IT to World Challenge

I would like to shed some light on the subject of jumping into the World Challenge series. I used to race in ITS in the northeast and in 1996 I decided to try a World Challenge race. I have been competiting in the series every year since. As for going from IT to WC I think that it is great and I welcome anyone. As far as the tallent end goes most of the WC drivers were tops in their class at the club level. Thats the reason most of us stepped up into the Pro ranks. For me it was a bigger challenge.

As to what it is like to go from a regional class to WC let me just say that it is a very very sobering experience. At the club level we were usually one of the top cars in ITS for several years I rarely finished out of the top 3. I am sure that is how it is for most of the WC competitors out there. The difference between the front runners and the back markers, such as myself, is money and time. How much money you ask? In order to be competitive it will cost approximately $150,000 to build a front running car. And it will cost approximately $10,000 per race to run the car. In the BMW that I drive it went from being able to run a stock motor, ECU and Bilstein shocks to having to have a $25,000 motor, $10,000 Motec unit and $6,000 in shocks. WC is not for the faint of heart or wallet. Can you run events in WC absolutely! Will you be a top 10 of 5 car probably not. Not unless you have committed the dollars and resources. Most of the top teams in Touring and GT treat the series as a full time job, Turner, Realtime and Tripoint just to name a few. For the reset of us it should be treated as a great experience with the hope of having one of those perfect weekends whereby we could sneak into the top 10 or 15.

Please do not slam anyone for trying it. As for the real side of all of those rides out there with the top teams and their press releases anouncing their driver lineups here is the truth. Most (95%) of the drivers either fund their own operation or pay to drive a car. The Tripoint team wants appox $15,000/weekend to run one of their top cars I would assume the same for the rest of the teams. Could you rent a car for less - yes will it be the same as a Tripoint, Turner or Realtime ride? I doubt it.

For us small guys trying to do this back us and root for us as we come from the same background as the rest of you.

I have personally used the series as a chance to run tracks that I would never have gone to such as Laguna Seca, Las Vegas, Portland, Texas Motor Speedway etc. I do this on the budget that suits my limits/desires. I look at a top 10 as a win based on my time/budget constraints.
 
Originally posted by WC Driver:
The difference between the front runners and the back markers, such as myself, is money and time.
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This is one thing I was thinking but didn’t bother to mention it until I saw what you said. I definitely agree with you. Just walking around a wc paddock it's apparent who has the big operations and who is doing this as a part time activity. There seems to be a great $$$ difference between a top car and a mid pack car and the guys finishing up front definitely seem to be in very good cars. Competition is so tight that it seems you really need to put a very good driver in a top car to get good results. If you take away from either one of these things, you become a mid pack runner because there are many other good drivers in top cars that will finish in front of you. For this reason I would imagine it would be somewhat frustrating having a real talented but under funded driver in a low budget car who will have a tough time breaking the top 10 or 15. Either way, everyone says that WC does not compare to IT as it presents a much tougher challenge and I would definitely agree with that. So congratulations to those who have found the funds, time and talent to take up this challenge and do well in WC!

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Alex
#2 ita
 
Don't forget about Roger Foo. There are examples of people that get there through talent and sheer determination. I hope Andy and Co. do make it because it does give the rest a little hope and the will to keep going.

As someone here said, professional racing is a business and no one should be the least bit surprised that $$$$ is what keeps it ticking. If there weren't people (talented or not) willing to pay for those rides, many of the top WC teams couldn't exist.

I guess the moral of my long story above is that having money only gives you the opportunity to display your talent and increases the odds of being a success (because you can get the better equipment). It isn't a guarantee that you'll make it and/or be successful. I also wanted to point out that even if you don't make it as a driver doesn't mean you can't be involved as a "professional" at some level.

I also wanted to end with a statement about how the person who is totally content competing as an amateur (even if they aren't winning consistently) shouldn't be considered "deficient" in any way. We should also all be grateful that somehow we have been able to participate at all.

Peter
 
I agree with Roger Foo making it on a low budget. He would tow his car to the races. Since Roger is from California it had to take a minimum of 2 weeks to do one of the east coast races. Roger was willing to commit the time and what money he had to do this. How many club racers could afford to take 2 weeks off to do one race. My guess is not many.

It is also interesting to hear what some of the top drivers do away from the track. I read an article about Mike Fitzgerald. If I remember correctly he works out 2-3 hours per day and then takes his shifter cart out on a regular basis in order to stay sharp. I guess its like trying to compare a professional golfer with the weekend fanatic who gets up at 4:00am to get a tee off time who is going to be the better golfer.

It is unfortunate that the chances of making it in road racing is next to non existent. I know people will say what about Boris or PD Cunningham. Yes they do make a living out of it. But as with any professional athlete how long is there earning potential in the sport, 10-15 years? Road racing does not pay enough to enable a 10-15 year career driver to retire without ever HAVING to work. What does the driver do after his career ends? He probably will be in his late 40's early 50's. Unless he does something in the motorsports arena (car owner? takes lots of money) he may not be very marketable in the job market. It is a very big risk to try to do this for a living unless you have a family business to fall back on.

Most of us do this for the fun and as a hobby and as we all know you dont get paid to do your hobbies. It really is a shame. I guess we were born on the wrong side of the pond.
 
"I would imagine it would be somewhat frustrating having a real talented but under funded driver in a low budget car who will have a tough time breaking the top 10 or 15."

Alex - how is this any different than in IT? There are many of us that feel we are really limited as to how well we could do because of our cars. Really the same thing, just at a higher level. But I get your point.
 
Just to give some support to the other just to be fair.

I got this from a website looking for a driver..

