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Friday at TMS with Chevrolet #ChevyTMS

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Chevrolet was nice enough to invite a friend and I to come out to spend the afternoon Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, then stay for the Rattlesnake 150 ARCA race Friday night.  After a conflict nicely cleared up, my friend Rick Barr was luckily able to join me for the afternoon.

Rick Barr test driving a Chevrolet Camaro

Traffic was light and we arrived early, so we headed over to test drive new Chevrolet models first.  They had a short course setup and you were invited to test drive any of several Chevrolet models, including several Camaros with V6s and V8s in the mix.

I think this is a great low-stress way to expose people to the current Chevrolet models.

Next we checked-in and went on a tour of the tire facility, then the transports and garages behind the scenes at Texas Motor Speedway.

Rick considers which tire to pick for racing

There were stacks of Goodyear tires waiting to be called into action. The race teams lease tires from Goodyear for the weekend. Each tire has an identification chip, so no one can sneak ‘special’ tires in, and none wander off to be resold for another venue.  Goodyear actually tests, in concert with selected Drivers, tires for all of the cars in the series to use at each venue.

Goodyear tire mounting stations

Our next stop was a trip to the race transports. Each transport carries 2 race cars, primary and backup, tools, and spares parts and equipment to assist with repairs, as well as food and snacks for the race teams.

Backup race car stored in the attic of the transport

It was quite interesting seeing what the racing teams travel with and the garages.

Tech Inspection

We also saw the cars undergoing technical inspection.  This was a prime opportunity to see a lot of behind the scenes things that one does not get to see normally when attending the race.  I like all the details and insight on how the teams prepare, technical inspections, and fueling, so it was all interesting to me.

Photo of the author during a lull in the proceedings

After a deluxe dinner of Pizza out of the bed of a couple of Silverado’s, we headed in to the infield drive opportunity.  For this event we each drove a Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks on the actual Texas Motor Speedway, with one of the Racing Drivers for the evening’s race standing in the bed of each Silverado waving to the crowd.    The truck I drove was brand new, with 2.5 hours of operation time and almost no miles on it before this weekend.

Finally, we attended the Race itself.  The Friday night race was the ARCA Rattlesnake 150.  After we got some ear plugs it was a fun race to watch.  In fact, my number one input for NASCAR would be to consider muffled vehicles, but many perhaps feel that the roar of the cars is an important part of the experience.    Easy enough to bring or buy hearing protection I suppose, but since they have to throttle the cars anyway, why not require mufflers?

Texas Motor Speedway

All in all it was a remarkable day.  I was very glad of the opportunity at the ride & drive for some hands-on seat time in the Camaro, and in the displayed cars some opportunities to examine trunk space and other details.  The behind the scenes tour of the hauler and garages was unique, as was driving a lap of the raceway with a Driver in the bed of the truck.

All of the Chevrolet staff were friendly, nice, and efficient.  The entire day was well planned and coordinated without seeming stressful or strident in the least.  I definitely recommend bringing a guest or a friend to the event, as there were a lot of opportunities for discussion / visiting throughout the day.  One reason I wanted to attend the Friday session was that traffic was light going in and out of the TMS area, and we had no problems whatsoever with the commute there or back.

I would like to see more Cadillacs at this event, but it was very much a Chevrolet Event, and I appreciate them inviting me.  Do we know the lap time for a non-speed limiter equipped Camaro V8 or for the 2010 Cadillac CTS-V at TMS?  Don’t we want to know?

In pursuit of the perfect $30K Cadillac

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The total cost of owning a car includes a variety of factors.  The actual price of the car is not directly a factor, unless you keep the car forever.

The difference in price of a car between when you buy it and when you sell it form the simple depreciation of the car while you owned it.   For example, if you were to purchase a car (we’ll call it car1),  for $45K, drive it for a year, then sell it for $40K, you might say that car1 cost you $5K to drive for a year.  On the other hand, if you purchase car2 for $25K, drive it for a year, then sell it for $18K, it cost you $7K to drive car2 for a year.  So although car1 had a higher price, car2 had a higher depreciation, and so cost more to drive for the year.

