SHOWROOM CARS (GpN) THE REAL TRUTH ON COSTS

In the past couple of weeks I’ve fielded over a dozen queries from existing and new competitors wanting to know the pros and cons of preparing a showroom (GpN) car for LSM 2004.

“What does it really cost to prepare one that does the job,” is always the leading question. So rather than guess I asked the guys who ran GpN cars on our Midnight Sun to Red Sea event in June.

I thought it would be worth sharing the information with you. I’ve translated their costs into US dollars and British pounds.

Joe McAndrew – Honda Integra (1st overall - 1st in class)
New Zealander Joe won the event in what started life as a well used second hand road car. His total cost from scratch was £15,000 or around US$ 23,600. About 60% of that was the purchase price of the car and 40% the cost of the FIA bits (seats, belts, roll cage etc) suspension and labour. Apart from one minor electronic glitch it was totally reliable. As he said, “Not a lot of money to spend for a winning car.”

Graham Lorimer – Toyota Corolla RSi (3rd overall - 1st in class)
Graham is based in Zimbabwe and prepared the car at the beginning of the season to contest the FIA African Championship. The RSi is an African-built car homologated for motorsport events and comes with a ‘hot’ 1600 cc engine and 6-speed gearbox. “The total cost to buy the car new and prepare it was US$21,200 or £13,500 and I used the car for a season of rallying in Africa as well”

Steve Blunt – Peugeot 306 (4th overall – 2nd in class)
It was Steve’s first International event. He bought the car a year in advance and did half a dozen British club events as part of what he describes as his learning curve. It came as a 2 year old fully prepared GpN rally car. Total cost including the purchase price and some subsequent “fettling” was £8,000 or US$ 12,600.

Steve Coad – Holden Astra (6th overall – 3rd in class)
Based in Melbourne Steve had done many tarmac events but had never done a marathon or been on gravel. He walked into a Holden showroom, pointed at a black Astra and said “I’ll have that one.” Off it went to a rally workshop to have all the FIA bits fitted and that was that. Wife and co-driver Rachel liked the idea of air-con and carpets so they were retained. Total cost around US$ 16,000 or £10,100

Tom Ryan – Proton Satria – (7th overall - 2nd in class)
Bought the car as a year old fully prepared GpN car which needed very little doing to it to bring up to Marathon specification. Total cost £8,000 or US$ 12,600. “Totally reliable and won’t need much doing to it to make it ready for it’s next Marathon.”


Nick Starkey – Opel Astra - (11th overall – 6th in class)
Nick is a marathon veteran and it was always his proud boast that he had the cheapest car on the event at £7,000 or US$ 11,000 and that included spares and half a dozen competition wheels. Nick and the car were quick enough to win a couple of stages but mechanical failures dropped him off the leader board.

Graham Samuel
Graham’s daughter Clare ran a VW Polo in the British Championship this year and won the Women’s GpN title. The year-old car was bought from the first owner in full rally-ready GpN trim with Proflex suspension for £10,500 or US$ 16,500. It was 100% reliable and Graham says it needs only a small amount spending to bring it into Marathon trim. He did LSM 2000 in his blue Porsche 911 and will compete on LSM 2004 in the 1400cc Polo. “Not so much grunt, but lots of fun and lots cheaper.”

No doubt about it, it’s a cheap way to do the event for those who are not devoted Classic buffs. The end of the rally season (that’s now) is a good time to go shopping for a good GpN car as the serious competitors in championships upgrade for the new season. In England the place to look is in the classifieds in the weekly Motor Sport News.