Actual car value - and who finances it?

[Tickers]

I know this is a very touchy subject with a lot of teams, but I've been wondering how much people think their car is actually worth. We all hear talk of certain European teams with cars worth €300k+ (~$400k), but that's obviously abnormal.

Our budget from the university was reduced year on year, with our car last year probably worth about €40k, compared to over €60k in 2009. Though the team puts a lot of effort into finding sponsors, the university provides no assistance and is against monetary sponsorship (!) so it's normally just 10-20% here and there off of the price of things.

Anyway, moaning about finding sponsorship wasn't the point of this thread. What I'm wondering is how much you think it costs to succeed. I'm not talking about how much you've spent or received from your uni. I mean how much you think your project is realistically worth; from design through rig and track testing to the final car.

[Tickers]

I know this is a very touchy subject with a lot of teams, but I've been wondering how much people think their car is actually worth. We all hear talk of certain European teams with cars worth €300k+ (~$400k), but that's obviously abnormal.

Our budget from the university was reduced year on year, with our car last year probably worth about €40k, compared to over €60k in 2009. Though the team puts a lot of effort into finding sponsors, the university provides no assistance and is against monetary sponsorship (!) so it's normally just 10-20% here and there off of the price of things.

Anyway, moaning about finding sponsorship wasn't the point of this thread. What I'm wondering is how much you think it costs to succeed. I'm not talking about how much you've spent or received from your uni. I mean how much you think your project is realistically worth; from design through rig and track testing to the final car.

[onemaniac]

Is your 'car' worth €40k, not entire project? If so, your car is worth a lot more than most of North American schools' (I don't know much about European teams).
There are tons of teams in the States or Canada with a 'car budget' less than $20k and quite a few with less than $10k car budget.

[Tickers]

We had a budget of €20k for the car, testing, tools, equipment etc. The rest of the 'worth' is from sponsorship, and is probably overestimated.

Speaking with (quite a major) American team at FSG, they mentioned that a space on their nose was 'worth' approximately $50k from a sponsor. One German team member (from a large but not hugely succesful team) said a space on their teamwear is more than €10k.

[PBR-keith]

The value of cars from team to team will undoubtedly vary like crazy. Our teams largest cash sponsor is about $10k CAD (we were really lucky to get that though). In-kind sponsors make up the majority of the vehicle though. Our team worked hard to bring in sponsors to support some of the costly materials and manufacturing (carbon and molds ect.) Overall, our team budget is about $25-30k but that includes 2 competition registration, travel and lodging. In other words, the car is probably built for under $15-20k and worth maybe $100k. That's just a guess though.
Our school has formula, hybrid, baja and aero teams that all have to share a budget. Probably $75k, so that $10k big sponsor isn't just for the formula car.

Get as much cash as you can, but you will probably get more value out of companies through in-kind donations.

Keith