It helps if the kids are still living under mom and dad so that all their disposable income can go to "fun" activities. Life is way cheaper when you're not paying for rent, cable, electricity, water, cable, internet, insurance, food, etc...

You would have more money if you stopped paying cable twice.

Touche salesman :lol:

If you love it then money shouldn't be a problem.

$130 for a track day, shieet, I only see $250-$300 around here! Bullshit east coast tax.

BTW, I hear drift nights are a lot cheaper...
http://www.drifted.com/oliver-petalv...rts-park/3461/
$20 isn't that bad.

Where do you find track days on the East Coast?

I cant drift my front wheel drive car but heres what I do on the street. I have ''eco'' tires and they are rated at 44 psi max. I pump em up to 50 cold which lowers grip a huge amount and completely avoids wheel hop. Then I shred rubber for a few feet here and there in empty parking lots or at random stop signs and take freeway on ramps at the edge of traction which is quite safe in my super duper understeery car. But seriously try overfilling your tires a bit, it frees them up a huge amount for low speed fun.

I actually wouldn't be too keen on a track day that only cost $135.
To the OPs question, it is no different than anything else: it is about having the disposable income to be able budget for these things.

When I was a college kid - just outta college kid - now way could I afford to do trackdays, now in my advancing years I am making more money, I am smarter with it (cutting back on hookers and blow really helped ;)) and I can afford to do so.

If finding the money/budget to do any hobby is difficult then you simply shouldn't do it.

NJMP has a bunch.

All over the place. NJMP is closest for you.

We do the ITR expo at 150-200 a day, even at tracks like VIR, Autobahn CC, etc... two days (so 300-400), both are required. Also includes banquet, raffle prices at the banquet (brake pads, car parts, etc).

You can do those prices. If you are not-for-profit :P

I would not trust any for profit days in the 150/day range though.

True true, I could have qualified it as TDO's in it as a business to make money.
In my experience low price trackdays attract PS3/XBox 'wheelmen', knackered cars held together with chewing gum or both ;-) Making sure you don't get t-boned by some hero in a hairpin or waiting for the latest oil slick to end a session isn't fun.

As you point out 2-day weekend events are a great way to get more (per day) value and even take the opportunity to work as a marshall one day for heavily discounted/free track time the other :-)

It's not as bad as a bunch of people are saying. It's expensive as you want it to be. If you're worried about cost, don't run 18" wheels. They aren't required for a drift car. Realistically, 17s are better anyways. You don't need "special tires" either. Normal tires are more than adequate. Drift days and events of that nature are cheap in most cases.

Burning tires up....please. Unless the track is shit or you're putting down high power numbers or running at high speeds (or a combo of the 3), one set of tires will last an entire event AND THEN SOME without any problems. On low boost on my 14 (230ish hp), I ran over 30 runs in one track event after having the tires on my car for over two months. After the event, I still ran them for another few months before it was time to replace them.

If you're worried about cost and want something that has enough power to have a bunch of fun in and be cost effective...
1. get an s13 w/ a basic SR swap. Stock T25 turbo. Basic mods: midmount, exhaust, boost controller, intake etc. which will put you about 250hp or so. Approx. $4000

2. Get a set of decent coils ie KSport, Stance. Approx. $1000

3. Weld the diff. Less than $100

4. Get a good bucket seat, steering wheel, shift knob, and turn spin knob/ebrake knob(if you don't know what that is, it allows you to pull and release the sidebrake without having to hold in the locking button) All together, no more than $1,000

5. Some better brake pads, lines, fluid is a good idea as well. Less than $400

6. Some type of aftermarket wheels...seriously just get some cheap 16s or 17s which can be found all over the place. For instance, (I HATE THEM) but get some 4 lug 16" rota grids with some tires and throw them on. All together, MAYBE $1100

All together, Approx. $7,600. And you can probably get it done cheaper than that. After that, you just need to maintain the car as you would any other. A pair of new 16" tires can be had for less than $120 installed where I get em from.

If you have doubts, look at some of the ebisu drift missle vids. All those cars are beat to shit, running pretty much bone stock motors with just the bare basics. It's about the driver. You don't need a $30,000 build to get better. YOU NEED SEAT TIME! So, you can spend all of your money just trying to build a car to pro am status and never drive it or you can spend it on actually driving and enjoying it.