Page 20 - KCRPCA MayJune 2020

NUTS & BOLTS
BUYING A USED RACER
GETTING READY FOR THE SEASON
Track season might finally be back up and running with the COVID pandemic hopefully running its course and businesses starting to slowly reopen. Perfect time to buy a race car, right? Actually, no, that should have been done last fall in order to have time to prepare for this 2020 season! But here we are, a newly purchased, well used race car for a new owner.
It is common knowledge when buying a used Porsche to have a quality Pre Purchase Inspection done, but it is even more critical to have one done on any potential race car. This car was built probably 10-12 years ago and has seen 3-4 owners since. I haven’t seen this car on track in many years. The 10-12 year old issue is what we are most critically worried about. Not only are race miles 10x harder in relation to street miles, but also the constant
TECHNICAL EDITOR KARL WILEN
up with a car that needs to be updated very badly. That’s ok, because that’s what I do.
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Having experience in
both club level and pro level race support and full race car builds, and holding an SFI safety inspector’s license,
I am constantly honing my craft, seeing things that will fail on a race track that your average mechanic won’t notice. Understanding why something is unsafe, and the potential for injury it could have is critical with race cars. I love getting these old race cars up to proper
changes in safety equipment and regulations every year continue to make the cars racing safer and safer. This usually means that
old cars slip through the holes since they have been log booked already. Add to the likely many “at track” repairs where resources may be limited, and you end
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Der Sportwagen
YEARS