Autocross and other quick questions!

[Perfectlap]

well it sounds like you are in that very small group of 17 year olds who has knowledge of what it means to drive for real and not just drag racing. But if you're putting a full second on your competition then you need to move to a more competitve class. I've seen SCCA and NASA events where the first 8 positions were seperated by less than half a second -- in different cars. If you're easily beating the guys in your class then you will not improve for long. Autcross is a big time committment given how little seat time you get not to be maximizing every lap to its fullest.

But given your economic situation I would still encourage you to buy a Miata even if to use only for autocross. I think most would agree that there is no better car to maximize you skill set at the lowest cost to race and maintain. And because of the low mod cost and abundance of smaller tire choices you could fine tune the set up to get every tenth of a second out of the car with money left over in your budget. It's also as close to a kart in a road car as you will get at that price. I used to get flack about driving the car because it doesn't have the prestige of a German sports car. But since I didn't have room for more than one car it had to suit both purposes: real world and racing world. I wasn't bothered by the people who would make a joke about the Miata because I knew something straight away about them: they didn't know how to drive. Anyone who has been to the track or autox knows this car is a fixture of grass roots racing. Racing a Porsche is expensive. Tires: $700 -$1,100 a pop. Maintance from accelerated wear: not cheap. Modifications: EXTREMELY expensive for the gains you get.

And while I'm not your financial advisor I get the impression that you don't have a rich benefactor to pay for your big boy toys. If this is the case then you need to understand that sinking a big % of your available income and savings into a car -- AT YOUR AGE -- is the biggest mistake you could make. At 17 you have 18 years of investing time to acrrue a let's say a million dollars before 35. The "time advantage" of money is powerful and is something most young people have no sense of before they no longer have that advantage at their dispoal. The longer you wait the more money you'll have put away for not much more gain. Pretty sad for most in their 30's and 40's. By putting away a little bit of money every week, EARLY ON - in a moderately agressive investment you will have a huge advantage over someone who decides to start putting away money only after they've been hired for a six figure job. The problem is that no matter how many times you tell an under 20 year old that investing now could buy you a GT3 with money to spare later he/she needs that car, rolex or $2K handbag now. Little do they know what that premature indulgence has cost them in the future. Making up that ground even with a high income later is incredibly difficult. Even most professionals can't beat the major indices like the S&P. Time and the ability to be more aggressive is an investing window that is only open for a short time for very young people, a potentially life-changing oppourtunity that most kids are NOT taught about, probably because their teachers have much debt and little savings.