Half the fun of having a track car is in building and developing it. Sure, it gives you all the chances in the world to screw up. You can spend a lot of money buying parts that don't work as well as you thought or you make a mistake and blow up something in a very expensive way. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've made my fair share of expensive mistakes in my pursuit for greater speed.
So when a fellow car enthusiast asked me what mods I had on my car, it made me wonder: If I was to build a competitive Prelude for SCCA Improved Touring racing, what would that build sheet look like? And what would it cost?
Parts List
Here's my answer, based on 8 years of blood, sweat, tears, and development work:
Category | Description | Cost |
Car | 92-96 Honda Prelude Si (non-4WS) 5 speed manual in good condition | $ 2,500.00 |
Induction | $ 300.00 | |
Exhaust | $ 1,300.00 | |
Exhaust | Custom mandrel bent 2.5" exhaust with expansion chamber | $ 500.00 |
Exhaust | $ 325.00 | |
Oiling | Oil catch can + plumbing | $ 60.00 |
Powertrain | $ 310.00 | |
Transmission | $ 600.00 | |
Electronics | $ 500.00 | |
Suspension | $ 1,090.00 | |
Suspension | $ 360.00 | |
Suspension | $ 120.00 | |
Suspension | $ 200.00 | |
Suspension | $ 540.00 | |
Suspension | $ 270.00 | |
Suspension | $ 232.00 | |
Suspension | $ 170.00 | |
Brakes | $ 225.00 | |
Brakes | Cheapest Full metallic heavy duty brake pads available - Rear | $ 20.00 |
Brakes | $ 110.00 | |
Brakes | $ 30.00 | |
Brakes | $ 60.00 | |
Brakes | $ 100.00 | |
Brakes | $ 24.00 | |
Wheels | $ 100.00 | |
Wheels | Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 Wheels, 15x8", redrilled for 4x114.3 | $ 800.00 |
Wheels | $ 60.00 | |
Tyres | $ 1,052.00 | |
Safety | $ 145.00 | |
Safety | $ 50.00 | |
Safety | SCCA Legal 6 / 8 point Roll Cage | $ 2,500.00 |
Safety | Bride Zeta III FIA Racing Seat | $ 900.00 |
Safety | $ 100.00 | |
Safety | Bride Seat Brackets | $ 125.00 |
Safety | Seat Bracket adapter | $ 50.00 |
Safety | $ 40.00 | |
Safety | $ 60.00 | |
Interior | Steel sunroof delete panel, riveted and sealed | $ 40.00 |
Interior | Italvolanti Sport Steering Wheel | $ 100.00 |
Interior | $ 85.00 | |
Interior | Short shifter adapter | $ 20.00 |
Interior | $ 140.00 | |
Chassis | Rear shock tower bar | $ 20.00 |
Total | $16,333.00 |
Professional Help Required
In addition to installing the parts shown above, there are some labor-intensive items that are necessary to make the car competitive. You'll want to seek out an experienced race shop to help you with these items:
Fabrication and welding of the roll cage
Engine head inspection and cleaning
Installation of a Limited Slip Differential
ECU installation and dyno tune
Corner weighting
Race Alignment
Labor costs vary wildly depending on where you are. It would be a good idea to get on the good graces of someone who has the necessary time, skills, and equipment for some of these things. If you have skills that you can offer them (even if they aren't motorsport related), put them on the table too. It never hurts and you may just get that little extra something for your hard-earned money.
Lesson Learned
The biggest lesson to be learned from this is that building a race car is not a fiscally responsible thing to do. In addition to all of the dollar amounts you see above, I spent hundreds of thousands of hours went into researching, testing, and setting up the car as it was being built.
The upside is that by building a car yourself, you can choose when to spend your time and money. By building the StudioVRM Prelude over the course of 8 years, I was able to split up the cost and time in a way that I could easily afford it. Plus I often chose top shelf parts to eek out as much performance as possible. You could probably get 90% of the performance of this car for a lot less money if you bought used parts or took some slightly cheaper alternatives.
Not only did I end up with a competitive car, I gained the knowledge, experience, and skills from some of the best in the business. That's something that I can now carry forward to the small fleet of other racecars I work on to make them faster for less money. And more importantly, I now have a decade worth of fond memories and an address book full of close friends with whom I'll share a lifetime of good times.
Would I do it all again? Hell yes. You should too. It's worth every penny.
See you at the track.
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