ENJOYING YOUR PASSION IN THE LONG RUN PART 2

In my previous post, I asked the question "What's your budget?". Now it's time for the next question you should ask yourself when planning out your long term car culture fun.

2) What's your end goal?

This question has less to do with low budget car activities and more to do with the medium and high dollar ones. While a day at the car show or the race track (as a spectator not a driver) is unlikely to do any permanent damage to your wallet, a few laps in a Ferrari rented at the track can really interfere with your ability to buy your first set of coil overs. This means its critical to your happiness to know the long game. Do you care what brand of car you drive? If you don't, you can find some cheaper rides to build and thrash at the track or the rallycross circuit (old Ford Fiestas and Mazda Miatas come to mind here. Does having fun during your commute mean a lot to you? If so, a mild exhaust and intake upgrade will enhance you engine's soundtrack so you can enjoy the noise without killing your emissions, eardrums or gas mileage. Are you going to be pushing your car to the limit at the track or are taking it to shows? Well, you may want to put that racing license on hold ... or make sure the car you're building will pass racing spec. If that's the case, plan on having a hard time taking that car on the road. Don't forget your tools, your trailer and your pick up truck. You're going to need them all and a very supportive significant other! There is hope though. You could chose to be a motorsport tourist by planning to take bite sized courses in whatever motorsport discipline you desire and don't worry about what's sitting in your garage.

Lastly, you can save yourself some time and money by starting with the platform that you're really interested driving or building. Do you want the M variant? Save up and buy it the first time. Don't by the regular one and then trade it in for the M like I did.

I'll be back with more conversations from time to time. In the meantime, enjoy cars, coffee and CAFFEINE GT