Hi all, been throwing around this idea to rent out our cars at the local drag strip, either ride alongs or solo, kind of like the Richard Petty deal only on the strip. Basically it breaks down like this, one price for a ride along, one for a solo, depends on the vehicle of course, also added charge for nitrous use, package deals and all night rentals (still strip only). Wanted to gauge interest, thoughts, ideas, concerns...really anything that pops in to your head about it, I would like to know.

Thanks

 

I dont think I could rent my car out, I would be sick about someone else driving it. There is also the possible accident, and whos liable if its the car that fails not the driver. Not for me but its an idea that people who dont have these cars may be interested in-my opinion is swayed because I have always had cars to race but for someone who never has it would probably be pretty cool idea but still scary expecially when they realize they handle a little different than there prius

 

I know, I feel VERY uneasy about it too. The goal, Obviously, is to become so rich and famous that we have a stable of cars just for the business and keep our personal cars seperate, lol, ok now stop laughing. As far as liability, I have some people checking into that, we are a family of lawyers but this is a little out of our practice area. We were thinking waivers could take care of it, I mean you can rent motorcycles and exotic cars with a deposit and signature of a few waivers, why wouldn't it work in this situation. Plus, no one will be driving on the road, which should help keep insurance cost down, I think. Were not talking about fully restored cars here either, Im talking Frankenstein like cars that although look legit to the average Joe on the outside, are a combo of different year parts on the inside...that should help keep the actual cost of the car down, not tryin to race original Hemi Darts ya know.

 

My personal opinion is that you'd better be GOOD friends with someone like "Lloyds of London" because you are gonna need MILLIONS worth of various kinds of insurance

If the "renter" driver should hit, injure or kill someone, YOU are going to be "in the driver's seat," so to speak.

If I had Bill Gates' money, I would not do this

 

That's hitting the nail on the head, read this recent news clip from just about 2 weeks ago and almost in my back yard... http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...rari_cras.html
Some pretty scary stuff there.

 

69 -

No.

Archer

 

Do it up. I think its a bold idea, and if you can cover your *** this could make some dough.

 

That article ? Racing on the street !! BAD NEWS. It is sad for the families. I would suspect they both will do jail time.. Reminds me of Hulk Hogan's sons crash. Kids showing off..
I would bet he has a major insurance problem now. May end up having to close his business due to lack of insurance.
I went to the Frank Hawley's Drag racing basic intro school. You got to make two runs 1/8 mile after a few hours of class. As I remember it cost $100. Detuned (no burn outs) super comp dragsters, it was still fun.. I would bet the maintenance and insurance would kill any profits you might make.

 

Dont' do it unless your in the insurance business and you can write your own policy.

 

It's a good idea but there is a lot to look into to.

1. How do you cover your ***? Insurance, theft, damage (personal/vehicle/property), etc.
2. What track are you going to use? Are they willing to let you/work with you?
3. Will it be open to just "renters" or will the rest of the public be there?
4. What vehicles are you going to use?

The Richard Petty Driving Experience use "closed to the public" tracks (only circuits and certain clubs can use the tracks (at least up here), have professional drivers for the rides and a whole crew of "do what we say, how we say or you are out" employees (from what I remember of my experience).

 

Those guys were not on the street, it was on an access road to Giant's Stadium. It is considered a public road, but only used to access the venues on the site. The guy that got hit was going to work on the site. The road in question is the same one they would be using for their "Dream Ride" tour, and these two bozo's were supposedly experienced at handling these machines, imagine a novice in that same situation, the outcome would probably be much worse.

 

You'll need money, a lot of insurance, good safety equipment and if you're letting them go solo, good instruction. I'd be very hesitant under any circumstances.

If you have a vehicle failure and it causes serious injury or death, they're going to be coming hard after everyone from the person who first built it to the last one to touch it mechanically, plus the owner, plus the track owner...but you know all of this.

It takes not only a good waiver, but one that an average person can understand and even with all of that, if they can prove that you should've known the person wasn't competent/capable of driving the vehicle, you can still lose.

You need professional, certified, mechanics who are willing to say the car is mechanically sound and safe to drive under the conditions and for the solos, you really should have a professional driver/instructor to sign off on them before they go.

I've been to one of the Nascar ride along things here in Atlanta. They charged ~$100 for a 5 or 6 lap ride along and over $300 for a solo, which started as a ride along. We were all put in Nomex suits, gloves, and standard Nascar helmets. The only thing they didn't cover was our feet; we kept our own shoes.

I didn't do the solo one, but saw someone who did. They did a couple of laps with him in the passenger seat, then a couple with him driving with the driver riding along and then let him go solo.

There's a lot involved and it's probably going to be difficult to make a profit at.

 

The idea sounds good, the reality is it sucks.... see one of the above posts to see why i think that, insurance track waivers etc and... ( ie: building the cars, maintaining the cars, storing the cars, having the "rest of the equipment that YOU will want to have/furnish patrons" they wont have squat but shorts and flip flops on, etc) plus the area/place/building for the storage and tutorial on "how to drive a drag car" ,you were going to do this I hope... M2C