Penguin cost summary

[Ray-Ray]

Im on the line between yes and no for attending Penguin on 5/13.... I need to know all of the cost factors before I pull the trigger...here's what I have so far

school $280 or $250 for early reg

whats the cost for my actual license? is there a cost for the rookie race?
are there any deals/coupons floating around? Im not tryign to be cheap, just new to racing and need the right direction and seeing if I CAN really afford it.
please keep clean and make fun of me behind my back

[tsanterre]

Gas - $$
$280 / $250 for P-School
Rookie race doesn't cost anything - (last year you actually had to pay the $80 for a regular race, before doing the rookie race on Sat)
License - $120


But kiss the savings account good-bye if you are going to get your license and start racing.

Deals are for early registration - and once you become licensed your first three events (weekends) - the race fee is half price - free transponder usage, and free gate fee.

[Jim]

once you have your license, you could do the Friday practices at $135 if you sign up early. I did a few Thursday practices last year for $150, and it was more track time that a typical track day.

[Ray-Ray]

damn...$120 for my license!??!

[tsanterre]

damn...$120 for my license!??!

$120 - annually

[Ray-Ray]

$120 - annually

Hmm....well I guess its not too bad...considering I pay more than that for TD's

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

damn...$120 for my license!??!

Haha. If $120 makes you go "damn!" you are not cut out for racing.

[Woodcraft]

Everyone seems to have this one covered....but if you do a license for $120 and then get a season package of practices...it's pretty cheap track time in the end.

Penguin is running a deal right now until May 1st. If you practiced in April, you can use 100% of your practice fee towards the original season package (which was $749). So, if you post entered for $150, you'll get 6 more practices for about $100/day. Factor in a license (for a new guy) and you're still at only $120/day.

If you did not participate in April, the season pass for the remainder of the year is $699. Still a good deal for 6 days on the track any way you look at it.

If anyone wants information emaild to them - email us at info@penguinracing.com and ask for the form. We'll get you taken care of.

[Woodcraft]

damn...$120 for my license!??!

You should look at a pro license. I paid almost $500 for my AMA Superbike license last year (and ended up only running the Daytona 200). That was tough to swallow!

[Awesome]

Entrance to the track $25 per weekend
Camp at the track with electric $25
Without electric $15

[Chippertheripper]

Ima message you when I get some real time, but also, all this is assuming you don't wad up whatever bike you're on, and aren't scrambling to put the thing back together for the next race too.

[senecak19]

Welcome to the sh*& show. Start doing crack, it'll be cheaper. I don't know what I've invested, but after 5 years of racing, several bikes, etc... I'm close to if not over $25,000. That's what getting my license cost. On the flip side... you'll never experience an adrenaline rush like motorcycle racing.

[TheIglu]

EX500 or even an SV650 and you can do it on the cheap. I did for many years. I mean REAL cheap.

Hell, I dropped less than $200 on any given race weekend. Including gas, food, entries, rufees, AIDS test, etc.

It can be done cheap while still having a blast.

[CBR929RE]

figure on something like $600 for your first weekend assuming the bike is ready to go. its worth it and I spent 2-3x that.

[sdog30]

Tires aren't cheap either. (from what I've heard)

[The Outlaw]

Racing is a ton of fun and I would not trade it for anything!

But.......

Talk to other racers come up to the track and hang out with a few and see what it costs them for a weekend. Find a guy running what kind of a bike you will run.

Some BIG cost that you have to pay up front.

-Transponder (have to buy one now by your third race weekend) $380-$400 New. Only slightly cheaper used if you can find one.
-Tire warmers $400 (Yes you need them, With out them you will be paying to fix your bike after a crash. Get Woodcraft don't skimp here you'll pay in the long run)
-Plastics $300-$400 depending on your bike. (FYI the "I'll switch my bike back to street when not racing" does not happen)
-Travel and food. This one can be cheap if you have friends that race. Go to Walmart and be happy with cheap burgers and Dogs. The more friends you have the cheaper and better the food gets. I was able to do shrimp and steak with vegetables, pasta and macaroni salad for $5 a person last year for 15 people.
-Have a girlfriend? Better hope she likes being in crappy weather, board, scared to death, camping and gross showers. If she does; marry her! (Then kiss the other half of your money goodbye)


When I talk to other people about racing and THEY do some math and say well per lap you are only paying X amount. Yes racing is cheaper. But if that is your rational then racing is not for you. Stick to track days and look for the membership deals.

