Remember when Auto-x was cheap?
 

These are NNJR Autocross prices:

Between 75 and 89 drivers; the cost will be $80 w/ 8-10 runs
Between 90 and 109 drivers; the cost will be $70 w/ 7-9 runs
Between 110 and 124 drivers; the cost will be $65 w/ 6-8 runs
With 125 drivers and over the cost will be $60 w/ 5+ runs

Not to mention additional $10 for non-members.

Imagine paying $90 for autocross? I remember paying $45 in Washington State and $55 at Nassau...

Lets take a look at a track day running in New Jersey at NJMP on the exact same day...


Progressive Paced Laps Beginner- $195

The Progressive paced laps experience is for those who want to experience the speed of New Jersey Motorsports Park, but don’t have previous on-track experience. Drivers will take part in a full day of performance driving education including classroom instruction and (4) 20-minute sessions on track, led by the official NJMP pace car. Each session will build on the previous, progressively increasing speed and frequently exceeding 100 mph by the end of the day.


So...lets do some math. Lets say that each run at NNJR was 2 minutes long (which is overkill), typically you'll get 6-8 runs in a day. Since they want 85 drivers (which is a lot!), you'll get 6 runs (I was told 8 and got 6). That's 12 minutes of driving for $80 around a parking lot. You're paying $6.66 per minute!

At NJMP you get four 20 minute sessions, so that's 80 minutes of driving on a decent track for $195. That's $2.43 per minute.

Huh...

Same thing with drifting /: It's like $275 for a two day event and you're only on the track for half the day (if even that) plus most of the time your standing in line for a run that takes like a minute tops. On top of that you obviously still have to pay for tires, fuel, etc. Unfortunately that's just how it is :iono: gotta pay to play I guess

My events, although small were only $30 at the time and that included lunch (late 90s).

Now I see prices for $50 and up, no thanks.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2QVjp4KEjU"]Family Guy- Pepperidge Farm Remembers - YouTube[/ame]

I'll tell you guys the same thing I tell my wife... You think this is expensive? be thankful it's cars and not airplanes

The issue is the event cost vs logistics. Basically for AX, on the cheapest end you had places asking $1,200 to rent the pavement (not including insurance costs and porta-john rentals) while others are charging $2,400 or more, up to $10k for the day at Citi-Field (which is why only the super car events run there). Meadowlands is probably on the higher end. We (NY BMW) were only charging $35 to members at Nassau, and $70 to non-members for their first event but that covered their $48 membership fee so they paid the member rate the next 365 days.


If you run a good event and everyone does what they're supposed to (ie, drivers don't vanish for lunch or when it's time to get to their work assignments) you can easily get 80-100 cars with 10 runs each. We actually had many days where we gave 12 runs, but I digress. You're still limited to 3 cars simultaneously at a time on course so using 100cars/10runs figure 1000 total 1 minute runs divided by 3 nets you 5.5hrs of hot track time but 16.5hrs of cumulative driver time even though each driver is only getting 10 minutes. Keep in mind, every extra run you give chops into that time exponentially. Likewise, if the track is longer or shorter it varies the overall time greatly.


On the track, depending on which one, it may cost $14k+ to rent the place but you can easily pack 30-50 cars in a run group with 4-5 groups which allows you to keep things moving and have a ton of drive time per person. Even if you cap the event at the same 100 cars, one driver would get roughly 1.5+hrs of seat time and the cumulative total would be over 150hrs of drive time in the same 8hr day. Unlike AX, on the track, the time is basically fixed, barring any unforseen incidents.


Hopefully that makes a bit more sense. I agree that if those are the prices NNJR is charging, it seems excessive. There normally isn't a tremendous profit margin in these events.

I'm in FL not up in your area but the prices for an AtuoX are similar. I've only been twice because when it comes right down to it- $80 for 2 sessions (with a guest who I had to pay for who was not driving) and travelling an hour up, plus doing the work assignments and for what- a total of 10 52 second runs over an 8 hour day. It was fun and all, but I don't do it much because there just is not enough run time.

If you can make the trip down to Ft Myers, (Lehigh Acres, technically) our test and tune days are $26 per driver. If you take our novice school you can easily get 15 runs before lunch time. Then, after the school, you can get 2 runs per 30-min work rotation. (Work course for 30 minutes, get two runs. Rinse and repeat)

Gulfcoastautocrossers.com

Our competition days ($36) offer less runs (4 to 6) but the competition courses are loooong. FTD last weekend was 74 seconds, median time was mid 80's.

Bookmarked it. My wife and I love a road trip.

Drag racing in the 70s cost about $20 (not adjusted for inflation) for 12 to 15 seconds. These prices look pretty good to me!

I forgot to mention that we now encourage pre-registration online. (Still have to check in and pay on site, but check in is quicker and it helps us plan when we know about how many drivers to expect)

I was gonna say... It boggles my mind that people go Drag racing. From me, you're easily looking at a $200 day between gas, tolls, bridges, entry fees, god forbid you're towing the car... for maybe 3x ~13 second passes with no turns. If you're doing it competitively, you could be out in 1 pass. And the faster you are, the less seat time you're going to get. Seems... inefficient at best. :iono:

All true! But still fun as hell. Not to mention the cost of the cars in the upper brackets. I was purely super stock class but the top fuel crowd could easily have $100K invested in a car and that was in the 70s. They also had cars that were pushing 10,000 hp (yes that is the right number of zeros) so you can imagine they weren't cheap.
This forum is not the drag race crowd (well most of it) though so I get how many would not think it is fun. It was a whole different world then the track scene of today.

I know what it was like back then. My dad used to run a '69 Motion Phase III 427 Camaro at Westhampton. ;) I've also been to watch a few times but it doesn't do much for me. I will never get the exorbitant amount of money involved in less than 13 seconds of going straight. But to each their own.

Also had a buddy running a Mustang in Outlaw 10.5 and he was sinking boatloads of money, like house down payments, into his car for roughly 5 minutes of driving an entire season. :bonk:

I think they do it because there's a lot of money in that sport if you do well. I know a guy who just drives for other people because he's that good. Dude won't even get in a driver's seat for less than a grand. If he loses, car blows up, crashes, etc. he still keeps the money and it is someone else's problem. He gets even more if he wins. I'm sure the actual owners of the cars are making much more themselves so they see it as a worthwhile investment.

A little update on this.

I've move to Ohio temporarily for graduate studies and I signed up for a recent Auto-X event.

Wanna guess how much?

$35 for a non member.

Track days are still the same price around here though. :bellyroll:

NY/NJ cost of running a business is insane. Not ruling out the track being at fault, but the extra taxes are a killer in NY, and the cost of labor for track maintenance has got to be really high compared to other states too.