E36 Compact as a track car
Discussion
Hi
Once upon a time I had a mk2 Golf that I built into a track car. I used to really enjoy it, but then I got married and had kids and sold the car, big mistake!
I'm now starting to have thoughts of building another. My daily is an new Octavia vRS and I don't really fancy tracking that. My thoughts have been turning to RWD, as I did a few track days in a Caterham (I can't afford a Caterham before anyone comments!). There is an E36 Compact local to me and it is cheap (ain't they all). I'd probably stick in a 2.8 as I know of a decent one for sale (soon) that is abot 250bhp with a few mods on it. I understand the Compact gets tail happy with that sort of power so I'm wondering if a E36 coupe or saloon would make more sense, or if there are mods for the Compact to calm things down.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Matt
Once upon a time I had a mk2 Golf that I built into a track car. I used to really enjoy it, but then I got married and had kids and sold the car, big mistake!
I'm now starting to have thoughts of building another. My daily is an new Octavia vRS and I don't really fancy tracking that. My thoughts have been turning to RWD, as I did a few track days in a Caterham (I can't afford a Caterham before anyone comments!). There is an E36 Compact local to me and it is cheap (ain't they all). I'd probably stick in a 2.8 as I know of a decent one for sale (soon) that is abot 250bhp with a few mods on it. I understand the Compact gets tail happy with that sort of power so I'm wondering if a E36 coupe or saloon would make more sense, or if there are mods for the Compact to calm things down.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Matt
R8Steve said:
HustleRussell said:
Caterham will be cheaper in real terms.
How so?I'm building a track car at the moment so genuinely interested in your thinking here.
I absolutely understand what Russell's saying about Caterhams and the like, and there's no question that if you want the "ideal" track day car then it's a lightweight like that, but as for budget... My own E36 owes me a grand total of £2100, and I did 185 miles around Bedford on Monday. It ran faultlessly, has used about 10% of its front and rear pads and I can't actually measure any wear on the £240 set of semi-slicks.
Yes, in a ten-year plan a Caterham will be lighter on consumables and not depreciate, but we can't all tie up that amount of money (even £5k for the very cheapest Caterfieldalike is far too much for me) and tin-tops needn't be drastically more costly to prepare/run/sell on.
Yes, in a ten-year plan a Caterham will be lighter on consumables and not depreciate, but we can't all tie up that amount of money (even £5k for the very cheapest Caterfieldalike is far too much for me) and tin-tops needn't be drastically more costly to prepare/run/sell on.
You'll only get your money back if you can sell it, not if it's been embedded into an Armco so take that into consideration.
Trackdays aren't about the money - racing is about money. If we all turned up in Caterfields it would be a dull trackday. One of the great things about going to a TD is to see something different;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Trackdays are about being ingenious, about making something do what it was never was supposed to do, about having fun.
Trackdays aren't about the money - racing is about money. If we all turned up in Caterfields it would be a dull trackday. One of the great things about going to a TD is to see something different;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Trackdays are about being ingenious, about making something do what it was never was supposed to do, about having fun.
227bhp said:
You'll only get your money back if you can sell it, not if it's been embedded into an Armco so take that into consideration.
Trackdays aren't about the money - racing is about money. If we all turned up in Caterfields it would be a dull trackday. One of the great things about going to a TD is to see something different;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Trackdays are about being ingenious, about making something do what it was never was supposed to do, about having fun.
Says who? Different things to different people. Anyway I think you'll find any car loses value when smashed into some ARMCO. Trackdays aren't about the money - racing is about money. If we all turned up in Caterfields it would be a dull trackday. One of the great things about going to a TD is to see something different;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Trackdays are about being ingenious, about making something do what it was never was supposed to do, about having fun.
mk4gtiturbo said:
I bought it, so the project commences!!
Well done. They are great fun cars. I love mine. Yes you could spend a bit more and buy a track ready car. But personally I have very much enjoyed improving mine one step at a time. Spreads the cost and increases the satisfaction! There are a few good E36 build threads on here if you are looking for ideas. I have been writing mine for years. Good to see you starting yours at the start. Keep us updated.
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