I know I went beyond the what does Penguin really cost idea. But if you are thinking that far you really need to go to the next step.

Hope to see ya out there!

[Ray-Ray]

I have a race bike, fully safety wired. So that's covered....I have a race team thats willing to share their garage with me so thats covered as well. I have all my gear...So all I need now is a transponder and warmers....ok here it goes...Whose got these for sale for descent price@@

[CBR929RE]

you get a transponder free your first 3 weekends so worry about that later when you know you're gonna stick with it. I have a bracket for I think the newer rechargeable type that you can have. you're gonna have a really hard time finding any used and if you do they are gonna be really close in price to a new one.

[virtualbong]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

Haha. If $120 makes you go "damn!" you are not cut out for racing.

I remember way back in the day when I was slightly thinking about possibly racing and that came to an abrupt halt when you told me I would have to save $10,000 per year, hahaha. That and not being fast kept me from looking into it further.

[Chippertheripper]

Lemme remind you: you're behind me in line for a xponder.

[Eddie]

I'm in the same boat - somewhat. I mean, you (as a metaphor) can't really look at racing as just doing cheap track time. If you are seriously thinking about it you ought to work out the logistics and unforeseen circumstances into your cost/benefit calculation. If memory serves me well, Denno might have posted here that his first race season cost him upwards of 10k.

Fine, it is a nice gesture for Penguin and LRRS to make racing as cheap as possible. I just think that before we make that leap it makes sense to do more trackdays. Get instructions from the faster guys (Via one-on-one instruction and class time) and yes if you determine that you can keep up...by all means do it.

At the end of the day, nobody here (including myself) can tell you what to do. What the racers here can do is provide some facts and personal perspectives so potential racers can make an informed decision.

The above is merely my rumble opinion.

[Chippertheripper]

I just think that before we make that leap it makes sense to do more trackdays. Get instructions from the faster guys (Via one-on-one instruction and class time) and yes if you determine that you can keep up...by all means do it.

This. Spend as much time with them dudes as possible. If I almost ran up in you, you aren't ready yet. Concentrate. Learn as much as possible this year. Forget warmers and transponders, but pick up a laptimer. Work hard to be ready to be competitive, elsewise you're just throwing $ away, IMO.

[cbr_chick_nh]

I dropped 10g on my dogs last year... We all have priorities

I say go for it! Just budget appropriately...

[FirstDuc-1098]

I'm sure the dogs love ya, the track is more likely to 'bite' ya

[Woodcraft]

Truth be told guys.....you can do it both ways. I've had seasons (back in the good ol days) that I spent $50,000. BUT, the big difference back then was that there was lots of money to win. If you did well, you could actually make a little back on your investment. Granted, it's a little risky to spend 50K to make 60K back....but most racers I know aren't adverse to a little risk.

On the other hand, many guys I know race pretty cheap. On a smaller bike in particular you can run tires longer, spend less when you fall and just keep it fun. Real numbers I've seen are under $400 a weekend for a frugal racer. Motard bikes are great for that type of thing....I raced a whole season on one front tire.

If you use your head and don't go crazy, racing really isn't that much more money than track days. You burn the same amount of tires, same amount of fuel and you can run on the weekends when you don't have to take a day off of work (this is pretty big). Three entries cost $180, with a free pit pass. That's cheaper than any track day I know. Assuming you have riding gear, the biggest hurdle is the startup with bike prep, stands, warmers, and a transponder...just to have the basics. Best bet, by far, is to buy a prepped race bike and lots of that takes care of itself. The new Novice class makes it easier for a new guy to just come and have fun.

The problem with these statements is that I led in with "if you don't go crazy"..... most of us are a little crazy, and the competitiveness takes over. But, then again, that's what keeps many of us coming back.