Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > How Much Does it Cost to Race in Desmodue?

[skidlids]

Did the whole of last season for a little over £3k including buying and preping the bike.
This year I'm looking at a budget of £2k for racing in Class B with last years bike.
The Class A bike is nearly ready, having cost me £2200 so far but then I have a lot of bits left that I could sell on, which could easily reduce the cost by £400. So I hope to have it race ready for a net price of £2k

Then I can look at selling my 583 Class B bike at the end of the year and recovering some of that outlay

[phillc]

For those that have look at my expenses spreadsheet and say "I've done it cheaper," I'd really like to know how.

Given that this is the first time I've ever raced, there are some things that I couldn't avoid buying - like a one piece suit. And I think I got a pretty good deal on the suit that I did end up purchasing.

Perhaps I could have somehow modified the standard road fairings and not bought specific track fairings. But I did buy them already colour impregnated to save on the cost of spraying them.

Sure, there's been a few little things that I've bought that in retrospect I could have done without, but I honestly think they'd only add up to around £100 to £150. And of course I can re-coup some of this cost by trying to sell on the road kit.

Could I have done without a back protector and saved £90? Yes. But would I want to race without one? No.

Could I have not bought new boots for £140 and kept using my existing road boots? Yes. Would I have needed a new pair anyway after I finished putting holes in my road ones? Yes.

Could I have raced at Oulton without doing a track day, saving probably £200 in total? Yes. Would my results have been even worse, given that I had never been to the track or even ridden the bike previously? Yes.

The only money I've spent that was truly "waste" was 2.5 hours labour getting the electrics fixed after I screwed them up removing the Datatool alarm.

Truly, I'd be really interested in how and where I could have saved money. Any ideas appreciated.

[phillc]

I've actually just done a breakdown now of the costs into various areas:

Bike & Parts = £2,271

Track Days & Race Fees = £488

Memberships = £129

Clothing & Accessories = £551

Sundries (Fuel, Garage rent etc) = £275

Total = £3714

I'd forgotten to add in the New Era Entry Fee for Oulton, so this is the new total figure.

As you can see, I haven't spent all that much on the bike itself, but everything else does add up and I feel this figure actually represents the true cost of racing to date.

[Tonio600]

I think your budget is fine mate, people like to forget stuff "here and there" to make them think racing is cheaper than it is. Racing is bl00dy expensive, as all motorsports are. That's a fact. I've stopped counting what it costed me, made me feel too sick. And my bike is basic, most expensive parts are the Ohlins and radial master cylinder which costed me £350 together...

I'm not taking part in the next round, Donington. It will make me save about £400 (race entry + trackday + petrol costs). How cheap is that?

[couchcommando]

Originally Posted by Tonio600

I think your budget is fine mate, people like to forget stuff "here and there" to make them think racing is cheaper than it is. Racing is bl00dy expensive, as all motorsports are. That's a fact. I've stopped counting what it costed me, made me feel too sick. And my bike is basic, most expensive parts are the Ohlins and radial master cylinder which costed me £350 together...

I'm not taking part in the next round, Donington. It will make me save about £400 (race entry + trackday + petrol costs). How cheap is that?

The only motogp track in this country and you're not doing it !!!!!!!!

You HAVE to do it

[Tonio600]

Originally Posted by couchcommando

The only motogp track in this country and you're not doing it !!!!!!!!

You HAVE to do it

Last time (only time) I did it, it was for last year's DD round. it was raining and I crashed. Since that, each time I watched some racing at Donington (MotoGP, BSB,...) it was raining and a lot of racers crashed.

I hate that track.

[Grib]

Tonio....Noooo! Do Donington, you HAVE to! I'm probably dropping Snett for fear of making the bike pop before the last round, but there's no way I'd sit Donny out...it's the best track we go to!

[Tonio600]

Originally Posted by Grib

it's the best track we go to!

Nope,it's Assen.

Btw sorry to hijack your thread Phill... To come back to it, I do think your figures are right and you didn't do much wrong

[twpd]

It pays to keep careful track of your racing costs and budget realistically. Never be fooled by the real cost of racing. I've just added up the cost of putting together my 800ss race bike so far. Including the purchase price of the bike, so far it has cost £8500.35 and it's not even finished yet.

I reckon I still have another £2000 or so to fully finish it in preparation to the level I want for next season proper although technically I can race it now.

This year alone I expect to pay £1000 in entries, approx' £1000 in tyres plus all the other incidentals like food, race fuel, accomodation costs for the three meetings that I am using for setup so, I am looking at an end of season bill for around £12500! Oh lordy!

Next year I intend to do about 10 MRO meetings so....

Entry fees: ~£1800
Race fuel: ~£500
Diesel: ~£600
Tyres: ~£2500
Oil: ~£200
2 x service: ~£1000
2 sets of pads: ~£140
1 chain : ~£100
Sprockets: ~£100
Practice: ~£1200
Misc maint': ~£250
Van insurance: ~£300
Van tax: ~£150
Van servicing: ~£250
Van tyres: ~£200
Boots: ~£150
Gloves: ~£150
Helmet: ~£300

total ~ £10,000

So, I'm looking at a total cost of about £22k by the end of next year which, is broadly similar to what two years on the SV650 in Minitwins cost me.

This excludes crash repairs, more dyno testing or any other unforeseens. Most people seriously underestimate how much it costs and how much they spend. I'm by no means extravagant and some lads I know put fresh tyres on every race day which means £500 or so per weekend in tyres alone. I tend to make mine stretch from practice, through qualifying and then racing although, by race 2 on a Sunday they are past their best.

Mind you - what a rush.

[Dominic Clegg]

when we were in castle coombe i was talking to a young lad and his day at were in 125 acu star and theyhas a buget of £21000 they got £12000 in sponsership but still a lot just to race a 125