t do the job. The more involved the event, the more of a reserve you want to have and not bust your budget. This is a good starting point.
Wrap Up
That’s a budget of $2,702 for a one day event covering 60 stage miles! Now think of adding reprep of the car, renting a rally or recce car for the event, hiring a codriver, hiring crew, etc. and you can very easily spend 10x to run the rally. If you’re looking to cut corners though, tires and lodging are the first places to look. Scored four used tires for $100 bucks and convinced everyone to toss a hammock in the trailer and you just saved $1,200. Just know your whole team probably isn’t going to be well rested and you’re not going to have the greatest grip. You saved money at the potential cost of performance and that’s the trade off.
Looking at these costs can also help you direct your efforts on obtaining sponsorship and entering contingencies to help make rallying more sustainable. It may be a tough pill to swallow but budgeting in stage rally and understanding the numbers will help you stay within a budget, be financially responsible, and keep you on track to rally as much as you’re capable of.
If you want to learn about budgeting for a national event, check out Part 2 here.