With the Nurburgring currently closed for the winter (upgrades are being introduced), this is a brilliant time to seat down and think at what throwing oneself at the Green Hell actually means. Sure, flying from one rumble strip to another on the infamous German track sounds like the most rewarding experience an aficionado might pursue, but there are also drawbacks and we're not even referring to crashes here. Instead, we're talking about running costs.
You see, there's a reason for which motorsport is one of the most expensive forms of competition in the world, with everything having a price in the world of high octane. And while blitzing the Ring doesn't necessarily involve running at race pace, this still requires a phenomenal amount of money.
And what better way to talk about the toll a track day-style activity takes on one's wallet than a set of explanations coming from a Ring Taxi company.
Apex, one of the developers that runs now has a small fleet of cabbies at the Nordschleife, has decided to break down the annual running costs for one of their toys, namely a track-prepped F80 BMW M3.
As we mentioned in the title above, the company estimates that the fixed costs sit at €160,000 (these involve aspects like the employees and the taxi license), while the operating costs sit at €75,000. So, with a total of €235,000, you could buy a supercar for the money required by this M3 to take people around 20.8 km (12.9 mi) racetrack for a year.
While the modded M3 now has four bucket seats inside it, the specialists ask each passenger to part ways with €269 per lap. And this is why we are told that the break-even point for the company sits somewhere below 1,000 laps.
Now, the little bits that make up the grand total mentioned above may be even more interesting, since you might want to know how much a Ring lap costs in... brake pads or engine oil. So make sure to check out the clip below for the full info, obviously taking into account that these figures come as delivered by the said specialist.
Update:Here are the running costs for a McLaren 720S Ring Taxi operated by the same specialist.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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