Race cars are expensive by some measures, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a value equation at work. By some measures, value in a race car comes down to speed/cost.
Ride along as Team Winding Road driver David Beckmann takes the Elan NP01 around Hallett Motor Racing Circuit during a practice session at the NASA Summer Shootout.
As you may be aware, Elan Motorsports has designed a new, relatively low cost prototype racer called the NP01 and they’ve partnered with NASA to create a class for the new car (whose name means NASA Prototype 01).
We’ve talked to lots of racers about the car they drive and the car they’d like to drive. It hardly needs to be said that lots of drivers would like to try an F1 car or a WEC prototype or a full-on GT3 car, at least in their dreams. But when you add in the element of a car that drivers have to buy and maintain, those million dollar cars with rare and exotic parts and short service intervals are immediately off the table for almost all amateur racers. To get around the problem of dreaming, we’ve started asking the question differently: “What would you build if you owned a race car manufacturing operation and wanted to create a great race car for amateurs?”