planning the 2009 schedule

The first Spec E30 race is almost a month away, so I decided I should probably plan out the year and get approval from my CFO (Chief Financial Officer, aka my wife) for the plan for '09.

Part of putting it together was taking a look at the data I've accumulated from 2008. In 2008 I:

• spent 28 days at the race track
• bought a Spec E30 race car
• got a NASA license and started racing
• bought an ambulance and trailer to tow the race car
  
• averaged $968.68 per weekend
  

That last one is complicated, and the value really depends on what you include when you add up all the numbers. Instead of drawing the line somewhere arbitrarily, I decided to count every penny. If I had a burger for lunch, that counts towards the total. It's also a little skewed because I didn't include the race car purchase, and some of the improvements to get it ready (seat?), in the figure. I did include "maintenance" things such as a new transmission and the rebuilt head. You get the picture. Complicated.

All in all, it was a pretty good year.

I came up with this schedule for 2009:

• 2/14,15/2009 NASA race Infineon
• 4/25,26/2009 NASA race ThunderHill
• 5/23,24/2009 LeMons race Reno Fernley
• 5/31/2009 NASA race Llihrednuht
• 8/7/2009 PDC HPDE ThunderHill
• 8/23,24/2009 NASA race ThunderHill
• 10/3,4/2009 NASA race Llihrednuht
• 11/7,8/2009 NASA race Infineon
• 12/5,6/2009 NASA race ThunderHill

I'm only at 16 days at the track for 2009, down from the previous 28.

I had to throw out some of the Spec E30 races due to conflicts with other events. Alas, people do not schedule their weddings around the NASA Norcal schedule. There's a break in the middle of the year for what should be a happy/stressful time with the delivery of a baby. I'm still not sure how the baby's arrival will impact racing. Hopefully I can balance both, but time will tell.

Finally, I'm shooting for a lower per weekend cost. If I can avoid big expenses, like head rebuilds, it'll probably happen.