How much GREEN to get into D1??

Hey guys, a few of our wholesalers have presented us(the shop I work for) with the idea that they want their name on the D1 circuit. We already have quite a few parts lying around(full suspension, wheels, brakes, exhaust, and other little important things).

But I'm wondering approximately how much you guys think it'll cost to put together a car worthy of competing in D1.. Now I'm not talking about winning or anything because I'm sure those cars are hundreds of thousands of bucks.. but just to qualify.

We were planning on using a Kouki(spelling??) s14 240x.. thats 97-98 as our platform.. Now I am very aware that getting a s13 is cheaper and such, but we have our reasons for setting our sights on a Kouki mobile. I estimate that the car will cost me around $8,000 US. So how much more do you guys guess I will need to put into the car before it is competition ready? And I'm talking about retail.. like average market price.

And how much in maintenance for each event(assuming that no accidents will occur... which is kinda crazy, but please.. just work with me)?


And yes, I know the driver is a huge factor in getting into D1, but we have a few kids under heavy consideration. And plus, this thread is about the cost of the car!!!

Well, first and foremost you should be concentrating on SCCA Formula Drift not D1 considering there's only two D1 events in the states, but cost will depend a lot on how far you go with the modifications.

From what I understand, many of the top quality D1/Formula Drift cars have full price tags running in excess of 100k. But then we're talking cars like the HKS Silvia, the RMR Pontiac GTO, the Blitz ER34 4door, and so on. But, by the same token, you had cars in Formula Drift like the Team Bubba Drift 1978 El Camino and Alex Pfeiffer's AE86 which only barely cracked into the tens of thousands.

Best advice? Get a rulebook and see just how many of the legal mods are ones you want to make and then start pricing everything together. You may do a few thousand dollars worth of modification, you may do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of modification. Do what you feel will make you competitive and go for it.

i already talked to you about this, but i agree with octagon, check out Formula drift first.

Alrighty, thanks a lot guys.

layal's keeper is right, you dont need a huge budget car to be competitive in drifting, thats one of the main things of drifting, people with a low budget are still able to compete with the big shots with lots of money.