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Old 12-17-2009, 08:26 AM   #28 (permalink)
JonBoy
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Texas
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Apparently a number of you have zero idea what one-off, custom made equipment costs to design and fabricate or machine. This car is using some off-the-shelf equipment but it will also have a fair bit of fully custom work done to it. It doesn't take long to add tens of thousands of dollars just in labor to such a car, not to mention the materials costs. Development work is extremely expensive and this project is no exception.

Consider that you get charged a minimum of $75 per hour for work done on your car. Consider how many hours are going to be put into this car before it's done and that alone will probably add $30K+ to the "street price". Add in the literal cost of off-the-shelf parts (wheels, tires, brakes, suspension, exhaust, forced induction at some later point, tuning time, aero kit, paint job) and you're adding in tens of thousands more. Consider then if they strip it to lighten it, add in a roll cage and body stiffening elements, possibly do a seam-weld job on the car (requiring it to be stripped down - very time consuming!), add in more monitoring equipment, etc, etc, and you're going to have a very expensive car that is very quick around a track but it's also extremely expensive, does not have a warranty, and is worth a lot less than what you've spent to get it to where it is.

There are racecars that cost the owner $10K (or less) that can beat a GT3 around a track. It's not impossible by any means but when you take a brand new car, you take a big financial hit up front and it's actually quite a bit more expensive to develop than an older car since the platforms are not nearly as comprehensively supported by the aftermarket.

What I can guarantee is that 99% of us would still pick the GT3 over the heavily modified 370Z. Why? It'll still be the better package (even if it is possibly slightly slower), as well it should for the cost that's been invested to buy one.
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