Topic: Be Phil McClure's Team Mate
Raub

posted 01-21-2004 12:46 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awesome ride available in new state of the art C-5 for funded driver. Some deals in the works but nothing signed, so car is still open. We also would sell if an arrive and drive program can't be put together. Contact bob.******-racing or ***-***-****. This is first class ride with our team and race engineer, its not cheap. Please only contact us if your really serious

:/ Hard to face reality sometimes.


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Toodles,
Stacey_B AOL IM: SCCAStaceyIB 1990PGL SCCA STSL "Girls Do It Better" Cal Club T&S, BWRP,WS,Lag,Hallett www.scpoc.com : www.probetalk.com Racing is my life. Winner One Lap of America 2003- SSGT2 class 1996 Ford Probe GT.
 
Gran racing, it's not different in principal at all, you are right. One could argue F1 is the same way, too. It's always like this. The difference between IT and WC is the fact that there are a lot more good drivers in top cars at a WC race than there are good drivers in top cars at the regular IT race.

Originally posted by WC Driver:
But as with any professional athlete how long is there earning potential in the sport, 10-15 years? Road racing does not pay enough to enable a 10-15 year career driver to retire without ever HAVING to work. What does the driver do after his career ends?
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This is exactly how I look at it, too. Personally I will never allow myself to be in a position where racing will be controlling my life. I will only keep racing as long as I am the one in control of it. I always want to be able to have the option to turn the racing switch OFF instead of being dependent on keeping it ON, all the time. I believe this is the best way to enjoy racing at its fullest.

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Alex
#2 ita
 
Best of luck to you Nick, I have never actually met you, but I have watched you race many times.(I crew for Brian R) It looks like you have the drive and talent to be competative in a WC field. It is not an easy place to play, I moved from the regional ranks to WC in 2001 running a BMW,and have given up after the 2003 season. It was a sobering experience, but worth every cent in experience. These guys play for keeps and are willing to do whatever it takes to get that win. The only advice I can give from my mistakes is to drive as much as you can, the traveling and the testing is what was expensive. You need to do every test day before a race and be able to get the car dialed in during that test day. This is where the larger teams really have the edge, they have the historical data and the engineers that can apply that data quickly to get the car dialed in in a short amount of time. Best of luck with the season. If you have any questions on any of it send me a mail.
Alex
 
Thanks to everyone who has responded, we have no dreams of grandure on this adventure. We feel that the next logical step is to try WC and we made the opportunity for ourselves to do three events for 2004. Our hopes are to do well as anyone's would be, but our real goal is to get our feet wet and see if this is for us. If it is then we will work hard, as we do with anything at FlatOut Motorpsorts, to achieve our goal to the best of our ability.



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Nick Leverone
04 ITS Mazda Rx-7
www.flatout-motorsports.com
 
Nick-

I support you guys 100%... I didn't respond to any of this thread earlier cause I wasn't quite sure how to respond without offending you or anyone else... Since I grew up in SCCA since before I can remember things... I think I can reflect an accurate reflect what an IT racer who visits this site might be able to expect.

To me or us (Blethen family) entering WC is a barier due to our lack of $$$. I think in the "racing world" we would be considered poor. We spend every little dollar and every little resourse we can to race in ITB. Yes I think that we have 2 great looking cars and yes we won 1st and 2nd in ITB NARRC Championship and that was an accomplishment but it was purely hard work and not much $$$ (we probabl have one of the lowest budgets). We then decided to go to the ARRC. Many people might think that we are just like everyone else but we are not, we went with a $1,000 budget for everything, hotel, food, towing, entry fees, tires (we ran on old tires for the NARRC runoffs and the Glen Enduro), etc. We finished 3rd place in the sprints and 4th place in the enduro with a very unhapy car that wouldn't have made it another 15 minutes.

You on the other hand (I think) would be considered a middle class (on the welth scale) racer. No you can not buy your way in Pro Racing (WC) like others who rent cars, but you do have enough money and enough ambition to work your @$$ off to get their. You all at Flat out motorsports have worked extreamly well together to get to where you are quickly. They way you have done it in my eyes is through a lot of hard work, determination, and dedication of what welth you do have.

all this is to try and point out my view...

If you are strugling to afford IT racing, you more than likely will never make it pro or it will take you a very long time to get into world challenge unless you impress some wealthy supporting freinds fast.

If you can comfortably afford IT then you will have a much better chance at moving into WC and finding a sponsor who feels that you can financially handle/partially support the task of a pro series.

If you are very wealthy then yes as long as you can at least get an SCCA licence then you can get a pro ride, but plan on spending 20,000 a weekend and not making the qualifying cut.

No matter what level of racing you are in you wil have to burden some level of the expence...

Raymond Blethen

PS: yes their are a few exceptionsas always, and I admire those exceptions.

Again congrats to the Flat-Out Motorsports guys/girls... You all have worked hard and deserve every opertunity you have EARNED. We know you probably will accept any help that anyone can give you, but don't be shy if their is anything that we can do please just feel free to ask... you should have our e-mail, otherwise stop and ask as you lap us ITB cars!!!
 
Good job Nick.... I think that is great to go from IT to WC. I have hopes of racing at Le Mans one day.... I dont even have a true race car yet, but it is coming along! I will be doing the Red Bull drivers search which is a good American start, and I also hope to race WC as it seems like a lot of WC drivers race in the ALMS and other series.... I have no clue why I wrote this
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I have good hook-ups and I hope I can move up the ladder... but in America it is not easy
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Simon
www.simontibbett.evaluand.com
 
Very true! Road racing is the wrong form of racing for us that aspire to become professional racers.

Too bad I'm not into circle racing...
 
That is what everyone tells me! Everyone says.."why not oval racing? Why road racing, circle track is where the money is at" I will stick with road racing
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Simon
 
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