Chris, I got the same response a year or so ago when I stated it would take $15k minimum to build a pointy-end Spec Miata; nowadays the entry price for a winning SM is double that.

I can respect your opinion, but I place you firmly in the "Dave Gran Camp" of "what it takes to race", not "what it takes to win everything". There's nothing - absolutely nothing - wrong with that attitude, either.

But, there's just NO WAY you can build a nationally-competitive ARRC-winning ITA car for much less than that. Even if you bought one ready to go, there's going to be a lot of work to do. The ONLY way you can do it is if you possess ALL the skills for building a race car and can do it yourself: welding, fabrication, engine builds, transmission builds, chassis development, have the equipment to bust and balance your own tires, you own an engine dyno, you own a shock dyno, etc. And that's only if you put ZERO value on your time; well, if you have all this equipment and skills then you're a genius and you simply can't do that!

Are you like that? Not me! Know anyone like that that's willing to build it for you for free? Please send me their contact info...!

On the way home from Atlanta we bantered about what it would take to replicate the NX2000, given what we know now. We figured out that it would take approximately $13-15,000 just in car, rebuldable engines and trans, performance and replacement parts, supplies, and sublet work (machine work, final welding, etc). And that's with zero value on anyone's time. And that's with everything already figured out. It doesn't take a math wiz to figure out that we've "invested" (hah!) a hell of a lot more than that.

Smart? Hardly. Worth it? Well, this week it is...don't know about next week, though