SEAT Cupra Championship teams to race for £200,000 prize fund

[ZBOYD]

FYI

http://www.seatcupra.net/SCC2005Prizefund_230904.htm

[Mackmot]

I might have to have a serious look at entering our team in that championship. It looks like it will be pretty good.

[mountainstar]

Sounds like a good deal for 32000 pounds for the car and fees. I wonder how many seasons the championship is supposed to run for.

[Les]

it sounds odd to me - the team get the prize and not the driver? Bet there would be a few extra sentences in the contracts.

[acf8181]

well, if i were a driver, i'd only go for a deal where any prize money won by the team was used to reduce my budget (presuming it was a totally driver financed drive).

[Simon Mason]

Its marketing speak.... the team. It just sounds better than "the driver" since motorsport is a team sport. Changing who the money goes to is quite easy. Sad thing is I bet the season will cost in excess of £100K including the car if you want to win.

[racingdad]

Originally posted by Simon Mason
Its marketing speak.... the team. It just sounds better than "the driver" since motorsport is a team sport. Changing who the money goes to is quite easy. Sad thing is I bet the season will cost in excess of £100K including the car if you want to win.

A full year should be do-able for about 90k; top drivers may haglle a cheaper deal

[topwelshman]

So where's the money in running a team in this?

[racingdad]

42K for car and entry - assume two car team; 82k plus spares (lets call it 95k)- income 2 x 90k = 180k (accident dammage is on top) assume team already owns transport and has premises, needs additional mechanics and some special tooling (lets go for 40k). Assume team also running in (say) Clios - gros profit +/- 45k....... more than some teams actually earn for some of today's championships.

[JNWRF01]

Racingdad - FFord has cars that cost half what these Seats will - the cost of running them is basically the same (poss FF Zetec is cheaper) and how many teams in FF are making a profit on a similar budget...I would guess one/two if your lucky. Certainly none of them are making £45k / two cars....

[JNWRF01]

Racingdad - FFord has cars that cost half what these Seats will - the cost of running them is basically the same (poss FF Zetec is cheaper) and how many teams in FF are making a profit on a similar budget...I would guess one/two if your lucky. Certainly none of them are making £45k / two cars....

[racingdad]

JNWRF01 - its called economies of scale - I agree that very few team make that kind of money - that't why I said, assume already running Clios or similar; the point I was making to topwelshman is that money could be made at a 90k per driver budget. Clio teams charge 45k upwards - and they somehow survive..

[topwelshman]

25% Margin is not enough to justify the amount needed to outlayed in the first place, I know they can sell the cars at the end of the season (or can they be re used?) but it's alot of work for not alot of payment in business terms. But,i'd swap places in a shot and forego the money just to be doing something as amazing as this!

[Redracer77]

the cars are £32,000 each so £64,000 for 2 so you have saved a further £20k racingdad!!!

[racingdad]

Redracer, thanks for spotting my (not) deliberate mistake! The fact is that running a racing team is not the most profitable business in the world and the SCC will provide a reasonable return if run alongside another support series. I remember talking to a well know FR team owner at the time that FBMW was being launched and he had decided not to get involved because the invest was huge and he couldn't see a reasonable returnwithout charging more than he imagined most young drivers could raise.

[topwelshman]

The cars are also subject to VAT, as will be all the parts.

[racingdad]

So is the driver's bill from the team - really doesn't make a difference to the economics.

[kartingdad]

The Vat can make a huge difference - 17.5% if you are not vat registered. And the economics of vat registering for an individual driver make it a not very viable proposition.

[racingdad]

KD - i was talking from the team's perspective. I agree that 17.5% on top really hurts a non-VAT registered individual. Don't start me off on my views of VAT, most of which is just a great big expensive paperchase for companies as the only one who ever actually pays is the unregistered consumer.

[Mackmot]

I thought you were having an argument with yourself there for a moment.

Thing is with VAt is that you just have to find a way to put it through a company. Some drivers are sponsored, which means that the sponsor can put it through their books others have rich parents or are rich enough themselves to race but that means that they must be making money from some company.

We are registered as Mackie Engineering Developments Ltd so that it can be very easy to provide engineering services to any company you can think of.

[topwelshman]

Even from a team's point of view, it's still extra money that has to be paid up front, you might be able to offset it but it still has to be funded. And I think I'm right in saying that not all drivers pay for the season up front but in stages which can't help with cashflow and we all know cash is king!

[racingdad]

Entering a new series is a hard decision for any team - exactly because of the upfront investment required, often with no guarantee of a return; that's all part of the precarious business of running a Racing Team. Interesting that Mackmot didn't come out against my logic, but gave a solution to the VAT problem!