For my next Cadillac I plan to target an expense range of $400/month for the car.  I plan to drive it for 60 months.  At the end of the 60 months I anticipate that the residual value of the car will be no greater than $5K.  This means I will be looking for a vehicle that has a purchase price of $24K (60 mo x $400) plus $5K, or $29K.

Since the new CTS starts at $35K, that seems difficult as a budget for a Cadillac.  But I will not be shopping for a new car this time out, but rather for a 2 year old model with under 25K miles.  I also know that I drive an average of 15K miles per year.  Keeping in mind my 5 year horizon, if I purchase a car with 25K miles, after 5 years it would have 5×15=75K + 25K = 100K miles, and should still be in relatively good shape, and not require excessive maintenance or repairs.

My favorite target that is just coming into the 30Ks is the 2008 Cadillac STS-V.  As I have previously noted, the STS-V with every option known to man and a 469 hp supercharged DOHC Northstar V8 seems an amazing value, and it a high-weather mark in STS development.  I am hopeful that by this summer I will be able to find an excellent example within my price range.  Alternates would be to shop a fully loaded 2008/2009 CTS Sedan, or STS V8 Sedan, but the power and suspension tuning of the STS-V fit my idea of fun better.

2006 Cadillac STS-V

STS-V Interior Tango Red option shown

Now it is just the matter of finding the right STS-V. Total sales in 2008 of this model was under 500, but as the V-Coupe arrives this summer hopefully more of the STS-Vs will be coming out of the woodwork.

I have not lost my love for the new 2nd Generation CTS-V of course, and once prices for the Super Car CTS-V are in the mid to low $30Ks I will be looking very hard at them for the next Cadillac V.

The Old Car Dilemma the Siren Song of the Weekend Cadillac

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I am often attracted to the idea of picking up an older Cadillac as a weekend car.  There are some really interesting models that are in the $5K-10K range now — the Allante convertibles from 1989-1993, or the classic Eldorado convertibles from 1970-1975.

The goal would be to have a fun car as a weekend car.  Not to restore the vehicle to a show car standard, but to keep it operational as a Saturday out to the store type of vehicle.  We have a 2-car garage, so that means the weekend car would have to go into the garage (on my side), and my prized current daily driver out into the weather, if it stayed here.  Another idea would be to rent a storage area and park the weekend car ‘away’, but that makes it very likely that I would not spend any time working on it, or driving it.  It would just be an expense.

The ‘entry’ cost of buying an older Cadillac is of course just the start.  Then there are replacement parts to be tracked down, and additional cost.   The car itself becomes a hobby even if it is running well enough — planning ahead for the next repair or restoration step.  The 70s Cadillacs were not fuel efficient, so a lot of the fun drives would be near gas stations lol.

There are ‘new’ old skills to learn, and there are things to deal with such as metal fatigue that just don’t come up a lot on newer cars.

There are safety issues — the older cars don’t have air bags, or traction control, or stability control — they are strictly cruisers.

But there is the joy of driving a Cadillac convertible the way God intended, and enjoying one of the finest motorcars available for its time.

Generally the newer the model, the better the performance, handling, comfort, luxury, and safety.  My 2005 CTS out-performs even the 93 Allante’s with the Northstar V8, and far outperforms the 70s Eldorado’s with the massive 500 cubic inch V8s.  Any money spent on a hobby or weekend Cadillac would come right out of my budget for the next Cadillac to replace my current car. So not the sensible thing to do.

But one can dream of  cruising down the street in a classic Cadillac convertible with wall to wall leather and enough torque to move the planet.

[Please see this Ad for the source of my Eldo picture.  Hope it sells soon so it moves out of temptation!]